TAA Featured Art Exhibitions

July 11 - August 5, 2022
Leu Art Gallery (Lila D. Bunch Library)

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Artist Statement

My paintings are composed of small sections of the natural world represented at a magnified scale. They are usually complicated images and are slow to make. Each piece is a record of a steady, meditative painting process—hopefully imbuing the traditional subject of flowers with what the art historian, Norman Bryson termed a “meticulous particularity.” I seek to make something that is commonplace—a  flower blossom—both resonate and endure. Because of the life cycle metaphorically embedded in their representation, the flowers are vanitas images symbolizing the fleetingness of life. However, because of their exuberant color and beauty, they are also meant to communicate joy. I hope this work provides a connection to and awareness of the natural world’s vitality and vulnerability.

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Visually, my paintings can be approached similar to how a person might look at a medieval manuscript or tapestry. The flowers and foliage are constructed out of myriad shapes that are intricately patterned and interwoven. I work to make all the elements contribute equally, including the more abstracted background shapes and spaces that play a peripheral role in the composition. Although as images they vary in their verisimilitude, each aspect of the flowers, foliage, and negative space is invested with the same degree of involvement. The way in which they are paintings first and believable images second is critical to my artistic concerns.

Artist Biography
Beth Edwards was born in Alabama and lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee. She received degrees from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and from Indiana University. Edwards has had an active thirty year career in painting, exhibiting, and teaching. She taught painting at the University of Memphis for twenty-one years and is the recipient of many awards, grants, commissions, and residencies. Recent awards and honors include the Distinguished Research Award and the Alumni Association Distinguished Achievement in the Creative Arts Award from the University of Memphis, and the Arts Accelerator Grant and the Emmett O-Ryan Award for Artistic Inspiration from the organization ArtsMemphis.  In 2013, Edwards was awarded a commission from the city of Memphis for her Willow Park mural and was also named artist for Memphis in May honoring Sweden. Edwards has participated in solo and group exhibitions in galleries, museums, institutions, and organizations across the United States, including the Huntsville Museum of Art in Huntsville, Alabama; the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis; the Contemporary Art Workshop in Chicago; the Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock; Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi; and the San Francisco International Fine Arts Exposition. She is represented by the David Lusk Gallery.