Exhibitions

OF BIRDS, SNAKES & ANCESTORS: BLACK ARTS HEALING

Sandra Blain Galleries at Arrowmont / 556 Pkwy.mich, Gatlinburg, TN September 1 - November 14th (Reception: November 13 6:00pm - 8:00pm)

Bill Capshaw, Tina Curry, Wokie Massaquoi-Wicks, Calvin Nicely, Jane Buis, Jerry Machen, Jeremy Myles, Jason Flack, Sammie Nicely, Aundra McCoy, Hattie Marshall-Duncan, Alice Aida Ayers, Marteja Bailey, Lurlynn Franklin, Willard Hill, Dr. Barbara Hodges, Chuck Johnson, Michael McBride, Christine Roth, Andrew Travis, Gary L. White, Nija Woods, Shamek Weddle, Andrew Lafayette, Bridgette McCoy

Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in partnership with Crafting Blackness Initiative and Tennessee Craft presents Of Birds, Snakes and Ancestors: Black Arts Healing featuring Black craft artists from Tennessee curated by Karlota I. Contreras-Koterbay and Aundra McCoy. The public is invited to view the exhibition and attend the joint closing reception with Black Visages: Rug Tufting Portraits, on November 13, 2026, Friday from 6 to 8 pm., at the Sandra Blain Galleries.

Of Birds, Snakes and Ancestors: Black Arts Healing foregrounds the significance of Black creative practices in healing, well-being, and health. The materiality of ‘cure’ is embodied in various forms and avenues that Black craft artists have sought as tools to heal illness and support physical and mental well-being. Generational trauma, born out of systemic racism in the United States, has historically curtailed access to health care, education, and the promotion of well-being. Struggles to endure have precipitated alternative and innovative means to provide access to healing through creative means. Gardens and herbs were crucial resources in the evolution of folk cures, inherited from collective memories of distant lands and from practices brought violently from Africa via the Middle Passage. Inheritors of formerly enslaved peoples with no access to healthcare have gravitated to the spiritual and creative practices of care in addressing these issues, passed down from ancestors. Art and craft-making allow healing through the manifestation of reinvigorating energies and opening pathways to healing that has been otherwise obscured. The Tennessee artists featured in this exhibition have distinct backgrounds that employ craft in various iterations in the pursuit of well-being and healing.

The Sandra Blain Galleries are located at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts ,150 Baskins Creek Bypass, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. For more information please email curator Karlota Contreras-Koterbay via contrera@etsu.edu or Arrowmont 865.436.5860 for gallery hours and parking.