THE FOCUS

Elise Cochran: You studied painting and drawing at the University of Tennessee, then went to North Texas for your MFA in painting/drawing and sculpture. What initially drew you to studio art, and how did the three disciplines of painting, drawing, sculpture build on each other? Jennifer Pepper: I’ve been drawing since I was very little and was encouraged by my family and teachers. Even though access to Fine art education and museums was limited, I was able take ad...

Rachel Bubis: Your work is deeply rooted in your experiences growing up in Memphis as a third-generation Chinese American. How has the cultural landscape of Memphis shaped your practice? Sharon Havelka: I was born in Memphis and grew up in the 80’s from the generation of Delta Chinese that owned and operated corner grocery stores in neighborhoods throughout the south. My sister and I played in the aisles stocking shelves and breaking down boxes. She would ring up customers on th...

Rachel Bubis: Your practice spans painting, filmmaking, and graphic design. Do ideas typically begin in one medium before finding their way into another? How does your approach change from one medium to the next? Noah Thomas Miller: All the time, but it's a fairly natural process. I love working across mediums and finding intersections between them, and once I established my own visual language, it made it easy to blend whatever I'm doing. Normally everything starts from a written idea...

Faira Herod: You stated that what the body loses, an art practice can make visible and transmissible. Has this idea played a role in leading you to create art in response to your chronic illness? How has this act of creating art helped you overcome what you cannot control in your own body? Jocelyn Mathewes: Generally, I make art out of fixation, whether that be from a desire to understand, a fascination, love, or frustrated preoccupation. I make in order...

Rachel Bubis: As a Lao refugee and immigrant, you describe how your experience during and post-Vietnam War continues to heavily impact your life and art. You’ve also mentioned that this experience of war shows up as visual fragments, unlike your siblings who remember specific sounds or smells. Why do you think your experience was different? Sisavanh Phouthavong: As the youngest girl of seven, I grew up with four brothers and an older sister. My siblings were always very protective of...

Rachel Bubis: Your work returns again and again to Southern identity, asking what it means to be Southern. Has the process of making your work changed or clarified that question for you in any way? And looking forward, where do you feel Southern identity is evolving or revealing itself in unexpected ways? Isaiah Kennedy: The South, as an ideological construct, is polylithic in nature, not a monolith. What being Southern means to one person is completely different than what it...

Wesley Roden: Whether by arranging drama scenes with ceramic figures and tequila umbrellas or depicting portraits of people in motion, your work conveys narrative. How do you arrange items or choose subject matter that creates parameters for imagination or a bigger story? Do you ever hint beyond the canvas or silhouette of the figure? Denise Stewart-Sanabria: The objects in paintings have to have a level of fabulousness to them. They want to pose. They want to star in something. Whoever...

Daniel Holdridge: Your practice is anchored in drawing. Through multiple technical and material processes, you’ve demonstrated a sincere interest in what the formal elements of drawing can accomplish. What are some qualities of drawing (historically, technically or otherwise) that invite this kind of focus, for your work? Laura Cleary Williams: I think I want to say drawing was the first thing I was doing, but that’s not true. What happened was I fell in love with printmaking. Through lear...