A graduate of Murray State University in Kentucky and the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield, Mich., sculptor Olen Bryant studied at Cleveland Institute of Art and Institute in the Visual Arts in American Culture at the University of Delaware and the Winterthur Museum. Known for graceful works such as Sleeping Stones and Clay Angels, crafted from regional materials, Bryant won the Distinguished Artist Award at the Governor’s Awards for the Arts in 2007, the same year that Customs House Museum & Cultural Center in Clarksville, Tenn., hosted a retrospective of his works in wood, clay and stone. A founding member of the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists, Bryant taught from 1958 to 1991, spending 27 years as Professor of Art and Chair of the Sculpture and Ceramics Department at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn. His works appear in collections at Austin Peay State University; Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tenn.; Tennessee State Museum of Art and Cheekwood Museum of Art in Nashville. In 2011 and 2012, University School of Nashville and LeQuire Gallery held retrospectives of Bryant’s work.