Clarksville, TN – The New Gallery at 15 Henry Street is kicking off its 2024-25 exhibition season with Building Castles in Air, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist and Austin Peay State University (APSU) alum Ashanté Kindle.
The exhibition is open now through October 4th, with special events on the schedule including an artist lecture, gallery reception, and spotlights during Clarksville’s First Thursday Art Walk.
“Kindle’s work is an abstract exploration of the narrative embedded within Black hair,” said Michael Dickins, director of The New Gallery. “It’s an honor to welcome her home and to host her work in The New Gallery, but I am mostly looking forward to her returning to the Austin Peay State University Department of Art + Design to talk about her journey and artistic practice to our current students.”
A Clarksville native, Kindle graduated from APSU in Spring 2019 and has since exhibited her work in various galleries and museums throughout the country. Building Castles in Air is her latest solo exhibition.
“Each piece is an invitation to contemplate the profound generational connections and the personal tales entwined in the act of hair care,” she said. “I utilize the textures, curl patterns, and styling of Black hair in abstract paintings and video work to envision new realities of personal existence that defy standards of conformity. By magnifying the hair strand on canvas, accentuated by stylish adornments, the cellular properties of the hair follicle begin to symbolize the infinite space of the cosmos.”
There are several events associated with the exhibition:
- Clarksville’s First Thursday Art Walks: 5:00pm-7:30pm September 5th and October 3rd
- Ashanté Kindle artist lecture: 6:00pm September 17th in the APSUArt + Design Building, Room 120. Kindle will present her work and creative practices.
- Reception and Gallery Talk: noon September 18th in The New Gallery
Thanks to the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA) at Austin Peay State University, all exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.
The New Gallery’s hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm It is closed on weekends and holidays and follows the university’s academic calendar. For more information on this free public exhibition, contact Michael Dickins, director of The New Gallery, at dickinsm@apsu.edu.
About the Artist Ashanté Kindle
Ashanté Kindle is a multidisciplinary artist known for her abstract sculptural wave paintings. Originally from Clarksville, Tennessee, she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Austin Peay State University (2019) and Master of Fine Arts from The University of Connecticut (2022).
She was a NXTHVN Cohort 04 Fellow and has exhibited her work at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, The Benton Museum, Red Arrow Gallery, Johnson Lowe Gallery, Sean Kelly, and most recently, a solo exhibition at Belmont University along with numerous other galleries and institutions nationally. Kindle’s work was recently acquired by The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, and is represented by Red Arrow Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee.
Kindle currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. You can learn more about her work on her website or follow her on Instagram: @ashantekindle.
