The Tennessee Watercolor Society will open its 36th Juried Exhibition of water media paintings on paper at the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center on Saturday, May 12. Sixty works have been selected for display by juror and artist Lian Quan Zhen. This marks only the second time that Clarksville has been selected as the host city since TnWS began its statewide juried competition in 1972.  Clarksville’s museum hosted the TnWS Juried Exhibit once before in 2006.

Juror for the 36th Exhibition is Lian Quan Zhen.   Zhen is a highly sought after Chinese watercolor artist and painting teacher in the US and abroad. He is one of the most popular authors of North Light Books. Zhen’s art teaching credentials include the University of California at Berkeley where he taught watercolor outdoor sketching for eight years; watercolor and Chinese painting workshops nationwide in the US, Europe, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, China, South Africa and Australia.  Zhen will also conduct a five-day painting workshop from May 7-11 at the Customs House.

This year 172 entries were submitted by 101 water media artists for the opportunity to be selected.  Zhenchose 60 works for the 2018 exhibition. “It is such an honor to have a painting selected in a juried exhibition”, said current TnWS President Wendy Latimer.  “The nationally known juror, Lian Quan Zhen, had a monumental task choosing only a fraction of the incredible and varied paintings entered to create the final exhibit.”

Clarksville artist Patsy Sharpe, who serves as the local Exhibition Chair for the 2018 event said, “We have a wonderful, supportive group of artists in Clarksville who believe in celebrating the beauty of this very difficult medium called watercolor.  That is apparent because eight artists from our community were among sixty from across the state chosen to be included in this very prestigious exhibition.   And what better place to have the exhibit but our own Customs House Museum, one of the best venues in the state.”

Following its run at the Customs House, a selection of 30 paintings will continue across Tennessee as a traveling exhibit for the duration of 2018, stopping at three gallery venues.

Organized in 1971, the Tennessee Watercolor Society is a membership organization dedicated to elevating the stature of water media painting and to educating the public about the significance of the art form as an important, creative and permanent medium.

The first TnWS-sponsored exhibition was held in 1972 at the Hunter Museum in Chattanooga. The show was a great success and drew artists and collectors from across the state.  Today, the organization has a membership of more than 250 artists and supporters statewide.