Tennessee Valley Authority
Photo Exhibit Showcases TVA Architecture
April 19, 2010
MURRAY, Ky. -- The Tennessee Valley Authority is known for power production and managing the Tennessee River. Now a traveling photo exhibit highlights the agency’s influence on architecture.
“Power and Domesticity: The Architectural Legacy of TVA” consists of a series of photographs by Richard Barnes that showcases the designs of TVA structures, many of which were built during and shortly after the Great Depression in the 1930s and 1940s.
The exhibit is on display, free of charge, at Wrather West Kentucky Museum on the campus of Murray State University through April 24.
The photos also use contemporary scenes to highlight the continued influence of the architectural styles on every day life. Barnes produced the photographs for the book, “The Tennessee Valley Authority: Design and Persuasion,” edited by Tim Culvahouse.
The collection is sponsored and coordinated by the Tennessee Architecture Foundation.
“We undertook this exhibit working with Tim Culvahouse to fulfill our mission to increase the public’s awareness of architecture,” said Jim Frierson, foundation chairman. “After 75 years, the architecture and land planning of TVA is still significant and nothing brings it home better than these photographs that are larger than life.”
The exhibit has also been displayed in other communities across the Tennessee River Valley.
“We felt it was important to bring this collection to West Kentucky, a region with a long relationship with TVA,” said Bryant Beames, TVA Customer Service manager in Kentucky.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S. government, provides electricity for utility and business customers in most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia – an area of 80,000 square miles with a population of 9 million. TVA operates 29 hydroelectric dams, 11 coal-fired power plants, three nuclear plants and 11 natural gas-fired power facilities and supplies up to 36,000 megawatts of electricity, delivered over 16,000 miles of high-voltage power lines. TVA also provides flood control, navigation, land management and recreation for the Tennessee River system and works with local utilities and state and local governments to promote economic development across the region. TVA, which makes no profits and receives no taxpayer money, is funded by sales of electricity to its customers. Electricity prices in TVA’s service territory are below the national average.
Media Contact
Scott Brooks, Knoxville, (865) 632-8031
Media Relations, Knoxville (865) 632-6000