MARY BARNETT

THRIVE REGION, 2022 - 2023

Mary Barnett is a creative partner, writer, photographer, and mixed-media artist whose work centers around place, materiality, and story, offering an archivist’s instinct for preservation with an artist’s interpretive sensibilities. Her statement-driven media explore the conservation of natural, historic, and cultural resources.

AAW Artist Mary Barnett has had a productive period of research and in person opportunities immersing herself in the food systems sector of climate action and has been getting to know and understand local farmers and the systems at this important intersection. That included learnings from attending events like the Cover Crops & Soil Health Conference hosted by USC’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture; The Tennessee Local Food Summit; Agrarian Trust workshops, and call to actions by the National Young Farmers Coalition in support of their One Million Acres For The Future campaign to lobby the Farm Bill 2023 and increase access to farmland for young farmers. She ends her AAW term with the intention to co-create a farmer-informed Creative Ecosystem in the cohort’s footprint of social impact and climate action. Beginning with the “So We Won’t Forget” zine series which will feature Mary’s printworks created and stories gathered at select farm and community garden sites in the greater East Tennessee bio region through the 2023 growing season. Individual collections of farm-specific hand made paper tiles will be created using place-based experimental gelli-plate printmaking, upcycled kraft paper, and hand picked flora from each site. “So We Won’t Forget” will be a food and land justice Zine that documents and amplifies farmers’ voices and future focused social impact issues including land access, seed farming, soil carbon sequestration and cooperative economies. After the art is documented for the zine, the mono-printed paper tiles will become seed swap pockets ready to be filled with seeds and circulated along with the newly published zine in December 2023. Each swap pocket is also a seed travel log for all the different seeds that will be shared inside that swap pocket over time. The log on the inside will be printed using an old letterpress and recently unearthed historic niche farm tool printing plates that will bring Tennessee’s agricultural history into the project’s design.  Check out the project playlist!

CULTURE HUB

ArtsBuild’s mission is to build a stronger community through the arts. Since 1969, ArtsBuild has served as a catalyst for the arts in our community, investing more than $76 million in arts organizations, arts programs, and arts education. In 2020 alone, ArtsBuild infused $1.4 million into the local arts sector. Everything ArtsBuild does is focused on creating access to the arts. The organization does this through grant-making, arts education initiatives, and arts advocacy. 

ArtsBuild serves as a champion for the arts. It aims to showcase the collective impact the arts have on its community, as well as the many ways that the arts improve our quality of life. As a hub for the arts in Chattanooga and Hamilton County, ArtsBuild leads and participates in community-wide discussions and strategies about how to cultivate support for the arts in education, local economy, and tourism. In 2021, ArtsBuild was a finalist for the United Way of Greater Chattanooga “Nonprofit of the Year” award.

For more information, visit artsbuild.com.

SOCIAL IMPACT INITIATIVE

The Southeast Tennessee Young Farmers Coalition (SeTNYF), a chapter of the National Young Farmers Coalition, is a network of young and beginning farmers and supporters who are growing the next generation of farmers in our region through community-building, resource and knowledge sharing, and advocacy.

We envision a future in which young farmers from all backgrounds are welcomed, supported, and valued in our community and have a voice in shaping policy. We envision a socioeconomic landscape in which farming is considered and proven to be a viable way of life and is integral to the health and resilience of communities and the planet.