[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 100 (Wednesday, June 11, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING VEDA REED

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                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 11, 2025

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a wonderful 
artist, educator and delightful friend Veda Louise Reed, who passed on 
June 3rd at the age of 91. Ms. Reed was born in Oklahoma but moved to 
Memphis in 1952 and attended the Memphis Academy of Art (later known as 
the Memphis College of Art) where she received her Bachelor of Fine 
Arts degree in 1956. Her classmates included artists Dolph Smith and 
Henry Easterwood. She was appointed registrar of the Academy of Art 
that same year. Ms. Reed studied landscape painting in Britain and 
began exhibiting her work in 1957, both in Memphis and at the Morris 
Gallery in New York, where they were reviewed by The New York Times and 
other arts publications.
  Through the years. she worked mainly in oil on canvas and exhibited 
paintings at Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), the Brooks 
Memorial Art Gallery (now the Brooks Museum of Art), the Alice Bingham 
Galleries, the Bingham Kurts Gallery and the David Lusk Gallery, all in 
Memphis; in Atlanta; in Little Rock; and at the Boatman Gallery in New 
York. At the Memphis College of Art, she taught several art forms 
including painting, drawing, design, fabric design, still life, and 
landscapes. I have three of her paintings, including one of a sunrise 
that I wake up to in my Washington condominium. Years ago, she and I 
were paired in designing a Mark Rothko-like painting at a Brooks Museum 
event for a charity. She retired as a senior faculty member in 1995 
when she was named professor emeritus. During her tenure, her fellow 
faculty members included Dorothy Sturm, Burton Callicott and Ted 
Faiers. Her final exhibit at the David Lusk Gallery opened in January 
2024.
  Ms. Reed brought beauty to our world and inspired hundreds of student 
artists. She led a life of accomplishment and will be missed.

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