An oral history project chronicling the stories of the visual arts in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis Material is a podcast celebrating the personal histories, intimate stories, and the studio practices of some of the people who help shape the creative landscape of our city.
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From Elizabeth’s great website: Elizabeth Alley, a painter and sketcher from Memphis, explores vulnerable landscapes through on-location sketching to create painting and drawing installations. She received a BFA from University of Memphis, and has shown her work locally and regionally at Crosstown Arts, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, the Nashville International Airport, and Wavelength Gallery in Chattanooga. In 2025, she participated in the Arctic Circle residency, and worked with four artist friends to open ShapeShifter Art School and Gallery.
From Elizabeth’s great website: Elizabeth Alley, a painter and sketcher from Memphis, explores vulnerable landscapes through on-location sketching to create painting and drawing installations. She received a BFA from University of Memphis, and has shown her work locally and regionally at Crosstown Arts, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, the Nashville International Airport, and Wavelength Gallery in Chattanooga. In 2025, she participated in the Arctic Circle residency, and worked with four artist friends to open ShapeShifter Art School and Gallery.
From Elizabeth’s great website: Elizabeth Alley, a painter and sketcher from Memphis, explores vulnerable landscapes through on-location sketching to create painting and drawing installations. She received a BFA from University of Memphis, and has shown her work locally and regionally at Crosstown Arts, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, the Nashville International Airport, and Wavelength Gallery in Chattanooga. In 2025, she participated in the Arctic Circle residency, and worked with four artist friends to open ShapeShifter Art School and Gallery.
Mary Jo Karimnia is an artist, curator, artspace owner and former arts administrator based in Memphis, Tennessee. She builds rich, highly crafted surface patinas with glass beads, foil and velvety flocking on vintage and contemporary imagery, using these non-traditional art materials to produce an altered view. Her work plays around the edges of nostalgia, imagining beauty and sadness competing in unreal views of an idyllic, miscolored past that never really was and an equally idyllic aching for a future that may never be. A rainbow array of translucent beads may be affected by the color of th
This interview was recorded on May 2, 2025. Mary Jo Karimnia is an artist, curator, artspace owner and former arts administrator based in Memphis, Tennessee. She builds rich, highly crafted surface patinas with glass beads, foil and velvety flocking on vintage and contemporary imagery, using these non-traditional art materials to produce an altered view. Her work plays around the edges of nostalgia, imagining beauty and sadness competing in unreal views of an idyllic, miscolored past that never really was and an equally idyllic aching for a future that may never be. A rainbow array of transluc
From Andrea’s amazing website: Andrea Morales is a documentary photographer, journalist and educator born in Peru, raised in Miami, now living and working in Memphis, Tennessee. Her personal work attempts to lens the issues of displacement, disruption and magic. Adding glimpses of daily life, meaningful or mundane, to the record through photography is central to her practice. She has worked as a photojournalist in newsrooms small and large, such as The Concord Monitor, The Lima News and The New York Times, with equal enthusiasm. She’s also worked at the University of Mississippi’s Southern Doc
From Andrea’s amazing website: Andrea Morales is a documentary photographer, journalist and educator born in Peru, raised in Miami, now living and working in Memphis, Tennessee. Her personal work attempts to lens the issues of displacement, disruption and magic. Adding glimpses of daily life, meaningful or mundane, to the record through photography is central to her practice. She has worked as a photojournalist in newsrooms small and large, such as The Concord Monitor, The Lima News and The New York Times, with equal enthusiasm. She’s also worked at the University of Mississippi’s Southern Doc
Maysey Craddock has long been fascinated by ruin. The ephemeral quality so richly sewn into her paintings began with her childhood interest in searching for fossils at the edge of rivers or uncovering contents of forgotten drawers, always intent on discovering what came before – what once was. Craddock’s large-scale gouache paintings reference spaces in similar states; a landscape left to its own devices, crumbling structures, transformation, and natural entropy. Working from her own photographs, Craddock transfers her intricately drawn imagery onto found materials and carefully builds the sur
