Arts at the Airport and Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival® Announce Winners of the Second Annual Bonnaroo-Themed Skylight Exhibition at BNA

NASHVILLE – Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority’s (MNAA) Arts at the Airport, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival and the Bonnaroo Works Fund announce the five winning entries for the second annual Bonnaroo-themed artistic skylight exhibition at Nashville International Airport (BNA). Proposals from Gail Christofferson; Dave Head; Ed Nash; and two collaborative entries: Amber Lelli, Sadie Monroe and Whitney Proper, Christopher Field and Sarah West were selected among the entries. The new exhibition will be unveiled at the airport this spring.

“Congratulations to the winning entries,” Rob Wigington, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, said. “We look forward to seeing the final installations that reflect our Arts at the Airport program, showcase Bonnaroo’s impact on our statewide community and enhance the Nashville Airports Experience for our passengers, business partners and employees.”

The project is funded by Arts at the Airport and the Bonnaroo Works Fund, the charitable arm of the internationally acclaimed festival. BWF supports national and regional organizations that advance the arts, education and the environment, with a focus on local reinvestment.

“Bonnaroo’s founding mission is to emphasize the impact the festival has on creativity in both the visual and live performance arts,” Jeff Cuellar, director of Bonnaroo com-munity relations, said. “Arts at the Airport is a showcase of cultural diversity and creative talent in Tennessee, and we’re proud to have the festival represented on such a grand scale.”

The five winning entries were selected by a jury composed of members from Bonnaroo, the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation and Arts at the Airport and were selected based on artistic quality and communication of the Bonnaroo brand to both new and familiar audiences. The winning entries will suspend from the ceiling and encompass five skylights located on each of the three concourses at BNA, beginning March 16, 2015, through Jan. 24, 2016. Each winning entry will receive a $2,000 honorarium and have their art displayed for the duration of the program.

Below is a brief description on each of the winning artists:

Gail Christofferson
Gail Christofferson is a mosaic artist who specializes in artwork using recycled and re-used non-traditional materials. Each unique work of art from her country studio, Animal House Glass, is inspired by a world she loves – a place where goats, rabbits, chicks, calves, pigs and lambs have all made their home – a place where cast-off windows and guitars take on an inspiring new life, filled with color and joy. Christofferson sometimes leaves her studio to share and teach. Her community mosaic projects draw in participants working together to create large-scale art installations. These collaborative efforts result in the unique sense of ownership and pride that results from seeing many individual contributions blossom into a single, finished piece of art. Her boundless enthusiasm for her work, combined with her professional experience in marketing, public relations, visual communications and project management, contribute to the success of these community engagements. Christofferson lives in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Dave Head
Dave Head is currently a Certified Principal Engineer supporting optical hardware for space applications. He has over 30 years of experience in a career that has spanned lasers, biomedical devices, injection molded lenses and astronomical telescopes. His professional curriculum vitae contains more than 20 patents and numerous publications. Years spent working with lasers gave him an appreciation for dielectric coated mirrors, which he now incorporates into his sculptures. Work and training exposed him to tools and techniques for machining which he has evolved by building a home shop. The combination of coated optics, metal-working skills and a love of mobiles has fueled his artistic endeavors to create robust and beautiful kinetic works that are truly unique. Additional works are available in galleries and shows in the Northern California Bay Area. Head resides in Los Gatos, Calif.

Ed Nash
Born in the United Kingdom, Ed Nash has wanted to be an artist his whole life. At age 13, Nash was awarded an art scholarship to Bedford School, England. He went on to study Fine Art and Psychology at Reading University (England) where he graduated with a First Class Honors Degree. In 2006, Nash moved to Nashville, Tenn., where he now lives and works as a full-time practicing artist. His work is part of many public and private art collections both here in the U.S. and the UK, including the Tennessee State Museum. His work is represented in galleries throughout the U.S. including Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga and Knoxville Tenn., and Atlanta, Ga.

Amber Lelli, Sadie Monroe and Whitney Proper
Amber Lelli is a studio artist with an emphasis in sculpture, printmaking and installation. She is currently completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and is apprenticing under Alan LeQuire, curating at various galleries and teaching print workshops. Her work has been featured in multiple exhibitions across the U.S. and recently exhibited in shows at Arch Enemy Arts in Philadelphia, Pa., and Fort Houston, in Nashville, Tenn. Sadie Monroe is a multi-disciplinary artist, holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design from Columbia College Chicago. Placing heavy emphasis on visual art, textiles, mixed media and public art, Monroe has directed and produced multiple installations, collections and stages in various fields of art, design and performance. Whitney Proper works in letterpress and sculpture at MTSU, currently completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Proper incorporates her studies in psychology into her artwork and has received several awards for her work, including an International Education Scholarship from MTSU to instruct art students at Anna Trolles Skole in Brenerup, Denmark, and Svolvaer Skole in Svolvaer, Norway.

Christopher Field and Sarah West
Christopher Field is an interactive new media artist, and Sarah West is a multi-disciplinary artist working in large scale, site-specific installation projects. As collaborators, their work often explores the relationship between physical space and digital media through the integration of video, sound and sculptural objects. Regardless of the form, they are interested in creating work that affects the viewer and the physical experience of a site. Field and West try to study, imagine and create spatial environments as experiential compositions with an understanding of the implications for human reactions. Every space makes the viewer feel something through use of specific elements and their arrangement to evoke particular emotions. Field received a Master of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Media Technology and Art from Denison University. He is an Assistant Professor of Art and Design at Morehead State University in Kentucky. West received a Master of Arts in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture, a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Carleton College and was recently a City Artist in Residence in the Public Works Department of St. Paul, Minn.

Arts at the Airport
Working closely with the 15-member Arts at the Airport Foundation board, the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority showcases the region’s visual and performing arts through its Arts at the Airport program, which receives some funding from the Tennessee Arts Commission. The award-winning Arts at the Airport program reviews and presents works by local, regional and national artists for the enjoyment and enrichment of Nashville International Airport and John C. Tune Airport’s passengers and visitors. In addition to visual art, Arts at the Airport includes music since it is an integral part of Nashville. The arts come alive with musical performances on stages throughout BNA’s passenger terminal.