UT Martin establishes Center for Southern Art

UT Martin establishes Center for Southern Art

MARTIN, Tenn. – A new Center for Southern Art is being launched by the University of Tennessee at Martin’s Department of Visual and Theatre Arts and the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, with a goal of establishing an expanded facility to support the region’s arts programs.

MARTIN, TENN., Nov. 7, 2025 – CENTER FOR SOUTHERN ART – A new Center for Southern Art is being launched by the UT Martin Department of Visual and Theatre Arts and the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. The center will host the closing ceremony for the Bellwethers Juried Exhibition of Collegiate Art on Nov. 14 at the West Tennessee Regional Art Center in Humboldt, located at 1200 East Main Street. Public parking is available across the street behind the mayor’s office. Students are pictured earlier this fall setting up exhibits for this year’s Bellwethers exhibition.

The center will host the closing ceremony for the Bellwethers Juried Exhibition of Collegiate Art on Nov. 14 at the West Tennessee Regional Art Center in Humboldt, located at 1200 East Main Street. Public parking is available across the street behind the mayor’s office. 

The Center for Southern Art aims to create a better understanding and appreciation of the region’s artistic culture and is currently housed within the UT Martin Department of Visual and Theatre Arts. The new center recognizes the rich and diverse artistic traditions of the American South as a vital lens through which to explore themes of identity, place, memory, struggle and transformation. 

The center’s programming, exhibitions and acquisitions aim to emphasize the multiplicity of the experiences of those in the American South, with equal emphasis on the past, present and future of Southern art. 

This project is the brainchild of UT Martin artist and lecturer Clay Palmer, who serves as the center’s director. Palmer works in close consultation with Dr. Jeffrey Bibbee, dean of Humanities and Fine Arts, and Sarah Haig, chair of the Department of Visual and Theatre Arts, as well as the center’s Faculty Guidance Council. This council consists of several faculty from across the college whose expertise and research interests align with the center’s mission.

“The Department of Visual and Theatre Arts at UT Martin has long been known for its support and investment in new and existing artists in the region, and the Center for Southern Art is the next step in building on that foundation,” Palmer says. “We’re building something that both the local campus community and the greater Southern region will benefit from.”

Palmer is formalizing the Center for Southern Art’s governance and policies, as well as launch the center’s visibility and branding, within the first year of its establishment. Other tasks include developing the center’s advisory board, finalizing its collection policies and acquisition guidelines, collaborating with other institutions, and hosting inaugural programming. 

“As the Center for Southern Art begins its work,” Palmer said, “we are looking to connect with potential advisory board members who share our commitment to advancing the visibility and impact of Southern art. Their guidance and advocacy will be vital in shaping opportunities for students, artists, and communities across the region and beyond.”

The Center for Southern Art’s first 2025 event is the current Bellwethers Juried Exhibition of Collegiate Art, held in collaboration with the West Tennessee Regional Art Center. This event was created in the year 2000 by the late Lane Last, who served as a professor of graphic design at UT Martin before his passing in October 2024, under the original name of Artists of the 21st Century. The exhibition’s purpose is to allow students’ works to be reviewed by a professional outside juror alongside students from other programs from across the South. 

The Center for Southern Art now has oversight of the Bellwethers exhibition, which has expanded its coverage this year to include programs from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. 

The exhibition opened Oct. 20, and a closing reception and awards ceremony will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14, at the regional art center in Humboldt. This exhibition and event are free and open to the public.

Within the second year of the center’s establishment, Palmer aims to expand the programming and increase student and community involvement through student internships, artist residencies, workshops and year-round community events. 

The center will also begin building a permanent collection through a pilot acquisition program while working with artists, galleries and other institutions. External grants and fundraising will also be pursued with the intention of securing dedicated funding for collection growth and maintenance. Other priorities are establishing temporary storage and conservation protocols, as well as planning for the center’s first academic conference focused on Southern art. 

Future efforts include developing new academic programs to work in tandem with the new permanent collection, including courses offered in curatorial studies and arts entrepreneurship. The goal is for the center to eventually become a leading regional hub for Southern art, with long-term acquisition funding established. 

By the fifth year of the center’s establishment, the aim is to begin preparing for the move to a new facility, which will be part of a reimagination of the Northwest Tennessee Arts Center Project, and will include expanded facilities for UT Martin’s mass media and strategic communication, visual and theatre arts, and music programs. 

“The Center for Southern Art is part of a larger strategy in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts to make our campus a cultural and creative hub for West Tennessee,” Dr. Jeffrey Bibbee said. 

Palmer is excited for what the new collection and programs will bring.

“With a permanent art collection on campus comes new opportunities for growing our programs in the department and college, which in turn allows us to further prepare our students for the workforce by giving them additional valuable skills that can aid them in their future careers.”

For more information about the Center for Southern Art, contact Clay Palmer at jpalme36@utm.edu or 731-881-7417.  

For more local news, click here.