Vadis Turner
VADIS TURNER'S (b. 1977, Nashville, TN) textile-driven sculptures and mixed media works challenge narratives traditionally imposed upon female archetypes. Growing up in the conservative landscape of the American South, the artist was raised among generations of women navigating a culture wrought with behavioral expectations. In her practice, Turner considers those experiences in the broader context of women’s history, employing domestic materials liberated from their intended functions, formal natures, and gender associations to rewrite the tale. Ribbons, bedsheets, and curtains coupled with concrete, steel, and ash take shape in misbehaving grids, unruly vessels, and mercurial braided structures, often titled after maligned female figures from classical folklore and mythology.
The work of Vadis Turner was aptly characterized in an essay by Melissa Messina as harkening “to the visceral and conceptual qualities of art made in the area in late the 1960s and early ‘70s…. In her visceral and conceptual use of materials, and her embrace of the decorative, the romantic, and the bodily, Turner is clearly the daughter of this very rebellious revolution.”
Turner’s works has been featured widely at museums and institutions including solo shows at The Huntsville Museum of Art, the Frist Art Museum, Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts, and University of Colorado Colorado Springs and group shows at the Museum of Art and Design, Zuckerman Museum, KMAC, and 21C, among others.
Included in ZieherSmith exhibitions: Quartet, 2022; ZieherSmith & Friends, 2020; Summer Reading, 2015; BNA, 2011
Vadis Turner
Aset, 2023
Bedsheets, Polyfil, mineral wool, gravel, metal leaf, mixed, media
72 x 54 x 7 inches
Vadis Turner
Pinch, 2024
Curtains and metal leaf
21 x 12.5 x 1 inches
Vadis Turner
The Witch
Bedsheets, charred wood, acrylic, resin, and mixed media
26 x 24 x 16 inches
Vadis Turner
Ribbon and Rebar Grid, 2021
Rebar, ribbon, thread
43 x 32 x 4 inches
Vadis Turner
Swollen Grid, 2021
Bedsheets, burnt wood, gravel and mixed media
30 x 26 x 5 inches
Vadis Turner
Flirt, 2024,
Curtains, metal leaf, resin
24 x 17 x 1 inches
Vadis Turner
Brick Dust Grid, 2022
Bedsheets, rebar and mixed media
86 x 80 x 10 inches
Vadis Turner
Painted Ribbon and Rebar Grid, 2021
Rebar, ribbon, thread
43 x 32 x 4 inches
Born in Nashville, TN. Lives and works in Nashville, TN
Education
MFA and BFA, Boston University, Boston, MA
Select Solo Exhibitions
2023
She Drank Gold, Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts, Birmingham, AL
Seven Sisters, Whitespace/Whitespec, Atlanta, GA
2022
Encounters, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
Portals, OZ Arts, Nashville, TN
Window Treatments, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
2020
Cups and Grids, Geary, New York, NY
Attitude: Other Voices, Set for the Nashville Ballet, Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville. TN
2019
Megaliths, Ent Center for the Arts, curated by Daisy McGowan, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO
2018
Bedfellows, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
2017
Tempest, Frist Art Museum, curated by Katie Delmez, Nashville, TN
Vadis Turner, Expo Chicago, Geary Contemporary, Chicago, IL
Select Group Exhibitions
2025
Filsoofi | Turner, ZieherSmith, Nashville, TN
Venus Rising, Longhouse Reserve, East Hampton, NY
Daydream, curated by James Salomon, Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, MA
2024
Craft Front & Center, Museum of Art and Design, NYC
From The Eyes of Her, World Trade Center, presented by Port Authority and Chellis Baird, New York
2023
Hand Over Hand: Textiles Today, Mindy Solomon, Miami, FL
Think Pinker, curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Repair: Tennessee Triennial, curated by Maria Magdalena Compos-Pons, Nashville, TN
Intent/Content, Susquehanna Art Museum, PA
2022
Quartet, ZieherSmith, Nashville, TN
The Future is Female, 21C Museum Nashville, TN
Material Investment, The Bank, Newark, OH
Triennial: Divided We Fall, Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts, Louisville, KY
The F Word, The Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
2020
ZieherSmith at Virgin Hotel, Nashville, TN
The F Word: We Mean Female, The Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
Shag, curated by Laura Hutson, Nashville TN
2019
Annual Competition, curated by Allison Glenn, Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA
Xanadu, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
2018
Vadis Turner & Nathaniel Donnett, Carnegie Center for Art & History, New Albany, IN
Continuity of Context, Cheekwood Museum, Nashville, TN
Hunter Invitational, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
2017
Inaugural Exhibition, Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, The Bunker, West Palm Beach, FL
Embedded Message, curated by Stefanie Fedor and Melissa Messina, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, VA
Confabulations of the Millennia, Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, Portland, ME
Elevate, Alicia Henry & Vadis Turner, 21C Hotel, Nashville, TN
FemiNest, curated by Heather Zises and Melinda Wang, Equity Gallery, New York, NY
2016
Richard Feaster & Vadis Turner, Tibbott Art Center, University School of Nashville, Nashville, TN
2015
Summer Reading, ZieherSmitgh, Nashville, TN
Woman House, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Brooklyn Museum Artist Ball Auction, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Velocity of Textiles, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
2014
Minimal/Maximal, Kinz+ Tillou Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
Convergence, 808 Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA
2013
Repetition & Ritual, Project Space at Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN
