OPENING RECEPTION OF SURREAL TRANSITIONS

Featuring works by local artists who have transitioned into visual art, blending lived experience with surreal, imaginative expression.

Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee Cole Shugart has spent most of his time in a van traveling the country with a band of misfits. Turning to the oil paints after a long stint on the road seemed unnatural at first, but quickly became a place of solitude. Attempting to bring the surreal landscapes that he visits while he sleeps with the ever changing landscape of the road is the goal of his pieces. Studying under his uncle and Nashville native, Bruce Matthews, Cole learned to paint with oils under close supervision of this surrealist master, while in between making albums for his band The Criticals. This Collection of pieces is from late 2022 to 2023, when the world seemed to be falling in around him. Turning to the dream world as well as artists Yves Tanguy and Heironymous Bosch as a place of inspiration, Cole completed six oil paintings over a 5 month period, before diving back into music for the past 3 years.

Jason Clifton is a contemporary artist based in Nashville, focusing on themes of passage and uncertainty. Using acrylics and found objects, he creates pieces that reflect on the wonderment that can be found in times of transition. When not creating, he enjoys the pause between moments and quiet coffee rituals.