Clarksville, TN – This winter and spring, the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center will be the stage to celebrate American women’s art through a special museum exhibition.
Of Mark & Meaning: American Women Artists will open at the Customs House Museum on February 13th, 2026. Since 2010, the Customs House Museum has hosted a series of exhibitions themed around “Celebrating Women Artists,” and Of Mark & Meaning continues this sixteen-year tradition.
This year, 2026, marks the second time the museum has hosted American Women Artists. This exhibit is American Women Artists’ tenth national museum exhibition as part of the 25 in 25 campaign, an initiative to have 25 museum shows for its members over 25 years. 105 works were selected out of 791 impressive entries by professional women artists.
World-renowned artists in this exhibition include Paula B. Holtzclaw, who has a widespread reputation for her ability to capture the drama of nature on canvas; Sherrie McGraw known as one of America’s foremost painters and instructors; Diana Reuter-Twining known for her sculptures that capture the beauty of motion; rising Nashville art star Taylor Wiedemann, whose skillfully executed traditional still-lifes belie a deeper message about the struggles of womanhood; Star Liana York whose recent retrospective exhibition of 50 years of her work was an incredible honor for one of the most famous living sculptors of the West; and more!
Selection jurors included women at the top of their field: Vivian Chiu, a national sculptor based in Virginia who is known for her labor-intensive, repetitive processes to create optical sculptures from wood; Marcia Goldenstein, an accomplished landscape painter and fabric artist and Professor Emerita of Painting and Drawing at the University of Tennessee School of Art; and Kirsten Kokkin, an international award-winning sculptor from Norway known for her dancers and equine works in bronze.
Award judges include arts administrators from respected institutions in TN and NY: Katie Delmez, Senior Curator at the Frist Art Museum; Sharon Louden, artist, arts leader, author, teacher, and former Director of the Chautauqua Visual Arts at the Chautauqua Institution; and Nandini Makrandi, Chief Curator at the Hunter Museum of American Art.
Artists will compete for over $30,000 in cash awards and in-kind certificates, including a $10,000 Grand Prize sponsored by the Janet and Robert Lee Family Fund. The exhibition will be open to the public from February 13th, 2026, until April 26th, 2026. A closing reception and awards ceremony will be open to the public April 24th, 2026, from 5:00pm until 7:30pm at the Customs House Museum, 200 South Second Street, Clarksville, TN 37040.
Additionally, the annual Symposium of Women in the Arts, on April 25th, 2026, 12:00pm – 5:30pm at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, TN, features a keynote address by Sharon Louden. Sharon Louden is an artist, educator, advocate, consultant, and community builder. Sharon graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Yale University School of Art. Louden’s work is held in public and private collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.
Sharon is the editor of Living and Sustaining a Creative Life book series. Her teaching experience includes studio and professional practice classes at colleges and universities such as Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Vanderbilt University, and Maryland Institute College of Art, among others. The Symposium is free and open to the public, but reservations must be made before April 10th, 2026. Additional speakers to be announced soon.
About the Exhibition and Museum
Partially housed in a stunning 1898 post office and customs house designed by William Aiken, the Customs House Museum hosts exhibitions, education programs, and special events in its beautiful space. The Customs House Museum is known as the heart of the city Clarksville has a national reputation for championing women’s art.
Of Mark & Meaning: American Women Artists will include 2-D and 3-D works by members of American Women Artists, representing the top women artists in the field throughout the United States and Canada. This exhibition title celebrates the very human drive to make a mark in this world, whether literally through the creative act of making artwork, or figuratively through the legacy we leave behind.
Mark-making is the cornerstone of artistic expression. Mark-making can be loose and gestural or precise and neat. It can be applied to any surface: canvas, paper, stone, or even sound can be a form of mark-making. Every mark is a visual language through which artists communicate their thoughts, emotions, and experiences.
Through mark-making, artists make meaning of their world and share it with others. From early petroglyphs to soundscape installations, mark-making is at the core of how we perceive our world.
“Much as these artists are leaving a legacy with their marks on paper, canvas, and bronze,
American Women Artists is building a legacy promoting women artists whose voices have been marginalized through a lack of institutional support for too long,” notes Andrea Bailey, Executive Director of American Women Artists.
American Women Artists offers a full-color catalogue of the exhibition. An online exhibition accompanies the museum show and can be viewed on the organization’s website starting February 13th, 2026, www.americanwomenartists.org/
About American Women Artists
American Women Artists is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the inspiration, celebration, and encouragement of women in the visual fine arts. AWA began over 34 years ago and uses the power of collaboration to connect women artists and provide resources and opportunities to advance their careers.
Since only 13% of works in museum collections in the U.S. are created by women, the 25 in 25 initiative was launched to highlight the work of its members and inspire dialogue about the importance of gender equity in museum exhibitions. Through these efforts, AWA seeks to celebrate women’s unique voices, stories, and commentary, broadening the human experience’s understanding.
Event Details
Of Mark & Meaning: American Women Artists
Location: Customs House Museum 200 South Second Street, Clarksville, TN 37040
Exhibition Dates: February 13th, 2026 – April 26th, 2026
Closing Reception: April 24th, 2026, 5:00pm – 7:30pm.
Online: Current Exhibitions – American Women Artists
Symposium of Women in the Arts
Location: Frist Art Museum, 919 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203
Date: April 25th, 2026, 12:00pm – 5:30pm
Online: Symposium – American Women Artist
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 interest museum with over 35,000 square feet of exhibit space and houses hands-on activities and special events. Membership and admission information can be found at customshousemuseum.org.
Regular museum hours are 10:00am to 5:00pm Tuesday through Saturday and 1:00pm to 5:00pm on Sundays. Adult admission is $12.00 (18-64). Senior Citizens (65+), Adult Military, CMCSS Teachers, and College Students are $9.00. Children ages 3 to 17 are $5.00, and children 2 years or younger 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
