THE FOCUS

The book is an object divided, bound in dualities: left & right, intimate & social, verbal & visual, touchable & immortal. With an interdisciplinary approach that includes printmaking, weaving, installation, and poetry, my work is centered around the book and its power to influence how we view and tolerate contradictions. - Elysia Mann, 2017 Elysia Mann, Studio Visit, March 2017 Elysia Mann, Studio Visit, March 2017 Elysia Mann, Studio Visit, March 2017 Originally from rural Nebraska, Elysia Mann earned her BFA in visual art from Washington University...

For me, painting has always been about slowness: slowness in looking and slowness in making. My work seeks to exploit and celebrate the various ways in which the painted image separates itself from other kinds of imagery while also alluding to our high speed world dominated by immediate access to anything, from sourcing information on the internet to our ability to capture and store images at a moment’s notice. Douglas Degges, Studio Visit, February 2017 Douglas Degges, Studio Visit, February 2017 My...

Through sculpture, textiles, printed matter, and geometric pattern-making, I map repetition and contradiction of the paranoid spirit. Referencing new religious movements and self-help techniques, I imagine practical and psycho-spiritual coping strategies for the American condition. Corkey Sinks, Studio Visit, March 2017 Corkey Sinks, Studio Visit, March 2017 I embrace the human tendency to find meaningful patterns within the noise of collective information. As we struggle to understand our roles within the systems we occupy, narratives of conspiracy and prophecies of events to...

I am preoccupied with the liminal space of painting, in the features painting claims as its own but equally in those that painting disavows; in painting’s intimates as well as its outcasts; in the manner in which painting guards its boundaries as well as the means by which it marks itself away from its “other.” Ron Buffington, Studio Visit, February 2017 Ron Buffington, Studio Visit, February 2017 By exploring the historical literature of Modernism and interrogating romantic notions of authenticity and immedi...

Emily C. Thomas is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Memphis, Amsterdam, and California. Emily Thomas, Studio Visit, February 2017 (on location beside an electric power station in Memphis, TN / many works pictured are in-progress) Born and raised in Memphis, she received her BFA from New York University and her MFA from UC Santa Barbara. Emily Thomas, Studio Visit, February 2017 (on location beside an electric power station in Memphis, TN / many works pictured are in-progress) She enjoys animals, reading,...

Jessica Clay is an interdisciplinary artist working in Nashville, TN. She was born in Anchorage, Alaska and and also grew up in North Carolina before moving to Tennessee. There she received her BFA from Watkins College of Art, Design, & Film. She is a co-curator of the artist run space mild climate. Jessica Clay, Dig Site 2: 12th Avenue, gouache on paper, 5”x7”, 2016 (from studio visit) Jessica Clay, Studio Visit, February 2017 Currently I am working on a project where I am collecting docu...

Lush Interiors is a new collection of mixed media works aimed at exploring sensual machines, a term the artist uses to describe the mechanized trappings of modern life, as we all become increasingly enmeshed with our gadgetry. St Francis Elevator Ride, Tending, MDF Die-cut print & 3D assemblage, 40" x 28.5" x 5.5" (2016) St Francis Elevator Ride, Parts & Luxury (detail), MDF Die-cut print & 3D assemblage, 48" x 30"x 6.5" (2016) Common household appliances burst apart to reveal human anatomy and vegetation, both in various states of...

KJ Schumacher is a multidisciplinary artist working in Nashville, TN. He received a B.A. in Fine Art from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and studied at Parsons School of Design in Paris as an undergraduate. He received an M.F.A. at the Transart Institute in New York and Berlin. KJ Schumacher, Studio Visit, January 2017 (most works pictured are in progress) KJ Schumacher, Studio Visit, January 2017 (most works pictured are in progress) His praxis consists of...