Courtney Adair Johnson
Courtney Adair Johnson
artandrecycling at gmail.com
Education/Professional:
Gallery Director, Tennessee State University Department Art and Design 2016-2025
Co-Builder McGruder Social Practice Artist Residency (M-SPAR), Nashville TN 2016-2024
Racial Equity in Arts Leadership (REAL) Learning Cadre, Metro Arts, Nashville TN 2015-2016
Program Coordinator, Seed Space, Nashville TN 2015-2016
Teaching Artist, Plaza Artist Materials, Nashville TN 2010- 2016
Art Handler, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum 2015-2016
Kids' Tent Coordinator, Tennessee Craft Spring Fair, Nashville TN 2014-2016
Workshop and Inventory Coordinator, Plaza Artist Materials, Nashville TN 2006-2013
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technical University, Smithville, TN, Concentration: Metals, 2001-1999
Fine Arts Center, Greenville, SC, Concentration: Metals, 1999-1997
Awards/Grants/Residencies:
Woven Wind, NEA, Mellon Foundation and Tennessee Arts Commission Arts Access, Vanderbilt University, 2021-2025
AIR, McGruder Social Practice Artist Residency (M-SPAR), Nashville TN 2016-2024
37208 Fund, Human Narrative(s), 2023
MNPS Artist in Residence, Glencliff High School, 2021
Art Writing Symposium, Metro Art Thrive Funding, 2020
Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville Visionaries by Carl Pope, Hiram Van Gordon Gallery 2018
Social Justice Innovation Initiative Grant, M-SPAR, University of Tennessee 2018
Overlands Artworks, ALT Residency, June 2018
Career Development, Hinge Arts Residency, Springboard for the Arts, Fergus Falls, MN 2017
Learning Lab, Metro Arts, Nashville TN 2017-2018
McGruder Creative University (M-CRU), Mellon Foundation, Vanderbilt University 2016
Mapping McGruder, Thrive/Metro Arts Commission, Nashville, TN 2016
Fergus Falls Walking Map Book, Hinge Arts Residency, Springboard for the Arts, MN 2015
Master Artist Apprentice Program, Tennessee Craft, Nashville TN, 2014
Gold Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, National Museum of Art, Washington DC, Metals, 1999
Selected Solo/Group Exhibitions:
Woven Wind, HVG Gallery and University of the South UAG, 2023, Natchez Museum of African American History and Culture and ETSU Slocumb Galleries, 2025
Queer Ecology, Fido’s, Nashville, TN, 2024
Roadmaps, COOP Gallery, Nashville TN, 2024
Art Education, Arcade Arts Nashville TN, 2024
Cosa Nostra, Red 225, Nashville TN, 2024
Human Narrative(s), Tennessee State University Brown-Daniel Library, 2023
If I Loved, Femme Gallery, Nashville TN, 2022
Collection Connection, TSU Art and Design Art and Artifacts Collection, HVG Gallery, 2021, curated Courtney Adair Johnson
Being Human Being, Electric Shed, Nashville TN, 2021, curated Marlos E’van
I’M SO GLAD, An exhibition of Tennessee State University memorabilia and artifacts highlighting the university's legacy, culture, and history., HVG Gallery 2020, curated Courtney Adair Johnson
Hot Cheetos: Activism and Junkfood with Nuveen Barwari and Marlos E’van, Channel to Channel, Nashville, TN 2020, le_swampppppppppppppp, Knoxville, TN 2020
Week 10: Holding On, Stay Home Gallery, 2020
Everything is Different Now, Stay Home Gallery 2020
Cowan Collection RE:, Parthenon 2018, curated by Courtney Adair Johnson and Susan Shockley
40 for 40, Metro Arts Commission, Metro Courthouse
Build Better Tables, assisted Tattfoo Tan on S.O.S. Free Seed Libraries, Metro Arts Temporary Public Art, curated by Nicole Caruth
What is Love?, Julia Martin Gallery 2018, curated by Julia Martin
Our Food Access, Hiram Van Gordon Gallery, Tennessee State University 2017, curated
Edgehilll Muses, The Curb Center for Art, Vanderbilt University Enterprise and Public Policy 2016, curated by Rachel Bubis
Dream a Reality, WAG, Arcade Nashville TN 2016
The Silo Room, Track One 2015, curated
Courtney Adair Johnson at MBA (in their trash), Montgomery Bell Academy 2015 (solo show)
