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Keeping Trees: A Solo Exhibition by Ashton Ludden

  • 1 day ago
  • 3 min read

September 4 – October 23, 2026 | Dogwood Gallery


Dogwood Arts is pleased to present Keeping Trees, a solo exhibition by Knoxville artist, educator, and community builder, Ashton Ludden, on view September 4th through October 23rd in the Dogwood Gallery.


Keeping Trees explores Ludden’s grief and love for the towering trees recently removed from her neighborhood due to growth and development. Through intimate works on paper, she considers the loss of these familiar giants—and her lack of control over their disappearance—while also celebrating the quiet, often unseen role trees play in our lives.


The exhibition ultimately moves beyond loss toward hope. Visitors will have opportunities to share stories of trees and participate in a tree adoption event with Trees Knoxville during the October 2nd First Friday reception.



Keeping Trees invites us to consider what we lose when trees disappear—and what we can do to remember, protect, and celebrate the ones that remain.


Ludden is an artist, educator, and community builder whose practice spans printmaking, drawing, hand-engraving, and hand-lettering. She is also the founder and director of Relay Ridge, a collaborative artist space in North Knoxville that provides affordable studio space, a gallery, and a community printshop.


Click Here for her full bio.


Learn more about Ashton and her work at ashtonludden.com.



Visit the Exhibition


Dogwood Gallery: 123 W. Jackson Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902


First Friday Receptions:

  • September 4 | 5–8 PM

  • October 2 | 5–8 PM — featuring a tree adoption event with Trees Knoxville


Regular Gallery Hours: Monday–Friday, 10 AM–5 PM


First Friday at Dogwood Arts is part of the Downtown Knoxville Art Walk, offering visitors a chance to explore galleries, studios, shops, restaurants, and creative spaces throughout downtown. The event is free and open to the public.



We've had the opportunity to work with Ashton across several programs at Dogwood Arts over the years: including the Dogwood Regional Exhibition and Artists in Classrooms initiative. She is also a regular maker at Maker Exchange, where Knoxville audiences can find and collect her work.



2022 Dogwood Regional Exhibition


Work for sale at Maker Exchange


About the Artist:


Ashton Ludden lives and works in Knoxville, TN as an artist, educator, and community builder. She has a BFA in Engraving Arts & Printmaking from Emporia State University and a MFA in Printmaking from the University of Tennessee. Ludden specializes in the traditional crafts of wood and metal hand-engraving, printmaking, drawing, and hand-lettering/sign painting.


Ludden is the founder, director, and an active artist member at Relay Ridge, a collaborative artist space in north Knoxville. Since 2020, this unique studio space offers her fellow artists with opportunities to affordable studios, a formal and flexible gallery space, and a community printshop with access to other printmakers, printmaking equipment, and print education through workshops. 


She is enthusiastic about sharing her artistic processes and has taught in various capacities outside of her studio practice. In addition to CSA, Ludden also teaches at TN Governor’s School for the Arts, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, John C. Campbell Folk School,  Relay Ridge, and recently taught at the University of Tennessee in spring 2024. She was the 2D Artist Coordinator for the Pentaculum Artist Residency (both winter and spring) at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts from 2016-2024.


When she’s not in her studio or tricking others into liking printmaking, you’ll likely find her tending and observing life in her yard, happily tucked deep in the Cumberland Plateau with her dog, or passionately advocating for trees.


 
 
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