Kell Black

Kell Alexander Black was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He earned a BA in piano and German at the State University of New York, College at Fredonia, studied harpsichord and Baroque performance practice at the Wiener Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, Austria, and was awarded the MFA in drawing and sculpture from the University of Connecticut, Storrs. He has been a professor of drawing and foundations at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, since 1993 and received numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts/Southern Art Federation Individual Artist’s Grant in Drawing. He has exhibited his graphic work throughout the United States and Switzerland. He is also active as a paper engineer, and his work is in the permanent collection of Tennessee State Museum.

RESUME

Education
University of Connecticut, Department of Art
M.F.A.  Drawing, sculpture.  (High Honors)  1989.

State University of New York, College at Fredonia
B.A.  Piano, German.  (Cum laude)  1981.

Wiener Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst
Vienna, Austria.  Harpsichord.  1980.

Experience
Chair, Department of Art, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee. 2011 to present.

Professor of Art, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.  2001 to 2011.

Associate Professor of Art, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.  1996 to the 2001.

Assistant Professor of Art,  Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.  1993 to 1996.

Professor of Foundations (unranked), Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia.  1989 to 1993.

Honors, Awards, Residencies

Artist in Residence, Weir Farm Historic Site, Branchville, Connecticut, 2009.

Artist in Residence, Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, 2006.

Second Place Award, Works on Paper, Riverfest Art Exhibit, 2001.

First Place Award, Works on Paper, Riverfest Art Exhibit, 2000.

Internationale Austausch Ateliers Region Basel/International Artists Exchange Program Basel, (six month artist in residence program) Basel, Switzerland, 1998.

First Place Award, Works on Paper, Riverfest Art Exhibit, 1998.

Purchase Award, Riverfest Art Exhibit, 1996.

First Place Award, 17th Annual Paper in Particular National Exhibition, 1996.

First Place Award, Nude ‘96 National Juried Exhibition, 1996.

First Place Award, Works on Paper, Trans Financial Bank Open Fine Art Exhibition, 1995.

Southern Arts Federation/National Endowment for the Arts 1994 Visual Arts Fellowship.

Best of Show Award, Regional Show IX, 1994.

Trans Financial Bank Purchase Award, Trans Financial Bank Open Fine Art Exhibition, 1994.

Best of Show Award, Trans Financial Bank Open Fine Art Exhibition, 1994.

First Place Award, Works on Paper, Trans Financial Bank Open Fine Art Exhibition, 1994.

Best of Show,  Fourth Annual Hilton Head Art League Juried Exhibition, 1993.

Individual Artist’s Grant, Georgia Council for the Arts, 1992.

    

Solo Exhibitions

2011

Black Drawings, Leu Gallery, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee.

Hands, Sarratt Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

2007

Paperworks, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee.

2004

Black Water, Trahern Gallery, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.

A Short History of Flight, Customs House Museum, Clarksville, Tennessee.

2001

Drawings, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Paperwork, Customs House Museum, Clarksville, Tennessee.

Drawings, Middle Georgia State College, Calhoun, Georgia.        

2000

Cut and Paste, Felix G. Woodward Library, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.

 

Group Exhibitions

2016

Local Fare, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee.

2011

Papier, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee.

2010

Faculty Beinnial, Trahern Gallery, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.

2008

Shades of Gray, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tennessee.

2007

Plane Text, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, Virginia.

2006

Artists in Residence Exhibition, Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Portland, Oregon.

Body of Art, Willoughby and Baltic, Boston, Massachusetts.

Summer Browsing, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee.

APSU Faculty Biennial Exhibition, Trahern Gallery, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.

Assemblage: A Group Profile of Artists Separated by Birth, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee.

2005

U.S. Bank Exhibition, Downtown Artists' Co-op, Clarksville, Tennessee.

2004

AAF Contemporary Art Fair, Pier 92, New York, New York.

APSU Faculty Biennial Exhibition, Trahern Gallery, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.

Summer Exhibition, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee.

Members' Exhibition, Downtown Artists' Co-op, Clarksville, Tennessee.

2003

Art of Tennessee, Frist Center for the Creative Art, Nashville, Tennessee

Culture Clash, Artist Exchange Portfolio for the 31st Annual Southern Graphics Association Conference.  Boston , Massachusetts

Small Packages, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee.

Publications

Black, Kell.  Paper New YorkPaper New York, Universe, New York, NY, 2010

Black, Kell and John Saunders.  Paper Chess, Running Press,  Philadelphia Pennsylvania. 2009

Black, Kell.  „Basteln und Kunst.” cfm Verlag Hauszeitung 1/99. Munich,Germany. 2000;  pgs. 20 - 21.

Black, Kell.  "Basteln und Kunst."  Tagungsbericht;  11. Internationale Kartonbau- Treffen, 24. und 25. April 1999 im Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseum in         Bremerhaven.  Bremerhaven, Germany. 1999;  pgs. 14 – 15.

Permanent Collections

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, Tennessee.

Columbia College, Columbia, Missouri.

Trans Financial Bank, Clarksville, Tennessee.

GNA Companies, Bloomfield, Connecticut.

Toys R Us Corporate Headquarters, Paramus, New Jersey.


STATEMENT

Francis Bacon said: “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” I believe that it best accomplished by looking closely and carefully, for things are often as they seem.