MEET THE ARTISTS
Garrett Baringer
Treats Tenant
Garrett is a writer of poetry and short fiction, with some experience in mixed media formats that incorporate videos and photos to create a deeper connection between audience and author. Typically utilizing a singular voice or fixed perspective, he desires to share intense and personal narratives. Pulling from his family history growing up in Louisiana, his writing can be nostalgic and longing for a link to family members long deceased or otherwise estranged. Garrett plans to further develop his voice and find new ways to express thoughts and emotions left unsaid. He hopes to incorporate new experiences and forms into his writing, but will always hold true to the desire to be painfully honest with those who read his work.
Rickie Barnett
Treats Tenant
Rickie Barnett grew up in the Northern California city of Redding. He attended California State University, Chico, receiving a Bachelors of Fine Art degree with an emphasis in painting and ceramics. After Graduating in the fall of 2013 he took up a year long position as an Artist in Residence at Taos Clay Studio in Taos, NM. He then moved to Seattle for a long term position as a Studio assistant to Deborah Schwartzkopf at Rat City Studios. During this time he also worked for sculptor George Rodriguez. In 2016, he moved to North Carolina, to become a studio assistant to ceramic sculptors, Cristina Cordova and Jeannine Marchand. His work has been shown both internationally and nationally. He has taught and done numerous short term residencies all over the country. Currently, he lives near Penland School of Craft, where he shares a home and studio with his partner, Lynne Hobaica, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Visit Rickie’s website.
Shae Bishop
Treats Co-Founder
Treats Tenant
Shae Bishop is an artist who examines the relationships between ceramics and textiles by making wearable garment sculptures. Originally from Kentucky, he studied ceramics and art history at the Kansas City Art Institute. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and done residencies at The Archie Bray Foundation in Montana, Red Star Studios in Kansas City, San Diego State University, and elsewhere in the US, as well as in Hungary, Turkey, and Indonesia. He has been part of the Penland area artist community for the last 8 years. When not in the studio he can be found in the river looking for salamanders. Visit Shae’s website.
Erin E. Castellan
Treats Tenant
Erin E. Castellan is an artist who crafts physical images using thread, beads, paint, and found fabrics. In this digital world of slick screens and quick images, she is interested in promoting slow viewing experiences and intimate, tactile engagements. Erin received a BFA in Textile Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA in Painting from Indiana University, but it is her time spent living and working at craft schools that she values most. Erin recently moved to the Spruce Pine area and is the Gallery Coordinator at Penland School of Craft. When not busy in the studio, she enjoys digging in the dirt, growing food, hiking, and watching the changing light outdoors. Visit Erin’s website.
Brady Connelly
Treats Tenant
Brady Connelly is an artist and photographer exploring feelings of empathy, responsibility and guilt using inherited objects, portraiture and performance.
Claire Drennan Jarvis
Treats Tenant
Claire is a fiber artist whose work imbues cast-off materials with possibility, value, and joy. Some of her favorite processes are machine knitting, quilting, and clothing construction. Mostly self-taught, Claire has a certificate in fashion design from the Massachusetts College of Art and design. She first began making art in 2017, inspired by the vibrant and inclusive arts community in Houston, Texas. Growing up in the foothills of East Tennessee (Maryville), Claire returned to Appalachia in July of 2021 by way of Houston, where she lived since 2014. In Texas, her work has been featured at Box 13 ArtSpace, Amarillo Art Museum, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, etc. Claire enjoys sharing her practice with her community. She was the Featured Artist for the Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers “Making a Mark” program in 2019 and her work has been supported by the Houston Arts Alliance. Visit Claire’s website.
Mirrah Johnson
Treats Tenant
Mirrah Johnson is a textile artist and seamstress from rural Tennessee. Exploring themes including personal history, myth, and relationship to the natural world, the slow processes Mirrah uses function as resistance to the pace of modern society. At the heart of her creative practice is a passion for education and creating well-made items for others. Along with having a studio practice, she has taught many craft workshops and worked as a professional seamstress. Mirrah completed a BFA at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Tennessee and currently works as textile studio coordinator for Penland School of Craft in North Carolina. Visit Mirrah’s website.
Annie Evelyn
Treats Co-Founder
Treats Tenant
Annie is a furniture maker who splits her time between Bakersville, NC and Cookeville TN. Joy, laughter, and the unexpected are at the heart of her work. She has been a resident artist at the Penland School of Craft, the Windgate Resident at multiple Universities, and exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2019, Evelyn co-founded Crafting the Future, a collective of artists working together to provide equitable opportunities in the arts. She is currently assistant professor in the wood studio and head of the Craft and Material Studies Program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. Visit Annie’s website.
Morgan Hill
Treats Co-Founder
Treats Tenant
Morgan Hill is a sculptor and jewelry designer whose work draws on a wide range of aesthetic and conceptual influences from 90’s pop culture, cult films, and costume design to her Southern, Christian upbringing and experiences as the only female child in an extended family of farmers in Arkansas. Her longing to break the silence surrounding culturally censured topics drives her to create work on themes of death, abuse, depression, and suicide, as well as their counterparts of rebirth, healing, and empowerment. On the lighter side, her jewelry brand Bad Habits by Morgan Hill celebrates the pleasure of excess and indulged desires. Visit Morgan’s website.
