Frist Center for the Visual Arts

Historic Nashville Post Office is Reinvented into a Top Arts Center

Aug 29, 2009 Devan Stuart

Housed in a 1930s post office repurposed and reopened in 2001, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts has become one of Nashville's most treasured cultural touchstones.

Mancil Ezell is impeccably dressed and standing beside a Jenny Seville painting of two young sisters nuzzling each other cheek-to-cheek. A group of visitors obediently stands clear on the other side of the room as Ezell describes the painting, which from a distance resembles two cherubs.

"Come," he says authoritatively. The group moves forward and soon is standing mere inches away from the painting, now marveling at the seemingly completely different work than they were seeing moments before. Now, they see that one of the children in the painting called "Hyphen" looks very much like that familiar sweet-faced cherub, while the other looks sickly, weak, discontent. Ezell passionately talks of the magic that occurs when one makes the effort to see art in varying perspectives, as these Rachel-and-Leah-like sisters so vividly illustrate.

"Onward," Ezell says, and the group is off to the next discovery. Ezell is a longtime docent of the Frist Center of the Visual Arts, opened in 2001 and housed in what formerly was Nashville's main U.S. post office, built with Hoover Administration funds in 1934. He is a favorite among visitors, and the center has quickly become one of Music City's most revered resources for arts exhibition and education.

What the Frist Center Offers

Every six to eight weeks, the Frist Center brings in new works by local, state and regional artists, as well as major U.S. and international exhibitions. Paintings, sculptures, photographs and other art forms, contemporary and centuries-old flow into the center, assuring something new each time one visits. Past exhibitions have included works by famous names like Georgia O'Keefe, Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh as well as creations by new artists, including Nashville area college students. Visitors can expand their gallery experience via exhibition-related books, videos and computer software in the Art Library and Resource Center.

The Martin ArtQuest Gallery is a 4,000-square-foot interactive education gallery that encourages families and visitors of all ages to explore art and create their own works via 30 interactive learning stations. It's a favorite among kids and makes learning the basics of art fun. For a more scholarly study, lessons are available by appointment in the Prints/Drawings Study Room. And the 250-seat auditorium features films, lectures, performances and other special events.

Frist Center Building a Historic Treasure

The building that houses the Frist Center is itself considered a work of art and a historically significant piece of architecture. Built with funds from a $500 million appropriation by the Hoover administration for a fleet of new post offices in strategic locales nationwide, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a distinctive representation of the two most popular architectural styles of its time, classicism and Art Deco.

The streamlined exterior of Georgia white marble and gray-pink Minnesota granite is representative of the move toward simpler, less-expensive materials and designs during the Great Depression. But inside, the glory of the Art Deco age is expressed via ornate cast aluminum doors and grillwork and colored marble and stone floors and walls. The Frist Center's website features an informative and entertaining podcast of Ezell chronicling the history of the building's creation.

Other historic and cultural Nashville attractions include the Hatch Show Print shop, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art.

The copyright of the article Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Art Galleries/Museums is owned by Devan Stuart. Permission to republish Frist Center for the Visual Arts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.