Visual artist Ashley Addair of Knoxville will join 15 local clay artists in a new exhibit at Pellissippi State Community College.

This ceramics work by Amanda Bonar of Terra Madre is among the art that will be on display at Pellissippi State Community College's exhibit "Ashley Addair and Terra Madre: Women in Clay" Oct. 8-26. Image supplied by PS

"Ashley Addair and Terra Madre: Women in Clay" will be on display at the College's Bagwell Center for Media and Art Gallery on the Hardin Valley Campus Oct. 8-26, with an opening reception with the artists scheduled for 3-5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10.

The exhibit, the latest installment in The Arts at Pellissippi State, is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

"It's going to be a busy show, and it's going to be full," said Pellissippi State Professor Jeffrey Lockett, program coordinator for Art. "The artists will take up different spaces within the Gallery, with the Terra Madre works displayed on pedestals and Ashley's works on the walls."

Addair is a visual artist and an active member of the arts community in Knoxville. Her paintings are collected internationally.

Terra Madre is a juried group of women clay artists living and working in the Knoxville area. Their work ranges from functional to sculptural and from traditional to whimsical.

"Many Terra Madre members are or have been influential educators in the clay field locally, regionally and nationally," said Lisa Kurtz, an adjunct fine arts instructor at Pellissippi State whose work will be included in the upcoming exhibit. "They teach or have taught clay at a variety of locations including elementary and secondary schools, colleges, craft centers, workshops and churches."

Other Terra Madre teachers whose clay work will be featured at Pellissippi State include Amanda Bonar, Judy Brater, Jane Cartwright, Pat Clapsaddle, Valerie Eiler, Lynn Fisher, Anna Maria Gundlach, Pat Herzog, Ellie Kotsianas, Wendie Love, Sandra McEntire, Jackie Mirzadeh, Jessica Stewart and Rikki Taylor.

"Both Ashley's and the Terra Madre artists' works showcase immediate reactions to the media they use," Lockett said. "With clay, you squeeze it and shape it while Ashley's paintings are often stream of consciousness. Sometimes these works are well thought out. Sometimes they are more spontaneous."

For more information on upcoming visual arts, theatre and music events, as well the Faculty Lecture Series, at Pellissippi State, visit www.pstcc.edu/arts.