Lynne Hobaica
Treats Tenant
Lynne Hobaica is a multi-media artist creating works mostly with ceramics, textiles, and tattooing. Her narrative work is inspired by both real and imagined histories. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Lynne Hobaica received her BFA from Syracuse University and later completed her MFA in Conceptual Ceramic Sculpture at the University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria. Lynne has exhibited work in the US and abroad and participated in national and international residencies including the McKnight Residency at Northern Clay Center, Ceramica Perugia in Italy, Pottery Northwest, Watershed and more. She currently lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains where she shares a home and studio with her partner, Rickie Barnett and their sweet pup, Smokey. Visit Lynne’s website.
Lori Brook Johnson
Treats Tenant
Lori Brook Johnson is an artist and educator. Born in the coal fields of West Virginia, Lori's work uses drawing materials to explore the impact of labor on relationships and one's ability to grieve. She is a 2018 and 2020 recipient of The Elizabeth Greenshields Grant and received her MFA from Clemson University where she lectured in art. She now lives in Bakersville, NC with her dog, Benicio. She is a Teaching Artist in the Schools at Penland School of Craft where she says "Kids art is my favorite!" daily and/or hourly. Visit Lori’s website.
Jamie Karolich
Treats Tenant
Jamie Karolich is a printmaker, designer and educator with over 10 years of letterpress printing experience. Jamie's studio practice stems from observing and documenting patterns and forms in the built and natural worlds, and takes shape through drawing, painting and printmaking. Visit Jamie’s website.
Kylie Little
Treats Tenant
Kylie Reece Little (b. 1994) is an artist best known for sculpture and installation. She was raised in Goshen, Indiana and graduated from University of Indianapolis (2016) with a BS in Studio Art and Pre-Art Therapy. She recently received her MFA in Sculpture from the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design at Georgia State University in Atlanta (2021). Kylie creates using a variety of materials but favors wood, metal and other naturally occurring elements, such as water and soil. Her work has been exhibited at Swan Coach House Gallery, Indianapolis Art Center, Temporary Art Center, Roswell Visual Arts Center, and the Kyoto International Community House. Kylie is currently living and making in Bakersville, NC while working as the Wood Studio Coordinator at Penland School of Crafts. Visit Kylie’s website.
Loam
Treats Tenant
Loam provides marketing services for artists and arts organizations. The team, made up of Brady Connelly and Cami Leisk, offers a range of artist-focused services including photo + video services, art packing and shipping, as well as website + webshop building. For more information about Loam, you can visit their website.
Jack Mauch
Treats Co-Founder
Treats Tenant
Jack Mauch is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and educator. His work ranges from fine-furniture to small-batch production items, and much in between. Jack is especially interested in how digital tools can benefit the creative practices of artists and craftspeople. He explores this question in his own work and by consulting with artists and institutions seeking to bring digital processes into their repertoire. Jack holds a BFA in ceramics from the Maine College of Art and was a Core Fellow at the Penland School of Craft. Visit Jack’s website.
Sarah McDowell
Treats Tenant
Sarah McDowell is an interdisciplinary artist focusing in mixed media work on paper and mixed media sculpture. Her practice invites what can be learned from mistakes, the odd and uncomfortable, intimacy, and finding compassion for the unknown and ignored truths within ourselves. Originally from Northern California, she has a BA in art from UCLA and studied in Florence, Italy. Sarah has lived all over the world, most recently spending 18 months in New Zealand, and also enjoys knitting, sewing, gardening, backpacking and spending time outside in the woods with her husband and two kids.
Rachel Meginnes
Treats Tenant
Rachel Meginnes is an artist and coach. As an artist, she works with found quilts, pulling them apart, experiencing their maker’s logic in conversation with her own. Originally from Vermont, Rachel received her undergraduate degree in Art from Earlham College and her MFA from the University of Washington. Rachel has been part of the Penland area artist community for the past decade and was a Penland resident artist from 2012-2015. As a trusted mentor attuned to the difficulties of being an artist and feeling that call, she has guided artists through growth and challenge, offering them insight, clarity, and the momentum they need to move forward. For this reason, she splits her time between making her work and coaching other artists and the institutions that support them. Visit Rachel’s website.
Headshot photo credit: Mercedes Jelinek
Carter Norris
Treats Tenant
Carter Norris is an alternative process photographer, currently based in Spruce Pine, NC. Her work uses nostalgic and narrative imagery to explore personal and familial memory through an art historical viewpoint. Norris utilizes multiple shooting methods including lomography, pinhole, and 35 mm photography, as well as various darkroom and early photographic chemical processes for capturing reminiscences. Her style and subject matter are influenced by photographic pioneers like Julia Margaret Cameron and Anna Atkins. Norris’s use of textiles references her own roots in Appalachian culture. She seeks to express her own emotions and experiences while utilizing humor, folk culture, and utilitarian methods. She is currently experimenting with 8mm film as a means of storytelling. Visit Carter’s website.
Sadie
Co-founding canine member
Sadie is a dog who thinks Treats Studios should live up to its name. She is deeply passionate about greeting visitors and sneezing in their faces.