Nick DeFord talks about his work for Contemporary Focus 2010 at the Knoxville Museum of Art. A Knoxville native, Nick DeFord earned his BFA in drawing from the University of Tennessee, and an MFA in fibers from Arizona State University. His work explores the visual culture of geography and cartography using common household materials. Through maps, globes, travel guides, pamphlets and charts, DeFord disrupts commonly recognizable systems to examine our relationship to identity and place, the known and the unknown. DeFord has exhibited work nationally, most recently at Fluorescent Gallery in Knoxville, the Arizona Biennial at the Tucson Museum of Art, and Whittier College in California. Nick DeFord currently teaches drawing at the University of Tennessee.Contemporary Focus 2010 ;is the second year of an annual KMA series that serves as a vital means of recognizing, supporting, and documenting the development of contemporary art in East Tennessee. Each year we feature emerging artists who work in new and experimental ways. http://www.contemporaryfocus.org Less