“Along the Horizon” displays drawings from across Tennessee

A new art exhibit at ETSU is displaying drawings made by artists from across the state of Tennessee.

The exhibit is titled “Along the Horizon: Contemporary Drawing in Tennessee,” and it is on display in the Slocumb Galleries and the Reece Museum. The art on display in Slocumb consists of drawings from different artists hung around the perimeter of the room, as well as some art pieces displayed on the floor of the gallery.

“Myself and Andrew Scott Ross, when we came here a couple years ago, we were always interested in showcasing and connecting with the current artist community in Tennessee,” curator Vanessa Mayoraz said. “We had done an out-of-region panel a couple years ago, and we always wanted to do some type of follow up on this…how to create an artist community, who decides to not live in the main major arts but more in the other places by choice, not by obligation.”

Mayoraz said that there is all sorts of different art within the gallery, but that mostly it consits of drawings. That means the art is either a depiction of any imagery that the artists has chosen or based around mark making. There can be work on paper as well as work on sculptures or quilts.

“There’s a wide range of artists,” Mayoraz said. “Some artists are from here and some artist as far as Memphis, so we try to cover the whole length of geographical spread from the east to the west.”

One of the artists on display in the “Along the Horizon” gallery is John Hilton. Hilton said he had been creating art since he was four- or five-years-old and that he was asked by Mayoraz and Ross to bring a few pieces for consideration for the show.

“I have two in the Slocumb Gallery and one piece in the Carroll Reece Museum,” Hilton said. “I don’t know necessarily if I have a unifying theme between the three. It’s just an exploration of animal imagery as symbolic of myself, my personal narrative. My experience as an artist, as an individual, as a faculty member here, as a parent, as an artist in general.”

“Along the Horizon: Contemporary Drawing in Tennessee” will be on display in the Slocumb Galleries and the Reece Museum from Jan. 16 to Feb. 25.

“I think what we really hope is that it’s going to spark a conversation,” Mayoraz said. “…the larger public can have a conversation and a debate maybe on what we think is drawing in art and what’s happening in Tennessee now.”