Prompted by our vision of inspiring people through art to look at their world in new ways, the Frist Art Museum invited teens to submit their artwork for this third edition of Teens Take the Frist! The resulting selection features more than 180 artworks in a variety of mediums—including over fifty in this online exhibition—created by emerging artists from Cheatham, Davidson, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson, and Wilson Counties.
This exhibition, along with other Frist initiatives like Teen ARTlabs and the Teen Arts Action Group, is intended to give individuals ages 13–19 a safe space to express themselves and participate in activities with art professionals. With many students having to adjust to the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions, art has become more important than ever as an avenue of communication and connection.
We extend special thanks to our artists and adult mentors for their guidance and enthusiasm in creating nurturing spaces for our youth to grow.
All works © the artist and appear courtesy of the artist.
Our teen programs receive funding from the William N. Rollins Fund for the Arts of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
Supported in part by

Exhibition gallery

Aaliyah, Untitled – Portraits of Brother, 2020. Chromogenic print, 6 x 7 in.
I made this piece in a study of the parallelism between me and my brother’s childhood despite our disparities. I believe that childhood is much more universal than we believe it to be across generations. I want to convey the aspect of animosity and variable-yet-singular identity as well.

Addi Gerlach, Cookie, 2020. Charcoal on paper, 18 x 24 in.
This is my great-grandmother, Cookie, as we called her. This picture was taken while she was sick in the hospital and so ready to go home. She passed away in 2020 at the sweet age of ninety-three. Grandma Cookie always had sweets at her house that she would offer to anyone who came in her door. I love the deep expressions of sadness, weariness, and homesickness portrayed in her face and posture in this photo, and made this as a memento to her in 2020.

Alli Caudill, All They See, 2020. Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 9 x 12 in.
All They See is a traditional art piece inspired by the life of a circus animal. Initially, the viewer is naturally drawn to the striking red markings, similar to those of a clown, on a tiger’s face. Their attention is deliberately drawn away from the detailed wild animal lying underneath.

Anaya Robinson, Floral Escape, 2020. Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 in.
The year 2020 was chaotic, with COVID-19, the tragic deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, and the loss of my uncle on September 2. As a young Black girl living during these times, I wanted to depict imagery that symbolized a desire to escape reality.

Anna Snader, Voces Fuertes, 2020. Graphite and marker on paper, 9 x 12 in.
Voces Fuertes represents a collaboration of powerful Latinx heros who have used their voices to amplify the stories and voices of marginalized people—their work has personally inspired me. From Cesar Chavez, who advocated for fair working conditions for farmers, to Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies, each individual has used their voice to change and impact their communities.

Annie Le, Shrimp, 2021. Acrylic on canvas board, 9 x 12 in.
My artwork is inspired by a shrimp I saw on Pinterest. I really like the colors and pattern of it, but I didn’t want to draw a shrimp, so I put some of the colorful features of the shrimp on a person. Then I put squiggly lines in the back to make the painting look more chaotic and relaxed to contrast the serious look on her face.

Avery S., Cluttered Mind, 2020. Gouache and acrylic on paper, 18 x 24 in.
This piece is a representation of the attachment that teenagers have to tangible items in their rooms. I used the concept of messy rooms and hoarding to create a sense of “organized disorder” and how seemingly meaningless items can affect how a person views both themselves and the items.

Christy Youssef, Eye, 2020. Graphite on paper, 8 1/2 x 11 in.
I spent hours trying to get the shapes and different values to be perfect. For the eyelashes, I wanted to make sure that they looked like hairs and not spider legs, so I practiced a lot before I felt ready to commit. Overall, I was very satisfied with the results!

Emma Caudill, Rude Awakening, 2021. Charcoal on paper, 8 x 12 in.
These horns of mine, so simple yet divine. They bring me great satisfaction, so I polish and shine; how proud they make me these horns of mine. The growth is slow, too steady to see. Until I can’t. Then can I see: the deadliest things are the things you feed.

Finley Dennis, Rose in the Rain, 2021. Colored pencil on paper, 11 1/4 x 8 in.
This piece is a recreation of a photo that I took at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. The rose was placed on the World Trade Center landmark, where the people that were on Flight 77 are listed. This rose is symbolic of our nation’s unbroken spirit.

Halle Williams, Avatar, 2021. Acrylic and marker on canvas, 9 x 12 in.
This artwork was inspired by a makeup look. In my painting, I was going for a dramatic and futuristic look through the chaotic use of lines and dots, as well as her eyes being pure white. In the background, I used vivid colors to make the composition pop.

