Bidding farewell to a local holiday tradition
Memphis College of Art to host final bazaar
In the week ahead of the final holiday bazaar in Rust Hall, volunteers climbed up ladders, hammering nails into the bare walls for the last time. Artwork for sale will be arranged from floor to ceiling in a curated exhibit of sorts, a Memphis College of Art tradition that began in 1950 but will end this year with the college's closing.
Bud Richey, who came out of retirement to become the college's vice president in 2017, fondly recalled the first time he was handed a hammer and nails.
“Oh,” he thought. “I've arrived.” Thousands of works, from paintings to metalworks, textiles, sculpture, jewelry, photography — the list goes on to encompass about 3,500 unique pieces, some one-of-a-kind, some available in several copies — are for sale at the bazaar. The event begins with a $50 preview party Friday evening and concludes Saturday, when entry is free all day.
The college's bazaar differs from traditional holiday markets in its inclusion of fine art, said Olivia Wall, who organizes the event with the help of about 50 volunteers. The 120-artist roster includes students, faculty and staff, alumni and other local makers. Wall spent hours creating the layout for the bazaar, and began bright and early Monday hanging art, starting near the ceiling and working her way in layers down the wall.
Most galleries discourage patrons from touching the art, but at the bazaar, attendees can remove the pieces they'd like to purchase from the wall. Even spread across two floors of Rust
Hall, there's not enough wall space for every piece of art in the show, so as art is purchased, another piece is hung in the empty space.
So far, it's been too busy to be bittersweet. As the college's coordinator of external engagement, Wall assists with additional events for the college, like the Horn Island Exhibition, which drew a huge crowd this year.
“It is sad, but we’re also really proud that we can continue having these (traditional events) through the end,” Wall said, instead of having to end them before the college’s final semester next spring.
Memphis College of Art announced that it would be closing in October 2017. It paved a way for the students to graduate, though, through a 21⁄2-year “teachout” that will culminate with a final graduation in May. The college hosted a transfer fair soon after the announcement, working with several other institutions in efforts to usher students who wanted to obtain their degrees elsewhere out of the college with as many transferable credits as possible. Students who remained met with advisers to formulate a pathway to graduation by
May 2020. Of the 52 students at the college (51 undergraduates and one graduate student), there are three or four who may not graduate, Richey said.
In the last year in particular, a strong collective sense of purpose emerged from the leadership and the students, Richey said.
“I think that spirit remains, where students are creating good work,” he said, “and I think they’re being nurtured by caring faculty members, supported by staff who seek to help them meet the needs they have.”
Grace Siler, a student selling work at the college’s final bazaar, has been happy with her decision to stay and will complete her degree in December. She knew she wanted to attend an arts college, and actually began at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. The school announced its closing, so she transferred to Memphis two months before the college announced it was closing, too.
Siler’s experiences illustrate a nationwide trend analyzed by Inside High