The KMA celebrates the art and artists of East Tennessee in an Edward Larrabee Barnes-designed building (1990) which is sheathed in locally-quarried Tennessee marble.
Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee is a permanent exhibition of works from the mid-19th- to the late-20th-century spotlighting the visual arts legacy of Knoxville and the region. Also, extending the chronology and geography of Higher Ground is a permanent exhibition of modern and contemporary art, Currents: Recent Art from East Tennessee and Beyond, features a selection of objects from the KMA’s holdings of work by emerging and established artists.
The museum supplements and complements its permanent installations with a schedule of temporary exhibitions that explore aspects of regional culture and its relation to national and international artistic developments.