An Artistic Ecosystem
The School of Art’s student-run exhibition space, Gallery 1010, moved to a new location at 1150 McCalla Avenue in downtown Knoxville last fall. Established in the 1980s by Don Kurka, former department head and professor of painting and drawing, the gallery derived its name from its first location in the historic Candy Factory building in World’s Fair Park, the address of which, at the time, was 1010 Clinch Avenue. In 2005, it relocated to a space on Gay Street, opposite the UT Downtown Gallery. In its new and improved home on McCalla, the gallery continues its three-decade history of exhibiting exceptional student art.
One of the only off-campus, student-run galleries in the southeastern United States, Gallery 1010 provides students and other artists the opportunity to engage with the broader community in Knoxville. Graduate students in the School of Art oversee the gallery. Currently, Austin Pratt and Katie Gentner, both MFA candidates in painting and drawing, are director and associate director, respectively. Together with a committee of senior studio art and design majors, Pratt and Gentner review student proposals and choose exhibitions for each term, including summer.
Gallery 1010 maintains a full program of installations. Approximately 16 artist exhibitions that run Friday to Sunday are scheduled each term. Recently, a second option for one-day pop-up exhibitions on Tuesdays was added, doubling the number of shows that can be scheduled per semester.
With guidance from the director and associate director, student artists are responsible for all aspects of mounting their shows, from preparing the walls to installation and lighting, as well as writing artist statements and labels, and creating promotional materials.
“The experience is an exceptional opportunity to exhibit work in a professional setting with best standards and practices as well as the educational resources and mentorship to learn about these various steps and to fulfill them,” Pratt says.
Pratt and Gentner worked closely with School of Art Director David Wilson and the project manager to create a more functional gallery space. Their improvements include backing the drywall with plywood so that work can be installed easily anywhere; plentiful electrical outlets; and movable track lighting, allowing for custom changes based on the installation and artist preference.
“For all intents and purposes, the gallery now looks and feels indistinct from any contemporary art space in the world,” Pratt says.
The gallery makes an important contribution to what Pratt describes as an artistic “ecosystem” in Knoxville.
“Gallery 1010 serves as an extension of the work and ideas produced at the University of Tennessee, brought out of that insular world and into the public,” Pratt says.
Top photo: Hapa Happening, a September 2017 exhibition by undergraduate student Kelly Moore