EAT/ART @ Tipton-Ashe
On view June 5 - July 31st, 2026.
EAT/ART @ Tipton-Ashe brings together artists from EAT/ART space's six-year alumni — printmakers, painters, photographers, ceramicists, and mixed-media makers who have each been a part of the alternative pop-up dining room gallery scene since its inception in 2020.
This group exhibition features artists who have shown, made, and grown in relationship with one another across the Southern Highlands. Their mediums differ, but their commitment to our beautiful place and their creative practice doesn't.
✨ FEATURING WORKS BY✨
Faith Belt, Ruby Berry, Laura Bowman, Anna Buchanan, Ben Conley, Bird Honeycutt, Suzanne Koett, Molly Ison, Katie Murphy, Jen Otey, Eric Drummond Smith, Amanda Sprinkle, Carla Taylor, Stacie Williams, and Camille Woods.
On view through the end of July 2026 at Tipton-Ashe Gallery, located at
📍401 Ashe Street in downtown Johnson City, Tennessee.
OPENING RECEPTION on June 5th 6-8pm ( WATCH THE OPENING )
featuring refreshments by The Philosopher’s House
CLOSING RECEPTION with POETRY PERFORMANCE on July 31st 6-8pm
featuring the Johnson City Poets Collective
In partnership with East Tennessee State University’s Slocumb Galleries.
Exhibit View
CURATOR’S STATEMENT
There is a concept — scenius — coined by musician Brian Eno to describe the creative intelligence that emerges not from the lone genius, but from a scene: a community of makers in conversation, in proximity, in relationship. It is the idea that excellence is not isolated, rather it emerges within community.
EAT/ART space was built on this belief.
What began in 2020 in a dining room during a season of profound disconnection was a small, stubborn act of community. A table set (if you will) for artists who needed a place to show, to be witnessed, and to keep making. Over twenty-five events spanning six years, that table expanded: out of the dining room and into the yard, into collaboration with other galleries and institutions, into the hands of over sixty artists working across our mountains and valleys.
The artists gathered here tonight are not a retrospective; they are evidence.
Each one of these artists passed through EAT/ART space at some point in this project's life — many of them in intimate, early shows; others in the sprawling community of the Yard pARTy; others still in the concentrated focus of a shared group exhibition. What they have in common is not a medium or a style – they all share place and a practice..
To exhibit together is to say: what I am doing matters, and so does what you are doing beside me. These artists make with intention, for this community, in this place. Over six years, EAT/ART space has held that claim in a dining room, a yard, and now in this formal gallery space in partnership with East Tennessee State University's Slocumb Galleries.
Excellence here was never a competition. It was a conversation — across dinner tables, in summer heat, in the comments threads of shared posts, in the quiet of separate studios where artists knew, because they had stood in a room together, that they were not alone.
Welcome to the table.
—Jocelyn Mathewes
List of Works
Jonah: Send by Faith Belt
16” w x 20” h block print on fabric
Hekate, by Ruby Berry
20” w x 30” h photography
Terpsichore, by Ruby Berry
24” w x 20” h photograph
Cosmic Chaotic Peace Portal, by Laura Bowman
35" w x 35" h, knotted sculptural tapestry, cotton, wool, mixed fibers, mounted on wood frame
Time is a Thief, by Anna Buchanan
8” radius graphite on paper
A Delicate Balance, by Anna Buchanan
8” x 10” graphite on paper
Isn’t It Time to Start a Family?, by Anna Buchanan
3” radius, graphite on paper in a repurposed clock
Feather Fit, by Anna Buchanan
12” radius, graphite on paper in a repurposed clock
All That Glitters is Not Gold III, by Anna Buchanan
7”x4”, graphite on paper
Time to Go, by Anna Buchanan
4”x3”, graphite on paper
Hollow Victory, by Anna Buchanan
7”x4”, graphite on paper
Dogkiller, by Ben Conley
58” w x 45” h, transfer print, pastel, and charcoal on paper.
