Clarksville, TN – The Bruner Gallery of the Customs House Museum greets visitors with a series of suspended “straight jackets”. Using vintage fabrics, hospital baby blankets, and a wedding dress as the textiles, these jackets date the phases of a woman’s life.
Surrounding walls at first glance appear to display whimsical pieces of children’s clothes and trinkets housed in floating Petri dishes. The playfulness of objects in Family Ties invites you in but the messages expressed are much deeper, if not much darker.
Fick’s work explores personal and cultural archeology utilizing encaustic, fiber, and mixed media.
She relies on her own experiences to connect to the audience, stating “The use of domestic and childhood materials and constructions of fabric and vintage apparel reveal the paradox of family history – myths, storytelling, truth, lies, misunderstandings, and, above all, the difficulty of unconditionally loving one another. By questioning what family ties mean to me, I offer a record of one artist’s journey into acceptance and the embrace of the familial spirit I have denied for years. My work now reflects the depolarization of my familial/individual self”.
Sher Fick holds a BFA Painting/Sculpture from Middle Tennessee State University and has studied at the Santa Fe College of Art and The Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. While living in the Florida Panhandle, Fick was nominated for the Cox/Bravo Channel’s Champion for the Arts Award. She is the sole Certified RF Handmade Paints (encaustic) Instructor in the State of TN. She has received several grants from The Tennessee Arts Commission and has exhibited at The Pool Art Fair in Miami, FL, ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan and multiple museum and contemporary art centers in the traveling exhibition “TAKE CARE – Biomedical Ethics in the 21st Century.
Family Ties is part of the museum’s annual Women’s History Month exhibitions. Sher Fick will present a gallery talk during the Customs House Museum’s “Ladies Night” on April 11th. Also on exhibit are works by women photographers and paintings by Nashville’s Peach McComb. Located at the corner of Second and Commerce Streets, the Customs House Museum is the second largest general museum in Tennessee.
For more information on above events contact Terri Jordan, Exhibits Curator, at 931.648.5780 or terri@customshousemuseum.org.
About the Customs House Museum
Located in the heart of historic downtown Clarksville, Tennessee, the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center is the State’s second largest general museum. With over 35,000 square feet of the region’s best hands-on activities and special events…people of all ages agree – the Customs House Museum is well worth the stop!
The Explorer’s Gallery is packed with fun, learning and fantasy in Aunt Alice’s Attic, McGregor’s Market and kitchen, and of course – the Bubble Cave! Finally, get “all aboard” to see our fantastic model trains. Our volunteer engineers “ride the rails” every Sunday afternoon from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.
Regular museum hours are 10:00am to 5:00pm Tuesday through Saturday, and 1:00pm to 5:00pm on Sundays. Adult admission is $7.00, Sr. Citizens and College ID $5.00, Ages 6 to 18 $3.00, and under six years and Museum members are free.
The Customs House Museum is located at 200 South Second Street. For more information, call 931.648.5780 or visit their website at www.customshousemuseum.org
Map
200 South 2nd Street
Clarksville, TN 37040
(931) 648-5780
customshousemuseum.org
