BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — Chloe Wack, a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, is creative, warm and supportive of fellow artists. That's why she's encouraging locals to submit their works for consideration for the upcoming Arts in the Airport exhibition at McGhee Tyson Airport.
The gallery, curated by the Knoxville Arts Alliance, will be accepting entries until March 10. People with works of all mediums are encouraged to apply for the show, which will run from April until October.
Wack said a professor at a UT art school encouraged her to apply to the exhibition early into her tenure at school.
"During my first semester (my professor) shared with all the new graduate students that, with the airport show, our chances were pretty good to get in," Wack said. "It's often local, and it's limited to people in nearby counties. And so, I applied my first semester and I did get in, which is exciting. And I just kept applying every year and a half."
Artists residing within 200 miles of Knoxville, including those in Kentucky, Georgia and North Carolina, are encouraged to apply. The gallery typically accepts between 42 and 45 works of art.
Wack is busy at UT working on her Master's Degree in Fine Arts, with a concentration in printmaking. She's currently working hard on a larger-than-life map of the Belle Morris neighborhood, where she and her partner, Nick, reside.
She said Nick was the inspiration for the first piece she had featured at the airport, which was a print of one of his baby photos.
A print featuring Wackroller-skating with a fellow UT graduate student is on display at the airport. One of the benefits of being in the gallery is being able to sell some of your work, Wack said.
"I have sold three copies, which was a big surprise to me," she said. "I often don't sell my work. It's often very personal. So I was kind of surprised, like, 'Oh, someone wants to buy my print.' But it's been very exciting."
Liza Zenni, the Knoxville Arts Alliance Executive Director, said the gallery has been at the airport for 15 years and has housed around 700 works of art. Artists have been able to benefit from being featured, she said.
"It makes them stand taller, it makes them have something to reach for," she said. "And they do it beautifully. They'll create a piece of artwork that speaks for them and how they feel living their lives, how they feel living in East Tennessee."
Over the past 15 years, artists have won $30,000 in awards from the gallery and they can sell their works, she said.
"That really is important, because it's an opportunity for them to share their view of the world and also make a living because we sell the work," Zenni said. "And we've sold over $118,000 worth of artwork to people traveling through the airport over the last 15 years."