Our Teen Curators Program runs every fall and spring semester. Must be 16 + to apply.

Learn how to create an art exhibition as a Teen Curator at Stove Works this Spring! Teenagers age 16-18 living in Hamilton County, Tennessee, are invited to apply. Teens will meet on Wednesdays from February 12th until the exhibit opens on Saturday, May 17th. 

Description

Working together in weekly meetings, up to 4 Teen Curators will review and select work made by their peers to activate the venue’s programming space for a multi-day exhibition. Guided by the Stove Works staff, the Teen Curators will develop a curatorial theme that relates to the concepts explored by Stove Works’ Exhibitions Program. Each weekly meeting will involve an exploration of the best practices of exhibition making, design, and project management. We encourage the Teen Curators to meet outside of our weekly meetings to develop their exhibition further.

To be eligible to participate in the Spring 2025 program, we must receive your application by Friday, January 17th (11:59 PM Eastern Time). Selected candidates will be notified by Wednesday, January 22nd so that they may confirm their spot by Wednesday, January 29th. Application link below.

Everything has a place. There is often the promise of tragedy, but also comfort in holding a physical or mental space; to know that you always have a place to go, a home to come back to. Keep a Place for Me gives the impression that you won’t be forgotten, but remembered in that hopeful promise. 

Keep a Place for Me may seem lighthearted and jovial, but could be read in a more desperate sense, such as longing for a place to call home. This place doesn’t have to be physical, such as storing someone or something in your mind to come back to, or reminisce about.

Keep a place for me: a seat at the table, a cabin in the woods, a hair in your painting. Keep a place for me: on your plate, in your memories, in a book. Keep a place for me.

Curator Bios

Thomas Miguel is a senior at the Howard school. He loves all types of art from drawing to music. He is excited to be a part of Stove Works this year and to learn all the wonders that come with becoming a curator.

Khivionna Owens is a senior in High School. She’s been drawing since she was in the 3rd grade and enjoys the process of creating art and showing it off, particularly film wise, but she enjoys all forms of art.

Penelope Suffern is a senior at Hilger Higher Learning. She loves drawing both physically and digitally, and is fond of character creation and worldbuilding. Excited to work with Stove Works as a Teen Curator, she hopes to cooperate with her peers and learn more about art curation as a potential career option.

No Spring 2024 Teen Curators Due to Staff Changes

TEEN CURATORS FALL 2023

UNFILTERED EMOTIONAL RELEASE

CURATED BY DAKOTA KOWALSKI, CARRINGTON MATTHEWS, AND BEZA STEEN

DECEMBER 2ND - January 21, 2024

Unfiltered Emotional Release, curated by Dakota Kowalski, Carrington Matthews, and Beza Steen. This show features the work of teens and young adult artists from throughout Hamilton County and the area, including 2D drawing and painting, sculpture, and installation. The reception will also feature a talk with our curators at 4 pm.

Image Credit: Mia Eldridge, Feel Your Feelings

SHADOWS OF ADOLESCENCE OPENING

Curated by Melisande Cross and Larkyn Murdock 

July 8 - August 5, 2023

Experience the newest offering of our brilliant Teen Curators this summer with the opening of Shadows of Adolescence, curated by Melisande Cross and Larkyn Murdock. Featuring over a dozen young artists from Hamilton County and the region, this exhibit features painting, sculpture, and writing. The opening reception begins at 3 pm and features a talk from the curators and an artist performance at 4 pm.

PSYCHE

Curated by Michaela Maroon, Acadia Phillips, Bella Roseau

Dec 4, 2022 - Jan 15, 2023

PARALLELS

CURATED BY LINNEA G. JONES, CARINA MILLER, RYA POTTS, AND KAT RAY
June 17 - July 9, 2022

Parallels: perception, projection, judgment. 

This exhibit explores the nature of projection and perception. Do we magnify what matters, or do we get caught up in the details? Is our perception of others relative, does it change when we do? It’s easy to discredit others for things we perceive as unattractive or off-putting. This show is about recognizing our leaps to judgment and leaning into forgiveness and compassion. When have we allowed our negative perceptions to affect people around us?

Image: Flyer Design by Carina Miller and Teen Curators Team

A Thin line

Curated by Chance Earles, Ansley Griffin, and Caroline Riede 

December 4, 2021 - January 5, 2022 
Opening: December 4, 3 pm - 5 pm

Human love has no easy answer, no definitive end. So how does one define what love is within boundaries marked so clearly by hate? In a society that pits people against each other, how can one really know for certain what love is? It is so easy to think of love simply in a romantic manner. However, in A THIN LINE, many different types of love/hate are displayed in order to give a look into all different interpretations. Our exhibition prompts the viewer to explore how they define love in its absence.

Curator Bios

Chance Earles (she/they) is a junior at Hixson High School and an aspiring filmmaker in the Chattanooga area. Through Teen Curators, Chance is most excited to learn how different perspectives play a role in making a great exhibit. She also wants to learn how curating can help complement her film experience. Chance enjoys Wes Anderson films and attempts fruitlessly to catch up on sleep on the weekends.

