‘Where’d You See It Last?’ Maryville College faculty member’s art show focuses on memory
Oct. 31, 2025
It’s a universal experience to look for something that has been lost, but nobody has taken that feeling of subconscious nagging and put it into art quite like Landin Eldridge.
Eldridge, who currently serves as visiting lecturer of art at Maryville College, will display her own works from Nov. 3 to Dec. 1 in the Blackberry Farm and William “Ed” Harmon Galleries located in the Clayton Center for the Arts.
“My exhibition is titled ‘Where’d You See It Last?’, which is a reference to that question I feel everyone gets asked when they are looking for something they’ve lost,” Eldridge said. “I like to think of my drawings as a method of retracing my steps. I am looking for something that I can’t quite identify, so I am using images and text to piece important information back together.”
According to Eldridge, her work always contains an autobiographical component, and she often translates moments from events in her life, both mundane and significant, into drawings. Overall, she added, the exhibition is about how memory, while unreliable, is something humans desperately pursue regardless.
Eldridge said this exhibit is a show of works on paper, and therefore all of the art displayed will be created with a variety of drawing tools, such as graphite, pen, marker, inks, gouache (a type of opaque water color) and colored pencil.
“I love to combine many types of drawing materials on a single surface to create the compositions,” Eldridge said. “I also incorporate collaged images and small drawings within the larger works. You’ll see some Lisa Frank stickers mixed in there as well!”
Eldridge says she gets a lot of her inspiration from technological references, such as screenshots, warped 3D scans, bad Photoshop, pixel drawings, low-poly animation and outdated computers.
“I think I’m so used to being around technology, as many are, that its imagery naturally makes its way into my drawings,” Eldridge said. “These visual references often lend themselves to humorous uses as well. I am also always thinking about ways to reference my upbringing in rural North Carolina. This is why you’ll see ATVs, horses, specific flowers, references to food, etc.”
During her undergraduate career at Davidson College, Eldridge double majored in art and theater, while also dipping her toes in many different types of artmaking, such as choral music, a cappella singing, acting, puppetry and painting.
“I am super thankful that my professors encouraged me to learn broadly, something that still affects my studio practice to this day,” Eldridge said. “Ultimately, I decided that I wanted to focus on visual arts, specifically painting and drawing, and I accepted a spot in the MFA program at the University of Tennessee. I began teaching at Maryville College in Spring 2025, and I will be serving as a visiting lecturer in painting for the next two years.”
Eldridge attributes much of her love for art to her mom, who was also her high school art teacher for four years.
“When I’m describing my work, I often use the word ‘bittersweet’ to discuss both its content and its imagery,” Eldridge said. “The moments illustrated in my drawings are often two things at once: Silly and sad, funny and serious, joyful and somber. I think it is rare to only feel one thing at one time, and I hope to show this in my work.”
The Blackberry Farm and William “Ed” Harmon Galleries are open for viewing from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. A reception will be held for Eldridge from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 21 in the galleries.
— Written by McKenna Marr ’28
