AiR
Over the last 41 years since its founding in 1982, the University of Tennessee’s Artist in Residence (AiR) Program has connected our students with a spectrum of over 80 professional artists engaged in contemporary painting and drawing practices from urban art centers like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. One of the oldest such programs in the country, the AiRs have taught more than 3,000 our undergraduate and graduate students over its history, enriching the vitality of our program and directly enhancing its national ranking stature.
The AiR program is integral to the graduate student and undergraduate student experience in the School of Art and adds significantly to the vitality and vibrancy of our programs. Each semester an early- to mid-career artist is invited to join the School of Art community to work closely with 30 undergraduate students enrolled in junior-level drawing or painting and 8–15 graduate students. Each AiR brings a new and dynamic perspective to our program, challenges our students in different ways, and provides a unique model for what a career in the arts can be.
Our Current Artist in Residence (AiR)
Noelle Africh
Noelle Africh is a painter and educator based in Chicago. They received an MFA in Painting and Drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Their work has been exhibited at Secrist | Beach (Chicago, IL); Twelve Ten Gallery (Chicago, IL); Slow Dance (Chicago, IL); Galerie Gisela Clement (Bonn, Germany); Ruschwoman (Chicago, IL); Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL); Stasias Gallery (Chicago, IL); The Plan (Chicago, IL); SHED Projects (Cleveland, OH); The Green Gallery – West (Milwaukee, WI); Switch-Hook Projects (Chicago, IL); Patient Info (Chicago, IL), among others. Noelle is a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Painting and Drawing department. They are currently working towards their second solo exhibition, called Signal, which will open in April 2026 at Twelve Ten Gallery in Chicago.
Recent Artists in Residence
Past Artists in Residence
Maryam Hoseini
Heidi Howard & Esteban Cabeza de Baca
Caitlin Rose MacBride
Tracy Helena Thomason
Fox Hysen
Dana Jacqueline Lok
Caitlin C. Cherry
Clare Grill Ryan
Ezra Saul Tessler
Dana Michelle DeGuilio
Domonic Terlizzi
Caitlin Keogh
Aliza Nisenbaum
Molly Zuckerman-Hartung
Jaya Howey
E.J. Hauser
Michael Berryhill
Patricia Treib
Josephine Halvorson
Keltie Ferris
Ezra Johnson
Rob Nadeau
Melissa Gordon
Tom McGrath
Giles Lyons
Jackie Gendel
Munro Galloway
Jeff Gaunt
Wallace Whitney
Jessica Dickinson
Richard Aldrich
George Rush
Kristin Calabrese
Judith Eisler
Frank Holliday
Charlotta Westergren
Joan Linder
David Brody
Sam Gordon
Carrie Moyer
Jovi Schnell
Elisabeth Condon
Nina Bovasso
Pamela Fraser
Beth Reisman
Eva Lungsager
Ann Craven
Daniel Levine
Michael St. John
Joe Letitia
Anthony Viti
Julia Jacquette
Cheryl Donegan
Richard Phillips
Joe Fyfe
Daniel Fisher
Pinkney Herbert
Michael Bulka
Herbert Creecy
Mira Schor
Robert Feintuch
Georgia Marsh
Roger Welch
Guynemer Giguere
Holly Hughes
Roy Fowler
Brenda Goodman
Richard Tobias
Suzanne Joelson
Gary Stephan
Joseph Nechvatel
Seaver Leslie
Al Loving
Lance Rutledge
Karen Shaw
Paul Krainak
Nancy Dwyer
Royce Howes
James Chatelain
Nancy Pletos
Richard Hull
Johannes Lacher
Mary Beth Edelson
Charles Wilson
Mary Ahrendt
Biff Elrod