Editors note: Both Maysey and I mentioned the piece The Eagle Has Landed painted by David Parrish in 1969. It will be among the works from the permanent collection on display when the Memphis Art Museum opens in December. Maysey Craddock has long been fascinated by ruin. The ephemeral quality so richly sewn into her paintings began with her childhood interest in searching for fossils at the edge of rivers or uncovering contents of forgotten drawers, always intent on discovering what came before – what once was. Craddock’s large-scale gouache paintings reference spaces in similar states; a land
From Derek Fordjour’s page on the Petzel website: Derek Fordjour (b. 1974, Memphis, Tennessee) Derek Fordjour is the recipient of the 2025 Gordon Parks Foundation Artist Fellowship, the 2023 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Spirit of the Dream Award, and previously served as the Alex Katz Chair at Cooper Union. He has received public commissions for the High Line, the NYC AIDS Memorial, MOCA Grand Avenue and the MTA’s Arts & Design program. Fordjour’s work has been reviewed in The New York Times,Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Los Angeles Times. A monograph of his work w
Tim Andrews was born and raised in Northwest Arkansas attended Junior college in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He movee to Memphis in the mid 80s to attend Memphis College of Art. He received his bachelor of Fine-Arts degree with emphasis in printmaking and painting. After graduation Andrews started teaching in the summer school and Saturday school programs continued that for years and returned to Memphis College of Art in the 90s to get his masters degree in 1994. He continuted to teach Saturday AP class for years meeting and engaging with some of the finest young artist in our area. He maintained a
Tim Andrews was born and raised in Northwest Arkansas attended Junior college in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He movee to Memphis in the mid 80s to attend Memphis College of Art. He received his bachelor of Fine-Arts degree with emphasis in printmaking and painting. After graduation Andrews started teaching in the summer school and Saturday school programs continued that for years and returned to Memphis College of Art in the 90s to get his masters degree in 1994. He continuted to teach Saturday AP class for years meeting and engaging with some of the finest young artist in our area. He maintained a
Born and raised in a lower middle class neighborhood fixed between the Mississippi border, the Memphis city limits and the well off suburbia; Lawrence Matthews’ early life was lived in places, ignored, forgotten and in the liminal interiors of southern family homes and spaces. His life and work exist as an extension of the southern gothic voices with whom he is aligned. He emerges as somewhat of a Morrisonian beloved ghost, a child who desired more. Now, fully grown as a manifestation of his environment’s love and bitterness intertwined. With a BFA from The University of Memphis and a decade l
Born and raised in a lower middle class neighborhood fixed between the Mississippi border, the Memphis city limits and the well off suburbia; Lawrence Matthews’ early life was lived in places, ignored, forgotten and in the liminal interiors of southern family homes and spaces. His life and work exist as an extension of the southern gothic voices with whom he is aligned. He emerges as somewhat of a Morrisonian beloved ghost, a child who desired more. Now, fully grown as a manifestation of his environment’s love and bitterness intertwined. With a BFA from The University of Memphis and a decade l
Born and raised in a lower middle class neighborhood fixed between the Mississippi border, the Memphis city limits and the well off suburbia; Lawrence Matthews’ early life was lived in places, ignored, forgotten and in the liminal interiors of southern family homes and spaces. His life and work exist as an extension of the southern gothic voices with whom he is aligned. He emerges as somewhat of a Morrisonian beloved ghost, a child who desired more. Now, fully grown as a manifestation of his environment’s love and bitterness intertwined. With a BFA from The University of Memphis and a decade l
Patricia Lee Daigle is Chief Curator at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (MBMA), where she leads the curatorial department and specializes in modern and contemporary art. Prior to this role, she served as MBMA Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art between 2021 and 2025. At MBMA, she has curated numerous exhibitions including Suchitra Mattai: with abundance we meet (2025), Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative (2023), and Tommy Kha: Eye is Another (2023). She has also served as site curator for traveling exhibitions such as Christian Siriano: People Are People (organized by SCAD FASH Museum of Fa
