Coop Gallery

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Coop Gallery Artist-run project space in Nashville, TN.

THE COOP

Coop is a curatorial collective made up of artists, curators, thinkers and professors who are committed to expanding Nashville’s dialogue with contemporary art by presenting challenging new or under-represented artists/artworks in the community. COOP is committed to exhibiting art of diverse media and content, with a goal to provide an alternative venue for artists free from the constraints of the retail market. COOP seeks to initiate a discourse between Nashville and art scenes across the country by inviting artists to show, develop projects and interact with the Nashville community.

Did you know your license plate can help fund the arts across Tennessee?As an entirely volunteer-run, registered 501(c)(...
10/16/2026

Did you know your license plate can help fund the arts across Tennessee?

As an entirely volunteer-run, registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, COOP relies on grants as one way to keep our doors open, pay our artists, and bring challenging, new, and underrepresented work to Nashville. Much of that support comes from the Tennessee Arts Commission.

On average, 80% of TN arts grants are funded by the purchased of specialty license plates. That means one of the easiest ways to support COOP as well as artists and arts organizations all over Tennessee is sitting right on the back of your car!

These specialty license plates:
🚗 Are available to all Tennessee residents.
🚗 Require an annual fee of $35; of that fee a portion is allocated to the Tennessee Arts Commission.
🚗 For an additional fee of $35 your specialty plate can be personalized between three and seven characters.

And you don’t have to wait for your renewal––just bring your current plate to the county clerk and they’ll prorate your fees. Every plate helps keep spaces like COOP alive.

Visit the link in our bio to learn more. Thanks for your support!

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Join us next Tuesday for this month’s SloStitch meetup! Bring your current project—whether you knit, crochet, spin, sew,...
10/13/2026

Join us next Tuesday for this month’s SloStitch meetup! Bring your current project—whether you knit, crochet, spin, sew, quilt, or mend—and stitch with us! This isn’t a formal class, so there’s no pressure or rush. It’s simply a dedicated time to make, share, and connect with fellow artists and friends. All skill levels are warmly welcome.

See you at COOP on Tuesday, October 20 from 5-7 PM!

10/12/2026

Ten days ago a bunch of COOP Members piled into a van before sunrise and headed south for the Atlanta Art Fair. After an obligatory Buc-ee’s stop, we spent the afternoon at Pullman Yards finding familiar faces, meeting galleries from around the world, and enjoying a diverse collection of talks, installations, paintings, sculptures, and more.

We ended the night with dinner and drinks at Krog Street Market, got our rest, and finished our trip on Saturday morning with shopping at Westside Market, a visit to Sander Hudson, and an afternoon at the Buckhead galleries before we headed home.

Stretching our legs (literally) and seeing contemporary work alongside each other was a great reminder of why we do this together. And now we have so many new group photos! Big thanks to the Atlanta Art Fair organizers for having us as a Cultural Partner — we came home full of ideas! 🐓

COOP is pleased to present Abscission, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist Torey Akers (Torey | Art Thing).Abscis...
09/28/2026

COOP is pleased to present Abscission, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist Torey Akers (Torey | Art Thing).

Abscission interrogates desire in material terms, using want, rather than need, to unearth the buried histories of non-normative intimacy. The word “abscission” refers to the natural detachment of the ripe and wilting portions of fruited plants, a process that underscores the painful science of growth and self-determination. In a political era defined by the algorithmic construction of fear, Abscission reflects the universality in the specific, taking on the mantle of the Renaissance-era erotic nude—simultaneously coy and brazen, exploited and self-referential—by transforming awkwardness into adoration through touch.

Torey Akers is a writer and artist living in Brooklyn. She holds MFAs in Painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art and in Creative Nonfiction from Hunter College. As an artist, she has attended residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Arts Letters and Numbers, Penland School of Craft, AIR Studios Paducah, Surf Point and Mass MoCA. She has shown her work all over the country, most recently at AIR Gallery in DUMBO, NY and WellWell Projects in Portland, OR.

📍 Join us THIS Saturday (October 3) for the opening reception 1 PM - 9 PM at COOP. We look forward to seeing you!

COOP Gallery is pleased to announce our 2027 Curatorial Theme: CURRENT CURRENT considers the visible and invisible force...
09/22/2026

COOP Gallery is pleased to announce our 2027 Curatorial Theme: CURRENT

CURRENT considers the visible and invisible forces that shape how we live, create, and relate. From water systems and ocean tides to electrical grids and digital networks, currents carry energy, information, and life itself. They move through bodies, technologies, ecologies, and time. In an increasingly accelerated world, we ask: What moves us, and what do we move with?

This theme reclaims soft power as the response to the pressures of speed. We are moved not by the frantic push of “linear urgency,” but by the quiet intelligence of slowness, care, and tenderness. To move with the current is to embrace soft power as a form of resistance, a deliberate refusal of speed in favor of sustained attention and emotional labor.

Our full lineup of 2027 artists will be announced soon. Stay tuned!

