Open Crit

430 N. Cleveland
Second Tuesday of Each Month
Artist Setup: 5 – 6 pm / Critique & Discussion: 6 – 8 pm

Crosstown Arts’ Open Crit series, organized in partnership with ArtsMemphis, is a monthly critique event where visual artists are invited to bring new and/or in-progress studio work for critical feedback and group discussion particular to each artist’s practice. The series will take place at Crosstown Arts exhibition space at 430 N. Cleveland.

A dedicated facilitator with experience in a group critique setting will guide discussion for each critique event, which will include up to 4 artists’ work, with 15-25 minutes devoted to the work of each.

All visual artists and anyone interested in joining the discussion are welcome to participate regardless of their level of expertise, prior professional art experience or background/education in fine art. Participation is free and open to the public. Input during the critiques from everyone in attendance is welcomed and encouraged.

No formal preparation is necessary for participating artists, who will have an opportunity to introduce and contextualize their work on view at the beginning of each critique. Participating artists are only asked to be open to (and interested in) considering reactions to their work by the group, which will always be done in a supportive, constructive and casual environment, but could at the same time be challenging.


To participate, artists can send the following info via email to Brittney Bullock (brittney@ crosstownarts.org) with the subject line “Open Crit.” Submissions will be accepted and scheduled based on availability. There is no submission fee.

  • Name
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • General description of the work to be discussed (i.e. “abstract paintings” or “video art”) & sizes of works and/or media types

Artists are asked to bring no more than 8 individual pieces (in any medium). Maximum run time for time-based work(s) is 10 minutes.

Participating artists are encouraged to invite friends, peers and colleagues to the open crits, both to see their work in progress and to give constructive feedback.

Organized by Crosstown Arts in partnership with ArtsMemphis ArtsAccelerator.

Johnathan Payne: Meet Me Where I’m At

Exhibition Schedule
Friday, May 8: Reception, 6 – 8 pm | Live performance at 6:21 pm
Saturday, May 9: Artist talk at 2 pm

Artist Statement
Intense preoccupations with self-concept, desire, and tribalism are the points of departure for my recent installation and performance work. I tackle these complex personal landscapes in the studio similar to my approach outside of that space: through endurance, perspective, minor successes, immediate pleasures, Pho Binh lunch buffets, constant longing, and inevitable failure. This is all a journey. Utilizing pre-existing cultural objects, movement, body fluid, space, and meditative processes, I continue to simultaneously grapple with and reprieve my poly-consciousness. Ultimately, this show serves as a temporal sanctuary where these performative self-journeys and self-reconciliations shall unfold.

Artist Bio
Johnathan Payne is an emerging artist whose creative practice encompasses drawing, painting, collage, performance, and installation art. He has exhibited in various solo and group exhibitions, including Voice of the Turtle at Tops Gallery most recently, New Drawings at Beige in 2014, and Pyramid Scheme! at Gallery 363 in 2013. He earned his BA in Art from Rhodes College in 2012, and received the Sally Becker Grinspan Award for Artistic Achievement. Last November, Johnathan was awarded an ArtsAccelerator grant from ArtsMemphis. He currently lives and maintains a studio practice in Memphis, TN.