KNOXVILLE, TN.- The Knoxville Museum of Art presents New Directions in American Drawing on view through January 20, 2008. This innovative exhibition examines the renewed importance of drawing as a contemporary art form and highlights the dynamic ways in which artists are pushing the medium into new, creative territory.

The exhibition features 48 works by 16 emerging and established artists, several of whom have yet to receive a major museum exhibition: James Barsness, Suzanne Bocanegra, Hilary Brace, Brad Brown, Ingrid Calame, Russell Crotty, Valerie Demianchuk, Leonardo Drew, Anthony Goicolea, Edgar Jerins, Julie Mehretu, Amy Myers, Robyn O'Neil, Peggy Preheim, Jane South, and Lee Walton.

New Directions in American Drawing encourages viewers to redefine their notion of drawing, its aesthetic range, visual power, and expressive potential. Along with examples of innovative approaches to the medium, the selection includes works by artists who exploit, in extraordinary ways, traditional aspects of drawing.

Stephen Wicks, Barbara W. and Bernard E. Bernstein Curator of the Knoxville Museum of Art, organized this show during his tenure as curator at the Columbus Museum . His motive for assembling New Directions in American Drawing was “to reflect the rising status of drawing as a contemporary art form rivaling painting, sculpture and new media.” By including works that hang from the ceiling, cover large walls and protrude out into space, Wicks also hopes the exhibition will destroy the notion of drawing as a small-scale, flat, preliminary sketch. He adds that “a growing number of artists are choosing to specialize in drawing and are using it as a dynamic, versatile medium for experimentation.”

The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Lucille S. Thompson Family Foundation. Media sponsors include AT&T Real Yellow Pages, WBIR, Method Bureau, and digital media graphix. New Directions in American Drawing is organized by the Columbus Museum (GA), and was made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.