Denise Stewart-Sanabria Artist Biography

Denise Stewart-Sanabria was born in Massachusetts and earned her BFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1986, where she has built a dynamic and wide-ranging career as both a painter and installation artist.

Sanabria is best known for her hyper-realist paintings, which transform ordinary subjects—ranging from fresh produce to mischievous jelly donuts—into striking portraits layered with wit, subversion, and anthropomorphic narratives. Beneath their meticulous detail, these works often serve as playful yet incisive reflections on human behavior and cultural identity.

In addition to painting, she has gained recognition for her ambitious series of life-size charcoal portrait drawings on plywood. Cut out, mounted on wood bases, and arranged in conceptual installations, these figures inhabit and activate the spaces they occupy, blurring the boundaries between two and three dimensions while engaging viewers in unexpected dialogues.

Her work is represented in numerous museum, corporate, and private collections across the country. Notable placements include the Tennessee State Museum, the Evansville Museum of Art in Indiana, and the Knoxville Museum of Art, as well as major corporate collections such as FirstBank Tennessee, Pinnacle Bank, Omni and Opryland Hotels, Scripps Networks, Knoxville Botanical Gardens, Jewelry Television, TriStar Energy, and the corporate offices of McGhee Tyson Airport.

EDUCATION

• BFA, Painting – University of Massachusetts/Amherst, 1978

• School of the Worcester Art Museum

UPCOMING SOLO, TWO-PERSON, AND GROUP EXHIBITS

2027

• TBA, William King Museum, Abingdon, VA – Solo, July–November

2025

• Truthful Illusions, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN – April 12–July 6

• Wall (small focus exhibit), Robert Lange Studios, Charleston, SC – June

• Maximalism (working title), Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN – Solo, November

SELECTED SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITS

2023

• Epicurean Indulgence, Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN – Solo, December

2022

• Virtual Realities, Jones Carter Gallery, Lake City, SC – Solo, Dec. 3, 2021–Mar. 12, 2022

• Feast, Kobalt Gallery, Provincetown, MA – Solo, April

2021

• Culinary Excess, Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN – December

2020

• Tableau Vivant with Gary Monroe, The Balcony at the Emporium Center, Knoxville, TN – Two-person, March

• Edible Dramas, Chauvet Arts, Nashville, TN – Solo, May/June

• Table Theater (collaboration with Replacements, Ltd.), Mitchell Hill, Charleston, SC – November

2019

• Quantum Reality Drawn, Lowe Mill North Gallery, Huntsville, AL – Solo, Feb. 27–Apr. 20

• Virtual Realities, Dogwood Arts Gallery Space, Knoxville, TN – Solo, March

• Reinvented Virtual Reality, Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery, Nashville, TN – Solo, April–June (TAC State Fellowship recipient exhibit)

• Sumptuous (collaboration with Style Library/London), Mitchell Hill Gallery, Charleston, SC – Solo, April 12

• A Drawn Conclusion (with Tamie Beldue, Andrea Garland, Denise Wellbrock), The Arts Center of Greenwood, SC – Sept. 23–Oct. 31

2018

• ENCOUNTERS: Denise Stewart-Sanabria, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL – Solo, Oct. 2018–Jan. 2019

• Contemporary Altars of Misappropriated Mythology, Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN – Solo, Jan. 12–Mar. 5

• Another Virtual Reality, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, University of Southern Indiana – Solo, July 21–Sept. 7

2017

• Virtual Configuration, Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, Watkinsville, GA – Solo

• Virtual Reality, John P. Weatherhead Gallery, University of Saint Francis, Fort Wayne, IN – Solo

• Virtual Reality Reorganized, Rose Lehrman Art Gallery, HACC, Harrisburg, PA – Solo

• Contemporary Patterns, Robert N. Moore Jr. Gallery, O’Moore College of Design, Franklin, TN – Solo, March

• Gastronomic Drama, Quinlan Fine Art Center, Gainesville, GA – Solo

2016

• Quantum Deconstructed, William King Museum, Abingdon, VA – Solo

• Represent, Bagwell Gallery, Pellissippi State, Knoxville, TN – With David Underwood & Soon Ee Ngoh, January

• Quantum Continuum, Rebecca Randall Bryan Gallery, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC – Solo

• Altarscapes, The Tomato Head, Knoxville, TN – Solo

2015

• Quantum Confusion, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC – Solo

• Quantum Presence, Mazie Jones Gallery, Boone, NC – Solo

• Drawing Closer: Ink and Wood, Sarratt Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN – With Ellen Wiener & LB Thompson

• Food as Muse, Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN – Solo

• Culinary Indulgence, Tomato Head, Knoxville, TN – Solo

• New Work, The Arts Company, Nashville, TN – Solo

2014

• Eat Me Two, Paulk and Company, Knoxville, TN – Solo

• Culinary Drama, The Arts Company, Nashville, TN – With Edie Maney

• Quantum Deconstruction, Pellissippi State, Blount County Campus, Maryville, TN – Solo

2013

• Altar-nates, The Arts Company, Nashville, TN

2012

• Quantum Confusion, Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN – Solo

• With Christine Wuenschel, Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY

2011

• Quantum Confusion, Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Tech, Smithville, TN

2010

• Eat Me: Anthropomorphic Food Paintings, Clayton Center for the Arts, Maryville College, Maryville, TN – Solo

• Creative Art Guild Gallery, Dalton, GA – With Corey Barksdale

2008

• Skeletons in Closets, Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery, Nashville, TN – With Laura Chenecik

• Hanging Around, Peg Harvill Gallery, Roxy Regional Theatre, Clarksville, TN

2007

• Stalked in the Quarry, Emporium Center for the Arts, Knoxville, TN & Johnson City Area Arts Council Gallery, Johnson City, TN

• Stalk, Shoot, Draw, Maryville College, Maryville, TN

• Plywood People, Tennessee Art League Premiere Gallery, Nashville, TN

2006

• The Human Presence, AVA Gallery, Chattanooga, TN

2004

• Flying Solo, Nashville International Airport

• Works on Wood, Centre at Millennium Park, Johnson City, TN