Andrew Saftel
Andrew Saftel was raised in Rhode Island. He received a B.F.A. with an emphasis on Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute. In the mid 1980s, he relocated to Knoxville, TN, set up a studio and continued making paintings on wood panels that were inspired by the carved and stained woodblocks left from printing projects. He has since had over forty-five solo exhibitions of paintings, sculptures, prints and collages in galleries and museums across the country. He is the recipient of an Individual Artist Grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission and was selected to travel to Israel as part of a Tennessee/Israel Art Exchange. He divides his time between the Sequatchie Valley in East Tennessee, Northern California and Patzcuaro, Mexico.
Artist Statement - Land of Opportunity (2018)
This painting is inspired by two things: old maps and the story of immigrants seeking a better life in the United States. My ancestors came to America at the turn of the twentieth century when this country was the land of opportunity for people from all over the world. One great-grandfather was a coat tailor, another a fruit peddler. This painting draws on a historic map to depict the east coast of the United States and the Atlantic Ocean. I added an actual spinning wheel that was used in Tennessee to make yarn from wool. Spinning the yarn is a metaphor for daily work and the passage of time. The word ”opportunities” is in my father’s handwriting. It is my hope that our country will remain a land of opportunity for all people of the world.
Artist Statement - Works on Paper 2018-2019
In the last two years I have been returning to drawing more and more for its immediacy and for how it allows me to be spontaneously inventive with imagery and storytelling. I have drawn since I was a young child and it will always be my first love of art practices.
I started these drawings in the Spring of 2018 and did one after another all summer and into the Fall. I wanted to first practice my drawing skills and second, tell the stories of my unfolding life. So, I began each drawing by cutting a plant or flower from my yard, bringing it in to the studio and drawing it large with pencil on the sheet. Then with pastels and sometimes watercolor I add words, images and forms to create the story. These drawings are about what surrounds me but also about what is inside as I age through time. They are about me but also about everyone as we share this world.
RESUME
Education
B.F.A. 1981, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Solo Exhibitions
2017 Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN
2015 Tew Galleries, Atlanta, GA
Cumberland Gallery, Nashville,TN
Bennett Galleries, Knoxville,TN
2104 The Front Gallery, Chattanooga,TN
2013 Central Cultural Antiguo Colegio Jesuita, Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis,TN
2012 Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN
2011 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, MA
2010 Cumberland Gallery, Nashville,TN
2009 Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN
2008 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, MA
Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN
2007 Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
Lowe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN
2006 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, MA
2005 Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL (catalogue)
Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
2004 Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN
2004 Lowe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
University Art Gallery, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN
2003 Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL
Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN
Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA (catalogue)
Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN
2001 Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN
Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2001 Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN (catalogue)
2000 Tennessee Arts Commission (Fellowship Exhibition)
Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
St. Andrews-Sewanee School, Sewanee, TN
Cleveland State Community College, Cleveland, TN
1999 Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN
1998 Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA (catalogue)
Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
1997 Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Albertson-Peterson Gallery, Orlando, FL
1996 Spirit Square Center for the Arts, Charlotte, NC
Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI
Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN
Tennessee Performing Arts Center/Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN
1995 Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN (catalogue)
1994 Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
1993 Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
1992 Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN
Lowe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1991 Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
1990 Carlton Cobb Gallery, Atlanta, GA
1989 Kyle Belding Gallery, Denver, CO
1988 Carlton Cobb Gallery, Atlanta, GA
1985 Artifacts Gallery, Bozeman, MT
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 A 39 Year Retrospective, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN.
2018 Collaborations, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
Artists in Michoacán, Museo Contemporaneo Alfredo Zalce, Morelia, MX
2017 Transcending the Medium, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2016 Unexpected Surfaces, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
Local Fare, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2013 People, Places and Things, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
2009 Works With Words, Nashville Public Library, Nashville, TN
2007 The Hunter Invitational, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
The Art of Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (catalogue)
2003 A Century of Progress: Twentieth Century Painting in Tennessee, Cheekwood
Museum of Art (traveling exhibition with catalogue: West Tennessee Regional Art Center; Knoxville Museum of Art; Carroll Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University; Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA)
Awards
2014 U.S. State Department ,Visual Arts Initiative, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2010 U.S. State Department, Visual Arts Initiative, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Professional Development Grant, Tennessee Arts Commission, Printmaking in Mexico
2003 Artist Residency, Spring Concentration, Penland School of Crafts
1999 Individual Artist Fellowship, Tennessee Arts Commission
1998 Tennessee-Israel Visual Artists Exchange
1988 Purchase Award, Dulin National Works on Paper Competition, Knoxville Museum of Art (Juror: Thomas Leavitt)
Public Commissions
2005 Imagery Winery, Glen Ellen, CA: “Offering,” original watercolor for wine label
Bonnaroo Music Festival Poster, Manchester, TN
2004 Goldenberg-Hehmeyer, Chicago, IL: “Counting on the Future,” 5’ x 10,’acrylic and mixed media painting on wood
2003 Oregon Episcopal School, Portland, OR: "Learn to Grow," 9' tall welded steel outdoor sculpture
2002 Knoxville Convention Center, Knoxville, TN: "Local Talent," wood and steel, 5' tall pedestal sculpture
2001 Ruby Tuesday Headquarters, Maryville, TN: Pair of paintings for public foyer, each 80" x 55"
CNL Corporate Headquarters, Orlando, FL: "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow," 5' x 35,' acrylic and mixed media painting on wood
2000 St. Andrews-Sewanee School, Sewanee, TN: "A Head of Our Time," 10' tall steel and found object, site-specific outdoor sculpture
1997 Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta, GA: "Serenade the Procession," 18' long steel and found object, suspended sculpture
1996 Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs: "We Can Go," acrylic and mixed media painting on wood panels, 2' x 168' running feet; 4 steel and found object sculptures on 70' long baggage claim carousels in Concourse E (International Terminal)
1994 Bell South Headquarters, Nashville, TN: Pair of paintings for public foyer, each 72" x 48"
Public Collections
Music City Center, Nashville ,TN
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC
Blackberry Farm, Walland, TN
Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, GA
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
Nashville International Airport, Nashville, TN
Orlando City Hall, Orlando, FL
Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN
Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN
Bibliography
Jones, MiChelle, “Face to Face with Andrew Saftel,” in: Nashville Arts, February 2011
Moquit, K. Anis, “Native Land: Of Birthplace, Landscape and Process of Recalling,” in: Depart, October 2010
Adkins, Dennis, “Off The Block: Artist Collaborates on Print Project in Mexico, in: Arts Tennessee: A Publication of the Tennessee Arts Commission, Fall 2010
Freeman-Jurney, Roberta H., “ Andrew Saftel: Artistic Soul,” in: Florida Design, 2004, v. 14, no. 4, pp. 62-66.
Scala, Mark, "New Directions: Contemporary Art in Tennessee," in: Art of Tennessee. (Nashville: Frist Center for the Visual Arts, 2003), pp. 337-8, 340.
Wicks, Stephen, catalogue entries in Art of Tennessee (Nashville: Frist Center for the Visual Arts, 2003), pp. 342-343, and A Century of Progress: Twentieth Century Painting in Tennessee (Nashville: Tennessee Historical Society and Cheekwood Museum of Art, 2002), pp. 69-70.
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