Moss Gathers: Meredith Laura Lynn and Katie Hargrave
April 6–April 27 | Opening Reception April 6, 1pm–9pm
COOP is pleased to present Moss Gathers by the collaborative multimedia artists Meredith Laura Lynn and Katie Hargrave. The exhibition takes the history, design, use, and secondary market of fetishized mid-late 20th century outdoor recreation gear as the starting point for this installation. The exhibition includes outdoor sculpture, collages, and a new immersive installation.
The artwork was inspired by the legacy of Bill Moss, a fiber artist turned tent designer and founder of Moss Tentworks. Moss moved from working in the art world to commercial industry, but after his death and the company’s dissolution, Moss Tents have become increasingly sought after, resulting in a secondary market where these tents sell for thousands of dollars and are collected by art and design museums. As fiber artists who have created functional and non-functional art-tents, Hargrave and Lynn are interested in exploring the move from art to industry, and what is lost and gained in that process. The artworks in this exhibition were created with support from the Current Art Fund grant, a granting program organized and administered by Tri-Star Arts as a partner in the Regional Regranting Program of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The exterior garden and installation is also created with support from the Hays Foundation.
More about the Artists
Katie Hargrave and Meredith Laura Lynn are artists and educators who work collaboratively to explore the historic, cultural, and environmental impacts of so-called public land. Their work has been shown at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (Salt Lake City, UT), Knoxville Museum of Art (Knoxville, TN), Atlanta Contemporary (Atlanta, GA), the Wiregrass Museum of Art (Dothan, AL), Gadsden Museum of Art (Gadsden, AL), amongst others. Their work has been covered in press including Burnaway, Art Papers, Dovetail, Ruckus, New Art Examiner. Together they have been artists in residence at the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum (St. Augustine, FL) and Signal Fire (Portland, OR). Hargrave and Lynn met at the University of Iowa, where they both earned MFAs. They have been collaborating since 2018 and continue to maintain independent studio practices. Hargrave is an Associate Professor of Art at University of Tennessee Chattanooga and Lynn is an Assistant Professor of Art at Florida State University. Learn more about the artists at their websites: meredithlauralynn.com katiehargrave.com.
More about COOP
COOP is a curatorial collective made up of artists, curators, thinkers and professors who are committed to expanding Nashville’s dialogue with contemporary art by presenting challenging new or under-represented artists/artworks to our community. COOP is committed to exhibiting art of diverse media and content, with a goal to provide an alternative venue for artists free from the constraints of the retail market. COOP seeks to initiate a discourse between Nashville and art scenes across the country by inviting artists to show, develop projects and interact with the Nashville community.
For questions contact: info@coopgallery.org, Beth Reitmeyer, beth.reitmeyer@gmail.com