Support local artists. Stay connected. Be a Friend of Coop. Want to stay plugged-in to Coop Gallery happenings without b...
09/18/2026

Support local artists. Stay connected. Be a Friend of Coop.

Want to stay plugged-in to Coop Gallery happenings without becoming a full-time member? Friends of COOP is an exciting new and easy way to show your support for local artists, exhibitions, installations, and our Artist Mentor Program while helping Coop continue to connect Nashville with art communities across the country.

Friends make a monthly contribution of $5 or $25.

$5/month Contribution includes:
🐓 Physical mailer featuring original artwork designed by a COOP member.
🐓 Limited-edition sticker designed by a COOP member.
🐓 A quarterly email featuring news, invitations to member-only events, and behind-the-scenes content about exhibitions and programming at COOP.
🐓 Named recognition in our member newsletter.
🐓 Invitations to special events and experiences not advertised to the general public, including monthly Crit Nights, workshops, Art Crawl Member tours, and more.

$25/month Contribution inlcudes all $5/month benefits, plus:
🐓 A tote bag and bandana with original artwork designed by a COOP Member.
🐓 Two tickets to the Garden of Earthly Delights, our annual fundraiser and garden party.

Interested? Click the link in our bio to learn more and become a Friend of COOP!

COOP is headed to Atlanta 🚌 We’re thrilled to be a Cultural Partner for this year’s Atlanta Art Fair, back at Pullman Ya...
09/18/2026

COOP is headed to Atlanta 🚌

We’re thrilled to be a Cultural Partner for this year’s Atlanta Art Fair, back at Pullman Yards October 1-4. As a continued catalyst for cultural enrichment and artistic exchange, the third edition will feature an inclusive roster of compelling programs and a diverse collection of innovative events, talks, performances, and installations that work to enhance the city’s existing community of artists, galleries, institutions, and collectors.

COOP Members are taking a field trip down on October 2, and we’re bringing you with us! Follow along here on Instagram this fall while we explore the fair and report back. Thanks so much to the organizers for having us!

09/14/2026

Artist Chansong Woo transformed the COOP space with her installation When We Drop Fear, a participatory exhibition in which visitors are welcome to interact with the drawings by expressing their personal memories related to fear.

Participants encounter large drawings hung from the ceiling as visual remnants of the artist’s personal memories, transformed from intangible to tangible form. Visitors are encouraged to tear pieces from the drawings and write or draw about their experiences on them, or simply leave them on the floor. Over the course of the exhibition the space evolves into a shared experience and collective memory, growing and transforming as more participants contribute.

By engaging with When We Drop Fear, viewers have the opportunity to express, confront, or release something related to fear within themselves. The fragments they leave behind will live on as part of our shared story. Watch this short video to hear from the artist herself.

📍 Join us Saturday, September 19 at COOP for Second Look Saturday at the WEHO Art Crawl | Nashville, TN and your last chance to see this phenomenal exhibition in person––and participate yourself. We look forward to seeing you!

Join us this Saturday not only for the opening of When We Drop Fear, a participatory installation inviting viewers to en...
09/02/2026

Join us this Saturday not only for the opening of When We Drop Fear, a participatory installation inviting viewers to engage directly with the artist’s personal memories, but also a talk with artist Chansong Woo.

Chansong Woo’s work explores how personal memory and trauma can be articulated through art. By engaging with themes of vulnerability and subjectivity, her art invites viewers as a post generation from diverse backgrounds to reflect on how history is learned and remembered across generations. She received her MFA in Studio Art from Florida State University and her BFA and MFA degrees in Painting from Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea.

📍 Woo’s artist talk will begin at 4 PM at COOP Gallery on Saturday, September 5. We look forward to seeing you!

COOP is pleased to present When We Drop Fear, a solo exhibition by Northwest Arkansas-based artist, Chansong Woo (Chanso...
08/31/2026

COOP is pleased to present When We Drop Fear, a solo exhibition by Northwest Arkansas-based artist, Chansong Woo (Chansong Woo).

In this participatory exhibition, visitors encounter large drawings hung from the ceiling as visual remnants of the artist’s personal memories, transformed from intangible to tangible form. Visitors are welcome to interact with the drawings by expressing their personal memories related to fear, something they wish to forget, or something they don’t want to forget. Visitors may use the torn pieces to communicate this memory in any way that feels right to them: verbal/written words, sentences, drawings, paintings, or other visual forms. This project begins with the artist’s personal memory and evolves into a shared experience and collective memory, growing and transforming as more participants contribute.

Chansong Woo is an interdisciplinary artist based in Northwest Arkansas. Her artwork explores how personal memory and trauma can be articulated through art. By engaging with themes of vulnerability and subjectivity, her art invites viewers as a post generation from diverse backgrounds to reflect on how history is learned and remembered across generations. She received her MFA in Studio Art from Florida State University and her BFA and MFA degrees in Painting from Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea.

📍 Join us THIS Saturday (September 5) for the opening reception 1 PM - 9 PM at COOP. We look forward to seeing you!

Address

507A Hagan Street
Nashville, TN
37203

Opening Hours

11am - 3pm

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