Summertime, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY
The Lonely Sea and Sky, Allegra LaViola Gallery, New York, NY
Off The Wall, Mirus Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Repetition and Ritual, Hudgens Center for the Arts, Atlanta, GA
Cold Castle, Family Business, New York, NY
2012
Bad for You, curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody, Shizaru Gallery, London, England
Americana, Grey Area, New York, NY
Material Matters, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
Haberdashery, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Sutured, Like The Spice Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2011
Grey Area Miami, Bass Art Museum, Miami, FL
Curate NYC, curated by Eric C. Shiner, Danielle Burns and Courtney Wendroff
BNA: Brooklyn to Nashville, Zieher Smith Gallery (NYC), Nashville, TN
Extreme Materials 2, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
24/7, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
Artists Ball, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Basic Instinct, Flanders Gallery, Raleigh, NC
We The Artists, National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad and Tobago
2010
Basic Instinct, Black and White Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Critical Stitch, Union College, Schenectady, NY
Common Jive, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
Bunny Redux, Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, PA
2009
Spectrum 2009, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
In Stitches, curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody, Lelia Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York, NY
New Acquisitions, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Crafting Romance, Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Athens, GA
Hanging by a Tread, Westchester Arts Council, Westchester, NY
Narrative Thread, Lyons Weir Gallery, New York, NY
Fashion Forward, Islip Art Museum, Islip, NY
Selected Collections
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
The Bunker, Palm Beach, FL
Davidson County Courthouse, Nashville, TN
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
Kentucky Arts and Crafts Museum, Louisville, KY
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
Soho House, Nashville TN
Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN
Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN
University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL
Grants/Awards
2021 Current Art Fund, a regranting program from the Andy Warhol Foundation to TriStar Arts, Knoxville, TN
2020 Individual Artist Opportunity Grant, South Arts, Atlanta, GA
2019 Individual Artist Fellowship, Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN
2016 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, New York, NY
2009 Project Grant, Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Bearsville, NY
2008 Brooklyn Museum Feminist Artist Database, Brooklyn, NY
Residencies
2025 Artist in Residence, Beverly Pepper Foundation, Umbria, Italy
2024 Artist in Residence, Corporation of Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
2022 VSC Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnston, VT
2020 Artist in Residence, Hambidge Center for the Arts, GA
2018 Artist in Residence, Corporation of Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
2013 Artist Fellowship, Materials for the Arts, Long Island City, NY
2012 MAD Artist Studio, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
2007 Artist in Residence, Egon Schiele Art Centrum, Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
Selected Bibliography
Vittoria Benzine, “Vadis Turner Delves into Stories of Mythological, Historical and Literary Female
Outcasts”, Widewalls, Aug 2023
Bryn Evans, “Distillations: Vadis Turner at the Hunstville Museum of Art," Burnaway, Jan 18, 2023
Jillian McManemin, “Vadis Turner: Encounters”, Art Papers, November 2022
Annabel Keenan, “Miami Art Week Artillery Report: Day 2”, Artillery Magazine, Dec 2, 2022
Jenny Zoe Casey, “Fine Value at The Bank”, Two Coats of Paint, Sept 30, 2022
James Salomon, “Meddling in the Middle”, Whitehot Magazine, Aug 2022
Lakshmi Rivera Amin, “A View From the Easel”, Hyperallergic, April 2022
“Must See: Vadis Turner Cups and Grids at Geary, NYC,” Artforum, Oct 2020
David Ebony, “NYC Autumn Top 10”, Snapeditions.com, Sept 2020
Skye Parrot, “Desire”, Playgirl, Fall 2020
Heather Zises John Goslee, 50 Contemporary Women Artists, Schiffer Publishing, Nov 2018
Glenn Adamson, “Cakes and America’s Culture Wars”, Crafts Council Magazine UK, Dec 2017
Giovanna Dunmall, “EXPO Chicago 2017: The Highlights”, Wallpaper, Oct 24, 2017
Tayler Dafoe, “The Best Booths of Chicago Expo 2017”, Observer, Sept 14, 2017
Joe Nolan, “Vadis Turner’s Tempest at the Frist in Nashville”, Burnaway, Aug 22, 2017
Steven Kurutz, “Taking Brooklyn to Nashville”, New York Times, May 4, 2017
Sarbani Ghosh, “16 Feminist Art Shows to See”, Artnet, March 6, 2017
Heather Corcoran, “Uncertain Spaces: Curator Vadis Turner Explores the Art of the Unknown”, Artsy, July 1 2014
Kenneth Baker, “Off the Wall”, San Francisco Chronicle, May 4, 2013
“Best Bet”, New York Magazine, December 17, 2012
Veronique Hyland, “Creative License”, Elle Magazine, Dec 2012
Kimberly Chou, “Bringing a Corpse to Life”, Wall Street Journal, Feb 8, 2011
“Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics”, PBS, produced by Shelly Zegart, Fall 2011
Sarah Maslin Nir, “You Singin To Me”, New York Times, April 29, 2011
Jessica Mischner ,“The Southern Invasion of NYC”, Garden & Gun, April/May 2010
Susan Hodara, “Recycled Artwork for Forward Thinkers”, New York Times, April 12, 2009
Benjamin Genocchio, “Where Fashion Meets its Artistic Match”, New York Times, Jan 8, 2009
Kofi Forson, “An Interview with Vadis Turner”, Whitehot Magazine, Oct 2008
Ben Davis, “Retro Activities”, Artnet, March 2006