ACC to showcase artists from collaborative design school

SMITHVILLE – Artists from the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee will be exhibiting their work in a special exhibition in the Joe L. Evins Gallery at Tennessee Tech University’s Appalachian Center for Crafts through July 6.  

Arrowmont is a craft school in the community that Tech has an important relationship with, according to Rebecca Dilldine, ACC gallery operations coordinator. Many of Tech’s faculty and residents teach workshops at Arrowmont throughout the year and vice versa. 

“It’s important to maintain relationships and connections with our neighboring craft schools and we hope to have more exhibition and educational opportunities with Arrowmont soon,” Dilldine said. “Our faculty and residents have great connections with the artists at Arrowmont.”

This is a new exhibition and the first time the ACC is showcasing work from artists in another craft school. 

“I hope going forward we can arrange other exhibitions like this with neighboring craft schools,” Dildine said. 

The five 2021-2022 artists-in-residents, Elizabeth Jo Belz, Horacio Casillas, Kyle Cottier, Naomi David Russo and Lena Schmid’s exhibition is titled “One Year Later.” It is intended to exhibit art work created in dialogue with one another and influenced by the rich history of art and craft in eastern Tennessee.

They were chosen from a highly competitive application process, and create and experiment within disciplines that span woodworking, metal work, ceramics, painting and multimedia practices. They are emerging artists, and this exhibition will showcase their most ambitious work. 

Their residency experience involves working closely together in their connected studios in the Smoky Mountains. Within their respective mediums, their work has a cohesive language focused on craft, materiality, traditional processes and installation. 

Tech’s artists-in-residence also exhibit elsewhere across the country. Most of them take part in individual exhibitions that feature the same medium as they do such as clay, glass, fibers, metals, wood, but sometimes they exhibit together as a group. 

“Our residents have exhibited together at the Burlap Room in Smithville, and at the Made Here Market and Art Prowl in Cookeville,” Dilldine said. 

The Joe L. Evins Gallery hours are Monday – Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Sunday 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.

The ACC is located at 1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville.

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