Positive / Negative Prospectus
Positive/Negative 41 National Juried Art Exhibition
Juror: Dr. Brittany webb, Museum of Fine Arts Houston
April 6 to 25, 2026, Tipton-Ashe Galleries
401 Ashe St., former Courthouse, Downtown Johnson City, Tennessee
ETSU Department of Art & Design and Slocumb Galleries with Bravissima! Women Sponsoring the Arts and Jerry’s Artarama of Knoxville proudly present Positive/Negative 41 National Juried Art Exhibition juried by Dr. Brittany Webb, curator at Museum of Fine Arts Houston. The exhibition presents innovative works by 41 contemporary American artists currently on view with closing reception on April 24, Friday, from 6-8 p.m., at the Tipton-Ashe Galleries with Juror’s Speak and special guests Bravissima! Women Sponsoring the Arts and refreshments by Dos Gatos Coffee.
The featured artists are Ken Abbott, Ainaz Alipour, Jane Broderick, Keith Bryant, Rebecca Cardoso, Gary Cawood, Jenny Chi, Brent Cole, Jim Connell, Alexander Diaz, Morgan Willingham Ford, Maryam Siahgaldeh Ghasempour, Jennifer Halvorson, Ronna Harris, Caroline Hatfield, Alma Hoffmann, Donald Keefe, Jong-Yoon Kim, Jhih-yin Diane Lee, Lynne Marinelli Ghenov, Kathryn E. Martin, Andrew Martin, Ethan Martinez, Alexandra Mavrikis, Adam J. McGalliard, Scott Meyer, Pippi Miller, Chelsea Moulder, James Nelson, Soon Ee Ngoh, Mable Ni, Janet Orselli, Joe Reynolds, Hosna Shahramipoor, Ainsley Steeves, Sam Van Strien, Durant Thompson, Eric Tomberlin, Lance Turner and Ira Upin.
The Tipton-Ashe Galleries are located at 401 Ashe St., former Courthouse (Walnut St. side), Downtown Johnson City, Tennessee 37614. Gallery hours are Wednesdays & Saturdays from 11am to 3pm; Thursdays & Fridays from 5 to 7pm with extended hours during receptions and by appointments. For more information, schedule a visit or for handicapped accommodations, please email Karlota Contreras-Koterbay via contrera@etsu.edu. All events are free and open to the public.
About the Juror: Dr. Brittany Webb is Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston in Texas. Since 2018, Dr. Webb has curated extensive roster of exhibitions working with the PAFA collection and contemporary artists. These have included, most recently, Determined to Be: The Sculpture of John Rhoden (2023); Gift/Deeds: Collectors at PAFA (2022); From the Ground Up: Artists & the Built Environment (2021); and Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists & the Politics of Scale (2021), which she co-curated with PAFA curator of contemporary art, Jodi Throckmorton. In addition, Dr. Webb developed a collecting program for PAFA’s 20th-century holdings, adding to the permanent collection more than 200 works of art by more than 50 artists, including Laura Aguilar, Kwame Brathwaite, Lola Flash, Gregory Gillespie, Maren Hassinger, Bill Hutson, Joyce Kozloff, Lee Krasner, Doris Lee, Alfred Leslie, Agnes Martin, Robert Neal, Louise Nevelson, Gordon Parks, John Rhoden, Charles Searles, Didier William, and Purvis Young. Prior to PAFA, Dr. Webb was a curatorial and research assistant at the African American Museum in Philadelphia (2014–18), working on a range of special exhibitions.
Dr. Webb’s most recent publications include her contribution for Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art, a major catalogue that accompanies the reinstallation of the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s American-art galleries on the occasion of its 200th anniversary; another for the forthcoming Birmingham Museum of Art collection catalogue Roll Call: 200 Years of Black American Art; and Determined to Be: The Sculpture of John Rhoden (2023). Her academic appointments include serving as an assistant professor at PAFA and as a thesis-committee member for graduate students there and at the University of Delaware and University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Webb received a Ph.D. in anthropology from Temple University, in 2018, and a B.A. in political science from the University of Southern California, in 2005.
For more information, please email contrera@etsu.edu