If you’ve visited the Center for Art & Technology in Kingsport, you’ve likely noticed its vibrant, energetic atmosphere. What once was a drab, government-style office has been transformed into a hub of creativity and professionalism—thanks in large part to the vision of founder Cher Cornett.
Cher, who retired last year from East Tennessee State University’s Digital Media Department, often jokes that she was a “frustrated interior designer.” Fortunately for us, she applied her talent to redesign our workspace, creating a lively and welcoming environment for classes, meetings, and visitors alike.
To celebrate her design legacy, we invited Cher to curate a solo exhibition of her own creative work. On the evening of Thursday, June 5, friends, fans, and collaborators gathered for a reception in the Center’s gallery. Titled I Just Saw the Coolest Thing!, the exhibition highlights Cher’s ability to weave experience, emotion, and storytelling into each piece. Guests were also treated to a slideshow of additional works not displayed in the gallery, extending the narrative of her artistic vision.
As Cher explained during the reception, her art is inseparable from her design sensibilities:
“I think my design sensibilities are pretty evident in my art. Each of my pieces recreates an experience I had and rounds it out to deepen the sense of a specific moment in time that meant something to me.”
One notable example from her exhibit revisits a moment in her garden. Cher shared that although her original photograph captured a single bee, she added additional bees in her editing process to convey the fullness of the scene—the way it felt, not just the split-second her camera captured:
“The original photo had just one bee in it… I needed to add more bees, since there were many of them flying around the blossoms—but my camera caught only one in this split second.”
In Cher’s hands, a work is never truly finished until it fully evokes the memory it represents.
I Just Saw the Coolest Thing! will be on display through June 19. Following the exhibit, the gallery will make room for the 4th annual Digital Salon: A Disturbance in the Force. The gallery is open daily, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., via the Clay Street entrance, at 225 W Center Street in downtown Kingsport (old City Hall building).
Come experience how Cher Cornett’s artistry and design intersect—bringing to life not just what she saw, but what she felt.
