'What They Had — Appleton, WI' by Katie Ries
September 28 – October 23, 2026 @ Slocumb Galleries
ETSU Department of Art & Design and Slocumb Galleries present ‘Drawn Together: Katie Ries’from Sept. 28 to Oct. 23, at the Slocumb Galleries with reception Oct. 15, from 5 to 7 p.m.; public is invited to interactive daily Portrait Shop drawn by artists at the gallery on select times during the exhibition.
Ries, a contemporary artist teaching drawing, recognizes the discipline’s potential pleasure, communicative possibilities, and therapeutic benefits, amidst the reality and difficulty in mastering it. She describes it as can be hard, and slow; she reflects on its unique agency in a culture of speed and convenience, cameras, Ai and “dubious algorithmic-driven image generators to realize” our ideas. These drawings are a product of her daily drawing as exercise, she describes the “anachronistic practice as drawing in the face of modern technology” and ponders on its coping agency to deal with anxiety and give form to hopeful imaginings.
Ries described her daily drawing as inspiration to the Portrait Shop project as she shares “Working on these daily portraits made me wish I could draweveryonein my community. PortraitShopismy attempt to scale up the portrait drawing experience such that my collaborators and I can draw many more people than I could working alone. Sitting for a portrait can be both awkward and intimate.” For the project, she has employed a group of young and emerging artists, some ETSU students and alumni to collaborate in this ambitious endeavor. Though relatively short duration on accomplishing these portraits, most are done in under 10 minutes – gives both artist and sitter realistic expectations for the image’s fidelity. She stressed, “these drawings are precious not because of their photorealism, but for the evidence of the hand, the drawn record of our ephemeral time together.”
Ries lives and works in Northeastern Tennessee, where she teaches art at East Tennessee State University. She is a graduate of UT Knoxville (MFA) and Colorado College (BA, Phi Beta Kappa). Ries’s interdisciplinary work uses drawing, ephemeraand humor to foster social and ecological connections. She has exhibited widely, including recent solo and two-person shows such as "Keep it Together' at Bauer Gallery, St. Norbert College,"Rah! Rah! Nature!"at Edwards Art Gallery, Bowdoin College, and "Grounded"with John Schuerman at Inez Greenberg Gallery. Ries has been awarded residencies at the Arrowmont School of Crafts (Pentaculum) and at the Stay Home Gallery in Paris, Tennessee. Her work has been recognized with awards, including Best in Show atFables, Fairy Tales, Folktales, Legends, and Mythsat Fe Gallery and theBishop Robert F. Morneau Community Service Awardfrom St. Norbert College.
The Slocumb Galleries are supported by ETSU Student Activities Allocation Committee, Bravissima! Women Sponsoring the Arts, Arts Fund from the East Tennessee Foundation and the Tennessee Arts Commission. Located at Ernest C. Ball Hall, 232 Sherrod Drive, ETSU campus. Viewing hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with extended hours during receptions and by appointment. For more information or to schedule a visit, emailcontrera@etsu.eduor send text message to 423.483.3179. Parking and handicapped access available.
Category: Exhibits