Modular Art Pods, Houston Station, Nashville TN 2015
Selvage, Hiram Van Gordon Memorial Gallery, Tennessee State University 2014, curated by Jodi Hays and Laura Hutson
Paper, Thread, and Trash, A Collections of Art Books Made from Reuse, Downtown Nashville Public Library, Nashville TN 2014
Material Potential, University School of Nashville 2014
MAAP Group Show, Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville TN 2014
Abstracts and Others, Smart Scraps Make Art Supplies, Nashville TN 2014
Nashville ABC TV Series, Nashville TN 2014-2013
The Dirt of our Landscape The Landscape of our Dirt, Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, Nashville TN 2013 (solo show)
Handmade and Bound, Watkins College of Art, Design and Film, Nashville TN 2013
Projects/Workshops:
Mid-South Sculpture Alliance Select Juror, MTSU, 2024
Woven Wind, Ethics of Memory Workshop, McGruder Family Resource Center, 2021
Artist Activists: How Creatives Can Advocate for Change in their Communities, Creative Exchange, Arts and Business Council, 2021
Rethinking Resources, SECAC Chattanooga TN 2019
Picturing a Place, MuralLab, Mural Arts Philadelphia PA 2019
Leadership Nashville Arts and Entertainment Day 2017/2018
Shaping An Artful Community, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville TN 2017
Curlie E. McGruder Information Guide, McGruder Family Resource Center, 2016
Found Narratives, Frist Center for the Visual Arts and Poverty for the Arts, Nashville TN 2015
Trash is eARTh, Green Hills Public Library, Nashville TN 2015
FLEX It! Extended, Jacob Center, San Diego CA 2015
Free Plastic, A Community Weaving, Oz Family Day, Nashville, TN 2014
Anti-You, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville TN 2014
Our Meander House Book, Downtown Nashville Public Library, Nashville TN 2014
The Trash Menagerie, Nashville Mini Maker Faire, Nashville TN 2013/2014
Color Your Library, Nashville Public Library Foundation, Nashville TN 2013
World Refugee Day, Oasis Center and Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville TN 2013
String City, Wishing Chair Production, Nashville TN 2013
Earth Day Trash Painting, Frist Center for the Visual Arts and Turnip Green Creative Reuse, Nashville TN 2012
Mise en Scene and Field Journals with Warner Elementary and Frist Art Museum, Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, Nashville TN 2012
Mechanical Animals: The Mooglie Foop, Nashville’s Downtown Puppet Festival, Nashville TN 2011
Consuming Catastrophe: The Comedy of the Heart; A Play in Ate Parts, Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville TN 2010
Press:
Ministry of the Arts, podcast; Ministry of the Arts engages art as theological praxis for imagining, framing, and (re)creating relationships and holistic time, paying particular attention to curiosity and longing
Stay Home book, A curatorial study of womxn practicing social distancing in consideration of feminism and domesticity during a time of staying home. by Kaylan Buteyn and Pam Marlene Taylor
Burnaway, Nashville Artists Aim for Place-keeping More Than Placemaking by Erica Ciccarone
Nashville arts Magazine, ARTSMART: M-SPAR: ART ENGAGING COMMUNITY by DeeGee Lester
Vanderbilt News, Edgehill Muses by Ann Marie Deer Owens
Nashville Arts Magazine Blog, The Happening at Wilburn Street Tavern by Courtney Adair Johnson
Fergus Falls Journal, Mapping it Out by Miranda Hubert
Imagine Fergus Falls Blog, Reinventing the discarded by Courtney Adair Johnson
Number Inc., The Silo Room by Erica Ciccarone
Best of Nashville Scene 2015, Best Themed Art Show by Joe Nolan
Burnaway, Trash Tales at the Nashville Public Library by Erica Ciccarone
Nashville Arts Magazine, January 2015, Organized Chaos by Erica Ciccarone
Nashville Visual Artist Blog, Tina Gionis
Country Life, Nashville Scene, Studio Visit: Courtney Adair Johnson by Laura Huston