The Reece Museum is showcasing the 9th annual “FL3TCH3R EXHIBIT” until Dec. 10, 2021.

The “FL3TCH3R EXHIBIT: Socially and Politically Engaged Art” is not only a collaboration, but a celebration of different world views coming together and creating conversations. This years exhibition features art from different states and countries and their experiences.

“You’re dealing with all sorts of different concepts, ideas, grievances, celebrations, but they are all within that social and political realm, so everyone who comes in here will see all sorts of different opinions from different aspects,” said Spenser Brenner, the Exhibition Coordinator at the Reece Museum. “If its been in the headlines this past year, someone in these two galleries is probably addressing one of those issues.”

The FL3TCH3R EXHIBIT is to honor Fletcher Dyer, an ETSU alumni who tragically passed away at 22. Since 2013, his parents and family have continued the tradition of honoring him through art similar to his by putting together this exhibition.

“He [Fletcher Dyer] really wanted people to care more about the political and social process,” Brenner said.

The 2021 FL3TCH3R EXHIBIT definitely expresses the same sentiment of Fletcher Dyer. This year’s exhibit is the largest ever, with 109 pieces of art from 64 different artists.

Five different countries are represented, including the United States, Iran, Ireland, Poland and Turkey. In the United States, 21 states are represented in this exhibition. Not only are there various countries represented, but different mediums. There are multiple paintings, prints, sculptures and textile works in this year’s exhibition.

The juror of this year’s exhibition is Michael Ray Charles, a contemporary painter. Charles is also a professor of painting at University of Houston’s School of Art. He picked each of the 109 artworks in the exhibit and will also announce the various winners of the FL3TCH3R EXHIBIT on Thursday, Nov. 4.

(David Silveira Ramirez/East Tennessean)

The juror’s talk will begin at 5 p.m. at the Reece Museum. There will be an awards ceremony after the juror’s talk, and then a reception. For guests who cannot make the physical event, there will be a Zoom link.

“The co-directors, M. Wayne Dyer, Fletcher’s father, and Barbra H. Dyer, Fletcher’s mother, and their sister, Carrie Dyer, are the co-directors of the exhibit,” said Brenner. “It’s really a family effort to keep it going, and we love working and collaborating with them.”

For more information about Fletcher Dyer and his legacy and impact, visit http://fletcherdyer.com/about.html.

For more information about the exhibit, you can go to http://www.fl3tch3rexhibit.com/.

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