Ansley Giffin (she/her) is a junior and student-athlete at Girls Preparatory School. Ansley is excited by collaboration and the process of sharing a "group's vision." She loves creating art and chose Teen Curators as an "incredible opportunity" to create a gallery full of other people's artworks

Car Riede (they/them) is a junior at Girls Preparatory School and an aspiring art student in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Alongside art, they enjoy dissecting art theory, philosophy, and photography. To Car, curating acts as a way of sharing stories and providing a more widespread platform and safer environment within those spaces.

Kids These Days

1265 E 13 th Street
Curators: Shanzeh Rizvi, Raedon gunnell, Grace Williams, Ripken Russell

JULY 12 - July 28 TH, 2019
THURS - FRI: 3 - 7 PM, SAT: 12 -7, SUN: 12 - 5
1265 E 13TH STREET, 37408

Curatorial Statement:

“Undefined identity;” “Communaholic;” “Dialoger;” and “Pragmatic”

We find value in the expression of connecting and understanding different truths. Often cited for growing up in the age of technology, teenagers today often do not know a life before high-speed internet, fast communication, and the mass-globalization of media.

“KIDS THESE DAYS” examines the way Generation Z observes and processes evident stimuli, whether it be constant media, today’s hot political climate, or broader themes such as identity, or adversity. Offering a glimpse into the minds of current teenagers and young adults, it is important to consider how or why younger generations may mentally, emotionally, or physically process and express ideas and information.

Participating Artists:

Lee Webb
Ripken Russell
Grace Williams
Christian Abernathy
Sarah Lewis
Sarah Foropoulos
Julian Raiford
Maya Pound

F a l s e T r u t h

Curated bu KENKIYACH

September 7 - 9, 2018
Noon-7PM
1155 E. Main St. - Chattanooga, TN

The second to last part of the series of LAND AND SEA, is an exhibition that explores the meaning of the “shoreline.” It expresses that there is no real geographical border within the earth. F a l s e T r u t h hits on the idea of “where water supposedly ‘ends’ and meets land” and exposes it as all but a misconception of reality. It breaks the fallacy of separation while forcing viewers to realize the unnatural comfort they feel when labeling, and in the process, segregating the world.

F a l s e T r u t h was conceived with the intention to bring awareness through irony. The exhibition intentionally separated these two colloquial masses and adds in another to show the comprehending consumers, through reverse psychology, that the “and” in LAND AND SEA is nothing but a grammar rule. The word aids to division and we are not individuals, but more of just another unnoticeable drop of water in the Ocean. F a l s e T r u t h allows the viewer to see the world from a new lens, a lens that encourages humanity to breathe the same breath. Dancing waves, vibrating wires, stretching vines, silent vanes are all one and the same.

Those who have been blinded and can not help but see them and in the world, have merely been led into a false truth.

Participating Artists:

Adira Griffin, Andrew Nguyen, Audrey Hanna, Chynna Bass, Douglas Boals, Josiah Golson, Maya Varner, Nahzik, Nora Bauer, Ripken Russell, Sohee Myung, Terrae Kelly, and Yasu Tyndale

Curator Bios:

Christian Abernathy

A 15 year old student at The Center for Creative Arts who has been creating art ever since his childhood. He is a local self-taught artist who creates portrait drawings and expresses messages through color, dimension, and personal style. His main goal is to help grow and strengthen Chattanooga’s community. The F a l s e T r u t h exhibit is an important part in growing Chattanooga’s love for art which he believes is an essential interest that can be therapeutic for many people. This is his first curating experience which he has been very excited to be a part of.

Kennedy Bass

A 15-year-old sophomore at East Hamilton, she expresses herself through drawing and painting and she is self-taught. This is Kennedy’s first exhibition out of the annual Mark Making program. She thrives for creativity, skateboarding, and excelling in school. She is very thankful for this opportunity and would be so excited to be a part of any future projects Stove Works has in the future.

Kimora Bass

A 15-year-old sophomore who attends East Hamilton High School. She is a local teenage artist and her aspirations for Chattanooga are to turn the city into a more positive and creative place. Kimora uses painting, drawing, makeup, and clothes as her expressive outlet. The teen is constantly inspired by her fellow curators and the many artists who have participated in the exhibition and she is honored to be a part of the project. F a l s e T r u t h is her first major project outside of the annual “Mark Makers” program.

Yasu Tyndale

Born and partially raised in the womb of Pauline Tyndale and West Palm Beach, Florida Yasu Tyndale finds herself in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Currently, this 15-year-old Scorpio is a sophomore at Notre Dame High School. Her hobbies include being creating, inspiring, and constantly learning new things.

With that being said she loves social media, she strongly believes it unifies and informs. She is heavily influenced by the Korean and Japanese culture. She adores fashion, makeup, and anything that is a creative outlet. In the future, she aspires to have an occupation that satisfies her constant need to be inspired. F a l s e T r u t h is the first exhibition she has worked on, and the second gallery her artwork has beenin. She is honored to have her art pieces Anatomy and Lines featured in this exhibition.