Jansen Buchanan, Vision of Light, 2021. Acrylic on canvas, 9 x 12 in.
Light is supposed to be bright, clear, and happy. In some mens’ lives, light can seem frightening, dangerous, and intangible, but the moment men lose is when they stop trying. My piece is of a Black man who embraces hope into his being.

Jason A. Watkins, Watkins Avenue, 2020. Acrylic on canvas, 9 x 12 in.
During the summer of 2009, my family and I attended a graduation at Trevecca University. On our walk back to the car, I decided to walk on the rock wall. Unbeknownst to my family, my mother captured a photo that I had to capture into a painting many years later.

Lauren Cheung, The Pain We Hold Inside, 2020. Ink and highlighter on paper, 7 x 10 in.
We often paint a picture where our darkness is out of view. However, sometimes we must express the painful emotions in order to let them go. This drawing represents that pain, yet also the beauty that follows after.

Marra Becker, It’s Raining Men!, 2021. Watercolor and colored pencil on paper, 10 x 10 in.
I was able to create a visual representation of one of my favorite songs. This piece is a part of a larger portfolio that has the same idea. I chose some of my favorite songs and lyrics and made images to go with them to show how everybody interprets words differently.

Mary Jane Estes, Alone, 2021. Colored pencil on paper, 7 x 10 in.
This art reflects my recent feelings of isolation. As I grow older, I feel myself outgrowing the comfort of old friends. I desire to make new connections, but I always end up dissatisfied. So I feel alone and unable to rely on anyone other than myself.

Naomi Hollans, Eye of the Storm, 2021. Ink on paper, 7 1/2 x 10 in.
This ink drawing features a ship being attacked by some kind of sea monster, in the dead center of a dark storm. Certain aspects of the drawing go beyond its designated border in order to create a sense of fantasy escaping into reality.

Nhi-Ha Le, Shitakiri Suzume, 2021. Scratchboard, 8 1/2 x 11 in.
This piece is based on the Japanese folk tale Shitakiri Suzume, a story about a jealous wife who severed the tongue of her husband’s beloved sparrow and later received a box full of monsters. This piece intends to both capture this tale and detail the human capability for violence and its consequences.

Saida, A Woman Indoors, 2021. Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 9 x 12 in.
This piece depicts a woman holding flowers surrounded by abstract forms of birds. I included many symbols of freedom or lack thereof in this piece; the birds and the window provide the semblance of freedom or the desire of it, but the woman is sitting holding flowers as if she cannot realize that freedom.

Sara F Hamilton, BLM, 2020. Digital photograph, 5 x 4 in.
During this year of unprecedented social change and isolation, I have been exploring the question, “Is this the new normal?” through photography. Despite isolation, social issues this year have received a lot of publicity. Even when they weren’t being covered in the news, police responses to protests went viral on social media. When people couldn’t meet in person, they took to social media to organize protests. This photo captures what will be remembered as a historic moment for Nashville when thousands of people marched demanding change. We are realizing that things don’t have to be this way—that the old normal is not enough for us, and that a return to normal is a return to a broken present.

Sarah Cai, Grandmother, 2020. Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 18 x 24 in.
My grandmother is shown cherishing things in her life. On the left, she’s walking up the stairs. On top, she’s cooking dinner at home. To the right, she’s walking in the city. Then, she’s at the end of the stairs again, smiling. Her biggest smile is in the middle.

Sophia Frist, Covid Giraffe, 2020. Watercolor on paper, 9 x 12 in.
This piece was painted during full isolation in quarantine last spring. The toilet paper on the giraffe’s head is meant to be a humorous way to show the chaos and material shortage globally as the pandemic affected all nations and ecosystems.

Whitney Sanders, Mohawk, 2020. Digital photograph, 9 x 12 in.
When I took this picture, it was during quarantine boredom. I took a bunch of bird pictures to show my little brother, who was into birds. I thought this picture in particular was cool because it looks like the bird is staring straight at me.

Zinnia Nichols Loller, Mountains in Summertime, 2020. Acrylic on canvas, 9 x 12 in.
In my art class, we were assigned to do a pixelated-style painting. I chose to paint a mountain and field, inspired by a mountain I visited on a trip to the Smoky Mountains at Camp Green Cove, the five-week summer camp I’ve gone to for the past four years. Last year, the camp was shut down because of COVID, but this summer I’ll get to return. My favorite memories were all on that trip—we ate blueberries from a wild blueberry bush, told stories till late at night, and walked in ferns that came up to our knees, all with my best friends in the world. I tried to immortalize the feeling I had there into a painting.