Patricia Lee Daigle is Chief Curator at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (MBMA), where she leads the curatorial department and specializes in modern and contemporary art. Prior to this role, she served as MBMA Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art between 2021 and 2025. At MBMA, she has curated numerous exhibitions including Suchitra Mattai: with abundance we meet (2025), Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative (2023), and Tommy Kha: Eye is Another (2023). She has also served as site curator for traveling exhibitions such as Christian Siriano: People Are People (organized by SCAD FASH Museum of Fa
Tracy Lauritzen Wright is Chief Operating Officer at ARTSmemphis, a Local Arts Agency supporting the arts to strengthen the community. She administers $3.4M+ in grants to 90 arts organizations and artists annually. She has 25 years’ experience in museums and cultural organizations, including 14 years at the National Civil Rights Museum. She served as Executive Director of Delta Axis, a contemporary art and film organization, was a founding board member for Indie Memphis Film Festival and served on the Board of the Tennessee Association of Museums. Her current focus is on strengthening local co
Tracy Lauritzen Wright is Chief Operating Officer at ARTSmemphis, a Local Arts Agency supporting the arts to strengthen the community. She administers $3.4M+ in grants to 90 arts organizations and artists annually. She has 25 years’ experience in museums and cultural organizations, including 14 years at the National Civil Rights Museum. She served as Executive Director of Delta Axis, a contemporary art and film organization, was a founding board member for Indie Memphis Film Festival and served on the Board of the Tennessee Association of Museums. Her current focus is on strengthening local co
From Paula Kovarik’s amazing website: Paula Kovarik creates art with stitch and fabric. Her intuitive line work travels the surface of her work as if a meditation has become solid. Inward thoughts become outwardly apparent through slow and studied attention to detail. Kovarik’s award-winning fiber art has been recognized by Quilt National, Quilts=Art=Quilts, World of Threads, and FiberArt Now Excellence in Fibers exhibitions. She has been profiled in American CraftandFiberArt Nowmagazines. Her work is featured inArt Quilts Unfolding – 50 Years of InnovationandArt Quilts International Abstract
From Niles Wallace’s webiste: I was born in Western Pennsylvania in 1948. My serious interest in Art began in high school and extended to college. I graduated from Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania in 1970 with a degree in Art Education. At Edinboro I became interested in Ceramics and subsequently attended graduate school at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, where I studied under Val Cushing, Daniel Rhodes, Robert Turner, Ted Randall, and Wayne Higby. I received my MFA in Ceramics in 1974. After short teaching stints at The Philadelphia College of Art, and The State University of New York
From Niles Wallace’s webiste: I was born in Western Pennsylvania in 1948. My serious interest in Art began in high school and extended to college. I graduated from Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania in 1970 with a degree in Art Education. At Edinboro I became interested in Ceramics and subsequently attended graduate school at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, where I studied under Val Cushing, Daniel Rhodes, Robert Turner, Ted Randall, and Wayne Higby. I received my MFA in Ceramics in 1974. After short teaching stints at The Philadelphia College of Art, and The State University of New York
Fred Burton is a painter/printmaker born in Diablo Heights, Panama, Central America. His career began in the 1970s as both a working artist and educator. Travels and various artist residencies have influenced his personal vision and approach to art-making. Burton distills his life experiences into a visual diary, drawing inspiration from diverse sources including the Book of Kells in Trinity College, Dublin; exploration of the ruins of ancient Carthage in Tunisia; bird forms experienced on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean; the vastness of the cosmos as well as
From the amazing UrbanArt Commission’s Movable Collection site: Frank D. Robinson Jr. is a Memphis-based visual artist with a primary focus on narratives and the transformation of discarded objects from everyday life, such as packaging, cereal boxes, fast food papers, glass, and keys, into exquisite jewels for his large-scale mixed-media artworks. He holds a BFA from the University of Memphis and a Masters in Painting from the Art Institute of Chicago. His artwork can be found in numerous private collections and is also a part of the collection at the University of Illinois. Robinson is best k
From Birdcap’s amazing website: Birdcap is a myth-making muralist and comic artist whose work drifts between folklore and philosophy. With roots in street culture and a mind full of ghosts, he creates poetic narratives about impermanence, rebellion, and the strange joy of continuing on.