Poison (holly, nightshade, mayapple, poison ivy, poison oak, hemlock, pokeweed berries), by Bird Honeycutt
22” w x 12” h, hand carved relief print on paper
Antidote (goldenseal, echinacea, ginseng, jewelweed, witch hazel, black cohosh, bee balm, sassafras, mint, elderberry), by Bird Honeycutt
22” w x 12” h, hand carved relief print on paper
Metaphysical Libertarianism, by Suzanne Koett
36” w x 24” h, archival inkjet photograph
You Fly Straight Into My Heart, by Suzanne Koett
40.5” w x 28.5” h, archival inkjet photograph
Bohemian Blooms Variation, by Molly Ison
50” w x 50” h, crochet blanket (pattern: Bohemian Blooms by Jane Crowfoot)
Rowan wool, yak, alpaca, cotton, viscose yarns
Tarot-inspired and traditional pysanky eggs, by Molly Ison
approx 2” w x 3” h x 2” l each, chicken eggs and aniline dye
Asheville in August, by Katie Murphy
58” w x 62” h, acrylic and oil on canvas
Green Moon, by Katie Murphy
22” w x 28” h, Screenprint
Dissolution, by Katie Murphy
30” w x 22” h, Watercolor on paper
Virginia Opossum, by Jen Otey
6” x 3” w x 2.5” h, stoneware butter dish
Central Appalachian Wildflower, by Jen Otey
3.5” w x 8” h, stoneware vase
Cercropia Moth, by Jen Otey
4” x 4” w x 4” h, stoneware mug
Israfil and the Trumpet, by Eric Drummond Smith
22” w x 30” h, Acrylic, sumi ink, chalk, and pastel on paper
Two Cyclopes, by Eric Drummond Smith
22” w x 30” h, Acrylic ink on paper
The Devil You Know or the Devil You Don't, by Eric Drummond Smith
22” w x 30” h, Acrylic ink and paint, sumi ink, and walnut ink on paper
Gladiolus, by Amanda Sprinkle
9.5 x 12 x 17 inches, woven basketry
Moss Ombre Curls, by Amanda Sprinkle
11 x 7.5 x 14 inches, woven basketry
Wine Cherokee Wheels, by Amanda Sprinkle
9 x 8 x 11.5 inches, woven basketry
Lay Me Down, by Carla Taylor
40 x 30 inches, Paper, acrylic, ink, and colored pencil on Canvas
Gravity Song, by Carla Taylor
11.5 x 9 inches, Paper, ink, acrylic, and pencil
Laid to Rest, by Carla Taylor
12 x 9 inches, Paper, ink, acrylic, and thread
Spiders in Space, by Stacie Williams
13” w x 13” h, framed to 20” w x 20” h, screen print on paper
A Knowing Between, In Quiet Reverie, by Camille Woods
30” w x 40”, acrylic on canvas
Here’s what happened—
The turnout from the opening reception, which included several artist talks.
The crowd listens to the artist talks.
Left to right: Ruby Berry, Laura Bowman, Ben Conley, Carla Taylor, Eric Drummond Smith, Suzanne Koett, Camille Woods, Bird Honeycut, Amanda Sprinkle, and Jocelyn Mathewes. Artists featured but not present: Molly Ison, Katie Murphy, and Jen Otey.
ABOUT TIPTON-ASHE GALLERY
Tipton-Ashe Gallery is one of the educational exhibition venues of the Department of Art & Design under the College of Arts and Sciences at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee. Director Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay is an Appalachian-based Filipinx curator, artist advocate and arts administrator. She has organized and curated numerous exhibits both nationally and abroad, juried regional exhibitions and has lectured in the Philippines, Japan and the United States. Contreras-Koterbay graduated with honors from the University of the Philippines with a B.A. in anthropology and an M.A. in art history.
