EAT/ART space is a private pop-up gallery from a dining room in Appalachia.

Our vision: to create opportunities for emerging and established artists to exhibit and sell their work while showcasing local food culture in an innovative alternative venue.

EAT/ART space is a community project established in response to the closures & loss of opportunities during the pandemic. Since then, this intimate space opened to the public to give new and emerging visual artists a platform to display and talk about their work.

Run for artists, by an artist, the goal for this space is incubate artists by keeping commission fees low so that new and emerging artists have a place in the creative ecosystem.

Through exhibitions, pop-up events, artist talks, and curation, EAT/ART space celebrates and amplifies the small and local.

based in Johnson City, Tennessee, on S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee, East) land

GALLERY HISTORY

In 2020, we held 7 exhibits featuring 7 artists and local food venues. Exhibits were virtual-only and artist talks were streamed live.

In 2021, we held 8 exhibits featuring 8 artists and local food venues. Exhibits were virtual and artist talks were streamed live. Our first in-person reception was held in July of that year, and we continued to hold virtual artist talks. The gallery was also open by appointment.

In 2022, we held 4 dual-artist exhibits, featuring 8 artists and local food venues. We streamed our in-person receptions, and held virtual artist talks. The gallery was also open by appointment.

In 2023, we held 2 unique community-engagement exhibits. First, Within Normal Limits, for the Tennessee Triennial, which included a special community panel discussion on health and healing. Second, Yard pARTy, where 13 regional artists were invited to display or perform a never before seen or fresh body of work to the audience in the format of a community potluck.

In 2024, we held another 2 community-engagement exhibits. Our second annual Yard pARTy featured 15 artists and included an album release, interactive installation, shadow puppet performance, live painting from Eric Drummond Smith, a gallery exhibit, and more. Later that year, Written in Real Time brought the reverse-storytelling experience Campfireball and 5 regional visual artists to focus on work that involves narrative—personal and mythical.

In 2025, we held the third annual Yard pARTy featuring 23 artists and included a video installation and musical performance, dance, ceramics, painting, watercolor, zine-making, a Whimsey Machine, life drawing, broom-making and printmaking demonstrations, interactive textile art, and a magician. Second, GENERATE, an exhibit featuring 10 local artists, was hosted in collaboration with 123 West Main Street Gallery in the heart of downtown Johnson City, along with an ambient musical performance and animation collaboration between Jason Flack and Lyberarchelulo.

All artists work and live within a 250 mile radius of Johnson City, Tennessee, in South Central Appalachia. Artwork featured is not required to be for sale, and each artist prices their own work. The gallery takes a commission to cover the website overhead and payment processing fees.