Capricornus
Saint Andrews Center, Chattanooga, TN
July 19, 2025
Press Release:
Capricornus is a two-person exhibition featuring a small collection of works by Jules Jackson and Emily Rice. It is a celebration of a shared birth month, and like the Capricorn sign of the zodiac, their work navigates physical and emotional realms. Together, this exhibition forms a southern constellation reflecting the Appalachian land, undulating rivers, and folks found here.
Jackson’s towering charcoal drawings stretch to contain figures, symbols, and type seen in his daily life and from his personal mythology. In his drawings, a budget Buc-ee’s mascot can be found among angels. Humor and seriousness live together, stacking portraits of friends, family, and the self alongside nettles, tree roots, and boulders. Jackson subverts the idea of heroics and invites a conversation on the dynamically controversial nature of humanity.
Stubbornly devoted to the scrappy, Rice forms sculptural drawings from their surroundings. They compile cinderblocks, metal, plastic, soil, and flat-files, mirroring the strata of Appalachia. Whether entering a construction zone or walking by the river, Rice seeks a type of relationship through material handling. Soil has been gathered from neighborhoods affected by superfund sites. To-go forks are drawn in colored pencil, and wax crayon indexes of bronze plaques and manhole covers are positioned in the rubble. Rice invites witnesses to question their connection to this land and how our current design for productivity impacts those living within it.