Audrey Gaither / b. 2003, Nashville, TN / audreygaitherart@gmail.com / @audreygaitherart
I am interested in how objects hold meaning through their history, purpose, and personal context. My research begins in observation. I consider items and scenes I find personally meaningful. Often these items are connected to the visual language of the rural South. I look to materials that have existed through generations, considering those that have fallen from practical or aesthetic value but not personal value: family heirlooms, out-of-print fabrics, vintage photos and prints, retro home decor. These items will exist longer than their owners. I see this as an investigation into material memory and loss.
My work is especially informed by pattern and textile, in both their literal (fabric, decoration) and abstract (rituals, life cycles, homes) forms. I pay close attention to domesticity and femininity. I see fabric as an intimate look into day-to-day life; it is on our bodies, in our beds, and upon most surfaces we encounter in our homes. It is also the medium of those that create out of necessity.
My work is not auto-biographical. However, my personal experience informs my practice. Both sides of my family’s roots are firmly planted in the rural South. In this context, I was raised to believe in the strength of ritual: church on Sundays, gardens changing with the seasons, Christmas china, faded casserole dishes.
I’m struck by how these patterns – and the objects that witness them – give meaning to life’s rhythms. I find I have more to grieve because I find more meaning in things. Yet, in turn, I also make more meaning in the face of loss. My work is often a meditation on how our belongings communicate our ideals and retrospectively reveal our impermanence.
EDUCATION
2027 MFA in Visual Arts, Belmont University, Nashville, TN (July 2027)
2025 BFA in Studio Art, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Kaleidoscope, John C. Hutcheson Gallery, Nashville, TN
2025 Painting and Sculpture, Open Gallery, Nashville, TN
2024 Craft Night, Open Gallery, Nashville, TN
2024 Ribbons and Roads, Open Gallery, Nashville, TN
2023 Garden of Eden, Open Gallery, Nashville, TN
2023 Concrete Poetry, John C. Hutcheson Gallery, Nashville, TN
CURATORIAL WORK
2025 Kaleidoscope, Exhibition Designer, Open Gallery, Nashville, TN
2024 Princess (Hope Kise), Open Gallery, Nashville, TN
2024 Ribbons and Roads (Audrey Gaither, Ella Crouch, Grace Bryant), Open Gallery, Nashville, TN
2024 Soothsayer (Mauro Antonio Barreto and students), Open Gallery, Nashville, TN
PUBLISHED WRITING
2024 “Spirituality and AI Intersect in Shaman in the Loop,” Number:Inc (February)
2023 “Spirituality and AI Intersect in Shaman in the Loop,” Lipscomb Art Review: Soft Time (October)
RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2024 Director, Open Gallery, Nashville, TN
INTERNATIONAL STUDY
2024 Florence, Italy
HONORS/SCHOLARSHIPS
2024 John C. Hutcheson Scholarship, Lipscomb University
2023 John C. Hutcheson Scholarship, Lipscomb University
2023 Art Achievement Award, Lipscomb University
2021 John C. Hutcheson Scholarship, Lipscomb University