JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Art enthusiasts only have a few more weeks to view the whimsical, spiritual and natural works of Tennessee Artist Paul Lancaster at the ETSU Reece Museum. Lancaster’s work is part of the permanent collection at the Reece Museum, as well as several other prestigious institutions across the United States, including the Smithsonian and the University of Virginia.
In collaboration with Grey Carter-Objects of Art, Reece Museum staff curated "Tennessee Visionary: The Art of Paul Lancaster," which features 68 works on display. According to Spenser Brenner, the exhibition coordinator at the Reece Museum, guests who visit the exhibit will have “an opportunity to experience the full breadth of the artist’s work from paintings and drawings to etchings and hand-colored prints”. Brenner added that the experience of viewing Lancaster’s works is equivalent to immersing oneself in a “fantastical world of nature and beauty”.
Many of the works on display are also for sale, and a price list is available to guests at the museum. ‘Tennessee Visionary’ provides the region with the unique opportunity to engage with the compelling works of Lancaster, who has been called one of Tennessee’s most amazing self-taught artists. Lancaster was born in Lobelville, Tennessee in 1930 and died in 2019 at the age of 88.
Receiving no actual art education, he began painting in 1953 while hospitalized for tuberculosis. Known as an outsider and visionary artist, Lancaster .