Latest News

Elizabeth Hulings tells about how she came to understand that her life as the daughter of an exceptional working artist who actually made a living as a fine artist was so unusual. Serendipity led Elizabeth to become involved after her father's death in how he had organized his creative life, how she manages his legacy, and how this serves as inspiration and foundation to help today's working artists make a livelihood through art.

The tragedy in Texas reminds us that life comes first, but our lives also need to be rebuilt creatively after a natural disaster. POBA's monthly feature, Creative Futures, is dedicated this month to all to who face salvaging their creative lives and their lives creatively.

Horst Trave (1918 – 2012), an influential member of the San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionists, painted thousands of works over 60+ years. While art for Horst was a heady brew of passion, talent, and renewal, his life was a heady mix of adventure and simplicity, woven seamlessly in his artful life.

By popular demand, POBA launches Creative Futures, a new monthly resource round-up of the best resources, tools, and insights that POBA and our partners can offer to keep creative legacies and collections alive. Each month, we will assemble a short topical blog about best ways to ensure that the future is creative.

The family of Gene Spatz wanted to preserve their brother Gene's photos, which captured unique times, moments and people in his distinctively warm and intimate way. Among them were some iconic photos of the Studio 54 scene from the late 1970s, now preserved on POBA. Time.com reported on the collection to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the opening of the disco that captured an era and became a phenomenon.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890 – 1998) penned books, articles and short stories over 80 years that influenced thinking on issues she was passionate about: suffrage and rights of women, racial justice and, most famously, the conservation and restoration of the Florida Everglades. Described as having "a tongue like a switchblade and the moral authority to embarrass" high officials, she became a force to reckon with all the while being a great read every time she published.

Tennessee is a state of many slogans, renowned spirits, and outstanding folks musicians, including the inimitable BB King, Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe, for starters. In collaboration with the Tennessee Arts Commission, POBA will bring you remarkable musical performances by the Volunteer States' honored - and sometimes lesser known - "folk" musicians. Stayed tuned to POBA for some classic Tennessee ear candy.

Marc Abrahms (1948-2015), POBA's newest legacy artist, shared what he had and what he created, through both his philanthropic endeavors and his vivid, eye-popping photographs. Travelling far and wide, he created more than 40,000 images capturing a stunning array of subjects and moods. Here we present the essential collection of these images, all of which reveal a man who appreciated and shared the everyday beauty, vibrancy and fragility of life as he saw it and experienced it.

Helen Corning wore a pin on her lapel til the day she died that said "Art Saves Lives." She understood fully that Art is vital to our well-being, our ability to understand each other, find common purpose, share our greatest beauty and most troubling pain, and fuel the creative economy, materially and spiritually. Remembering her commitment and wisdom, we mark Arts Advocacy Month and learn more about how we can take action to keep the arts alive in these challenging times.

Hayden Carruth (1921-2008) was a haunted and gifted man. Passionate from the age of six about poetry and jazz, his next 80 years were plagued by mental illness, phobias, and other demons - yet he had a sweet nature, unwavering curiosity, and searing honesty. His packed poems probe these tensions: precision and improvisation, love and fear, discipline and madness, the beautiful and the absurd. They speak for themselves.