Exhibitions
BFA STUDIO ART EXHIBITIONS
Slocumb Galleries (ETSU) / 232 Sherrod Drive, Johnson City, TN November 14, 2022 - November 22, 2022
Kristina Ayers, Maeve Lawson, Bana Richards
BFA Studio Art Exhibitions at Slocumb Galleries
The ETSU Department of Art & Design and the Slocumb Galleries proudly present the Fall 2022 BFA Studio Art Exhibitions November 4 to 22, 2022 featuring Kristina Ayers, Maeve Lawson and Bana Richards
Illimitable Chaos by Kristina Ayers explores various stages of trauma, substance abuse, violence, relationships, and underlying mental health issues. The artist seeks to create a visual display and conversation between the chaotic thoughts and emotions resulting from the harsh realities herself and others experience over time. With the overall goal to understand, cope, and to share in obstacles to obtain peace. Kristina Ayers was born and raised in Johnson City, Tennessee. She is inspired by nature, music, societal issues, and personal relationships. Kristina is the second born of five children and a first-generation college student. A senior at East Tennessee State University, she will complete in Fall 2022 her BFA degree. Kristina works in sculpture, photography, and painting. She is a Residential Technician at a drug and mental health rehabilitation center and is passionate about taking care of others and giving support to individuals who suffer with different forms of mental health disorders and addictions. She plans to get a master’s degree in social work to become a crisis counselor, focusing on art as a therapeutic method of treatment.
Voices Never Heard is an exhibition of objects created by Maeve Lawson that explore the trauma of an unexpected loss of a family member by suicide. The artist seeks to show how a family carries on the memory of those they’ve lost and how they hope to heal and grow together in the aftermath. Lawson is a non-binary, femme identifying, multidisciplinary artist. Lawson is in her final year of earning her BFA at East Tennessee State University. She creates functional ceramics to honor people, places, and times from her life. She uses printmaking and painting to convey intangible ideas about gender, sexuality, identity, and existentialism by representing abstract environments and surreal scenes.
Casements is body of work as a visual representation of the difficult balance Bana Richards find herself in between allowing to be known to others while holding onto the sense of security that she hides. Bana Lea Richards, practicing under the mononym Bana, is a mixed-media artist based in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. Their artwork gravitates towards the surreal – often figures, objects, and creatures immersed in where they obviously do not belong. Bana has focused on processes such as screen-printing, metal smithing, and clay sculpture while pursuing their BFA from East Tennessee State University. Most recently, Bana has opened a private tattoo studio in Asheville, North Carolina, where their drawings find a permanent home on trusting patrons from around the world.
Tha Slocumb Galleries are located at Ernest C. Ball Hall, 232 Sherrod Drive, ETSU campus. Open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with extended hours on receptions and by appointments. For more info, please email contrera@etsu.edu.
