Loreena Barklage
September 17, 2026
Audrey Gross Sherrill
September 18, 2026
Drawing · Mixed Media
Lori Brook Johnson
Bakersville, Mitchell
I draw with a pencil and a blade to depict the quiet moments of figures impacted by exploitative labor practices. My work is entangled with and reconciled to the questions: what do we owe to each other’s stories and how does the past work itself out in the living? I use a layered process often combining dry and wet media with hand-cut paper and scratchboard. I choose these materials due to their capabilities that extend beyond visual art during the drawing process—the rhythmic beat of drawing and scratching marks becomes a percussive hum, a soother of nerves, while the labor of cutting paper by hand is a witness to loving care and acts as a living prayer: “Please, to whomever, may hard work lead directly to nourishment.”
I draw about Appalachian workers and our intimate, still moments.
Work by Lori Brook Johnson
Neglected Things Tended To In A Drawing
Drawing
Bakersville, Mitchell
Exhibition onlyFull artist and artwork label
I draw with a pencil and a blade to depict the quiet moments of figures impacted by exploitative labor practices. My work is entangled with and reconciled to the questions: what do we owe to each other’s stories and how does the past work itself out in the living? I use a layered process often combining dry and wet media with hand-cut paper and scratchboard. I choose these materials due to their capabilities that extend beyond visual art during the drawing process—the rhythmic beat of drawing and scratching marks becomes a percussive hum, a soother of nerves, while the labor of cutting paper by hand is a witness to loving care and acts as a living prayer: “Please, to whomever, may hard work lead directly to nourishment.”
I draw about Appalachian workers and our intimate, still moments.
Where the work is shown:
Penland Gallery
Mars Landing
About this piece
Hard Growth in Dry Air
Drawing
Bakersville, Mitchell
Exhibition onlyFull artist and artwork label
I draw with a pencil and a blade to depict the quiet moments of figures impacted by exploitative labor practices. My work is entangled with and reconciled to the questions: what do we owe to each other’s stories and how does the past work itself out in the living? I use a layered process often combining dry and wet media with hand-cut paper and scratchboard. I choose these materials due to their capabilities that extend beyond visual art during the drawing process—the rhythmic beat of drawing and scratching marks becomes a percussive hum, a soother of nerves, while the labor of cutting paper by hand is a witness to loving care and acts as a living prayer: “Please, to whomever, may hard work lead directly to nourishment.”
I draw about Appalachian workers and our intimate, still moments.
Where the work is shown:
Penland Gallery
Mars Landing
About this piece
A Labyrinth to Hold Off Harm
Drawing
Bakersville, Mitchell
Exhibition onlyFull artist and artwork label
I draw with a pencil and a blade to depict the quiet moments of figures impacted by exploitative labor practices. My work is entangled with and reconciled to the questions: what do we owe to each other’s stories and how does the past work itself out in the living? I use a layered process often combining dry and wet media with hand-cut paper and scratchboard. I choose these materials due to their capabilities that extend beyond visual art during the drawing process—the rhythmic beat of drawing and scratching marks becomes a percussive hum, a soother of nerves, while the labor of cutting paper by hand is a witness to loving care and acts as a living prayer: “Please, to whomever, may hard work lead directly to nourishment.”
I draw about Appalachian workers and our intimate, still moments.
Where the work is shown:
Penland Gallery
Mars Landing
About this piece
Breaker Boys
Drawing
Bakersville, Mitchell
Exhibition onlyFull artist and artwork label
I draw with a pencil and a blade to depict the quiet moments of figures impacted by exploitative labor practices. My work is entangled with and reconciled to the questions: what do we owe to each other’s stories and how does the past work itself out in the living? I use a layered process often combining dry and wet media with hand-cut paper and scratchboard. I choose these materials due to their capabilities that extend beyond visual art during the drawing process—the rhythmic beat of drawing and scratching marks becomes a percussive hum, a soother of nerves, while the labor of cutting paper by hand is a witness to loving care and acts as a living prayer: “Please, to whomever, may hard work lead directly to nourishment.”
I draw about Appalachian workers and our intimate, still moments.
Where the work is shown:
Penland Gallery
Mars Landing