Veda Reed

b. 1934, Granite, OK
There is a sense in which I view creativity, I mean mine of painting, as a spiritual experience.
Homage to Fredrick Douglass
Homage to Fredrick Douglass

Veda Reed is revered for her long career of creating sublime, luminous, large-scale paintings of skies, cloudscapes, and the cycles of the sun and moon. Inspired by her childhood in wide-open spaces of Oklahoma, her works represent moments of warmth and comfort experienced while witnessing nature. Working in isolation and silence, her studio practice reflects the flow of the atmospheres she depicts. She reduces images to their essential forms and then amplifies their presence through selective composition, brilliant palettes, and a painstaking process of layering pigment and glaze. Her incredibly smooth, seamless surfaces create perceptual effects ranging from a subtle, vibrating glow to pure radiance. For Reed, the act of painting is a spiritual journey toward truth and beauty and a celebration of cycles of renewal.

Veda Reed has lived and worked in Memphis since 1952. She received a BFA from the Memphis College of Art and studied at Siena College in Memphis and the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Amidst her long tenure as faculty member and dean at MCA, she has participated in numerous exhibitions in museums and galleries across the U.S. and has received many awards and honors, including the 1996 Tennessee Governor’s Award in the Arts. The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art mounted a large-scale retrospective exhibition of her work in 2017. She is featured in the collections of Baker Donelson, Memphis; Boyle Investment Company, Memphis; Bracewell & Patterson, Washington, DC; First Tennessee Bank, Memphis; Independent Bank, Memphis; Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis; Memphis Cancer Center, Memphis; Memphis College of Art, Memphis; Memphis University School, Memphis; Opryland Hotel, Nashville; Rhodes College, Memphis; Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; State University of New York at Binghampton, Binghampton, NY; The State of Tennessee Fine Arts Collection, Nashville; Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson; and the Urban Arts Commission, Memphis, among others.

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Homage to Fredrick Douglass
Homage to Fredrick Douglass
Sky Walk
Sky Walk
Last Light
Last Light
Green Flash, Imagined
Green Flash, Imagined
Moon and Clouds
Moon and Clouds
Moon Walk Eclipsed, Imagined
Moon Walk Eclipsed, Imagined
Early Morning
Early Morning
Sunrise 2023
Sunrise 2023
Sunset No. 1
Sunset No. 1
Sunset No. 2
Sunset No. 2
Red Sunrise
Red Sunrise
Red Sunrise No. 2
Red Sunrise No. 2
Backyard Sky at Sundown Study No. 1
Backyard Sky at Sundown Study No. 1
Garuda Lands And Waits
Garuda Lands And Waits
Fourth of July
Fourth of July
Purple Clouds
Purple Clouds
Cloud Bands at Twilight
Cloud Bands at Twilight
Daybreak, #2
Daybreak, #2
Oklahoma Sunrise Waiting for Garuda No. 2
Oklahoma Sunrise Waiting for Garuda No. 2
22 Nov 1985 #1
22 Nov 1985 #1
22 Nov 1985 #2
22 Nov 1985 #2
22 Nov 1985 #3
22 Nov 1985 #3
22 Nov 1985 #5
22 Nov 1985 #5
Overton Park Parade #1
Overton Park Parade #1
Untitled (white house)
Untitled (white house)
Untitled (white house) Study
Untitled (white house) Study
Homage to Fredrick Douglass
Homage to Fredrick Douglass
oil on canvas, 40x54
2023
Sky Walk
Sky Walk
oil on canvas, 40x28
2022
Last Light
Last Light
oil on canvas, 40x58
2022
Green Flash, Imagined
Green Flash, Imagined
oil opn canvas, 42x60
2022
Moon and Clouds
Moon and Clouds
oil on canvas, 16x20
2020
Moon Walk Eclipsed, Imagined
Moon Walk Eclipsed, Imagined
oil on canvas, 24x18
2021
Early Morning
Early Morning
oil on canvas, 3.5x9
2023
Sunrise 2023
Sunrise 2023
oil on canvas, 3.5x9
2023
Sunset No. 1
Sunset No. 1
oil on canvas, 4x9
2022
Sunset No. 2
Sunset No. 2
oil on canvas, 5x7
2022
Red Sunrise
Red Sunrise
oil on canvas, 4x6
2022
Red Sunrise No. 2
Red Sunrise No. 2
oil on canvas, 5x7
2022
Backyard Sky at Sundown Study No. 1
Backyard Sky at Sundown Study No. 1
oil on panel | 10x10 | $4000
2019
Garuda Lands And Waits
Garuda Lands And Waits
oil on canvas, 40x60
2018
Fourth of July
Fourth of July
oil on canvas, 44x44
2017
Purple Clouds
Purple Clouds
oil on canvas, 34x52
2017
Cloud Bands at Twilight
Cloud Bands at Twilight
oil on canvas, 44x48
2015
Daybreak, #2
Daybreak, #2
oil on cavnas, 48x48
2005
Oklahoma Sunrise Waiting for Garuda No. 2
Oklahoma Sunrise Waiting for Garuda No. 2
oil on canvas, 43x97.25
1989
22 Nov 1985 #1
22 Nov 1985 #1
oil on paper, 4.5x7.5
1984
22 Nov 1985 #2
22 Nov 1985 #2
oil on paper, 4.5x7.5
1984
22 Nov 1985 #3
22 Nov 1985 #3
oil on paper, 4.5x7.5
1985
22 Nov 1985 #5
22 Nov 1985 #5
oil on paper, 4.5x7.5
1985
Overton Park Parade #1
Overton Park Parade #1
oil on paper, 10.5x14
1980
Untitled (white house)
Untitled (white house)
oil on paper, 10.5x12
1973
Untitled (white house) Study
Untitled (white house) Study
graphite on paper, 7.75x9.5
1973

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