Adrienne Outlaw '85
Written December 2008
If your idea of an artist is an individual who works in isolation, drawing upon inner thoughts for inspiration, Adrienne Outlaw will make you think again. One of her most acclaimed pieces was an 18’ x 3’ x 3” temporary installation at Vanderbilt University, designed to evoke the experience of a prayer wall. Called “Vessels of Grace,” the piece was constructed in part through a dozen community workshops, which brought about 200 people from all walks of life together to hand-sew strips of brass mesh into boxes, which, to-date contain the hand-written thoughts and prayers of 1,500 more people. (“Vessels” has been exhibited five times since then, and people continue to add to the piece.) “I am very interested in drawing together all different types of people over an artwork, where we can just sit down and work with our hands and get to know each other, and enjoy the event,” says Adrienne. “I like to use the experience of both making and interacting with art as a way to break down social barriers.”
Recognized with many grants, fellowships, and critical accolades, Adrienne has shown widely throughout the United States and internationally. Her work takes many forms, incorporates various kinds of media, and tends to require an extensive research process. For a mobile installed in the Nashville Public Library, for example, she learned how to blow glass, took a graduate course on astronomy and religion, and researched the life and writing of Antoine de Saint Exupery, author of The Little Prince.
Adrienne thought about becoming an artist or perhaps a writer while she was a student at Harding, and she remembers winning a fourth-grade drawing contest and the eighth-grade English prize. She praises the faculty for being so caring, noting, “They really seemed to take the time to understand and appreciate each student.”
After Harding, Adrienne went on to earn a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an M.L.A.S. from Vanderbilt University. She has guest taught and lectured at galleries, schools, and museums across the country. (Her latest great credential: Mom. She and husband David W. Piston, a professor at Vanderbilt, have two daughters under the age of three.)
Adrienne says her ideas “come from everywhere.” Her most recent work addresses themes of bioethics and society’s need to catch up, intellectually and emotionally, with technological advances.
Recognized with many grants, fellowships, and critical accolades, Adrienne has shown widely throughout the United States and internationally. Her work takes many forms, incorporates various kinds of media, and tends to require an extensive research process. For a mobile installed in the Nashville Public Library, for example, she learned how to blow glass, took a graduate course on astronomy and religion, and researched the life and writing of Antoine de Saint Exupery, author of The Little Prince.
Adrienne thought about becoming an artist or perhaps a writer while she was a student at Harding, and she remembers winning a fourth-grade drawing contest and the eighth-grade English prize. She praises the faculty for being so caring, noting, “They really seemed to take the time to understand and appreciate each student.”
After Harding, Adrienne went on to earn a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an M.L.A.S. from Vanderbilt University. She has guest taught and lectured at galleries, schools, and museums across the country. (Her latest great credential: Mom. She and husband David W. Piston, a professor at Vanderbilt, have two daughters under the age of three.)
Adrienne says her ideas “come from everywhere.” Her most recent work addresses themes of bioethics and society’s need to catch up, intellectually and emotionally, with technological advances.
Inspiring The Mind • Nurturing The Spirit