CATIEBETH THOMAS is an interdisciplinary artist working in Middle Tennessee with fibers, plants and locally sourced materials. Her work explores themes of duality, preserving native plant life, growth, and connection using historically “craft“ mediums: weaving, quilting, and cyanotype printmaking. She works in monochromatic and analogous color schemes to expose the fine details and complexity of natural materials and handmade processes. She is deeply inspired by the native plants and beautiful wilderness of Tennessee as well as her bachelors in art history. Her goal with each artwork is to invite the viewer to pause, be present, and appreciate the beauty and complexity that exists in nature even on the smallest scale.

ERIN ANFINSON is a Professor of Art at Middle Tennessee State University where she teaches drawing, design, and digital art courses in the Foundations program. Anfinson grew up in Denver, Iowa and is an alumni of the University of Northern Iowa’s Department of Art. Her encaustic-infused collages and animated films are often inspired by an interest in science, conservation, natural history, and narratives of ecosystems in flux. She has been a National Park Service artist-in-residence twice, first in 2017 at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa and again in 2018-19 at Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro, TN. Both residencies profoundly impacted her studio practice, resulting in the creation of works that reflect on the discovery, awareness and loss of diminishing native ecosystems.

Anfinson has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in galleries, museums, and film festivals, including the Gadsden Museum of Art (Gadsden, AL), The Frist Museum (Nashville, TN), and the Krakow International Green Film Festival (Krakow, Poland). She is a recipient of several awards and grants from organizations including the International Encaustic Artist organization and the Tennessee Arts Commission. In addition to her creative work and research, she also regularly teaches mixed media encaustic workshops at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.