Mineral House Media was founded in 2017 as an online curatorial collective focused on the enrichment of personal practice through the elevation of working contemporary artists. We strive to connect artists across the Southeast and beyond through a series of online residencies, interviews, podcasts, mini-documentaries, and annual exhibitions.
THE TEAM
Clay Aldridge
Director
Clay Aldridge graduated from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a BFA in Media Arts. Now he is an artist and curator living in Chattanooga, TN. In addition to a career in non-profit administration, he produces and curates independent exhibitions. His work and curation are efforts to create conversation, akin to the magical process of creating something from nothing. Clay makes site-specific installations that keep secrets and tell hidden stories. He makes found-footage films about climate change, parapsychology, and feelings. Clay loves birds.
(Portrait by John Dooley)
Kate Greenwell
WRITER / INTERN
insta @katesigridgreenwell
sometimes writes lil articles, 5'5, has cat named alex, is super awesome !
OUR FOUNDERS
Brianna Bass
Co-Founder, Curator
Brianna Bass (1990) is a painter from Knoxville, Tennessee. Brianna earned her BFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2013, during which time she chaired the Student Advisory Committee, facilitated exhibitions through the Apothecary Gallery Committee, and was awarded the Peggy Stagmire and Lillian B. Feinstein Scholarships. She has presented in public lectures with Stoveworks and Shapeshifter, and has been selected for juried exhibitions at Groundfloor Gallery and SECAC 2019. Brianna has shown work nationally and internationally at Missouri State University and Beijing’s Tree Museum in 2020 and 2021. She has been selected for Locate Arts’ Tennessee artist registry, and her writing for Mineral House Media has been featured in Number: Inc Magazine, highlighting recent trends in Tennessee art. Brianna is currently an MFA candidate at Yale School of Art.
Jayme Hartness
Co-founder, Curator
Jayme Hartness is a writer and curator currently based in Nashville, TN. Having returned to her passion in writing after several years of Liberal Arts studies, her work discusses complex emotional data and multimedia storytelling as well as our contextualization of identity through flash fiction, condensed prose, and collaborative visual media. She seeks to foster conscious dialogue and bridge creative communities through working alongside makers, musicians, and storytellers across the region. Also serving as Literary Editor to the Music Neighbors community and freelance writer, Jayme finds delight and levity in supporting and attending local arts events, hosting open forum critiques, and fostering a taste for strong whiskey over podcasts and campfires.
Claire Bloomfield
Co-Founder
Curator December 2017-2020
Claire Bloomfield is a new media artist originally from Nashville, Tennessee, USA. She studied Photography and New Media Art at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, graduating with the Student Government Association’s outstanding senior award. In 2021 she was a Grant Recipient for 'In Progress' hosted under Cultural and Creative Hubs Vietnam, a project co-funded by the European Union and the British Council (2021)
She participated in public lectures and exhibitions across the Southeast, USA, such as "Making Opportunity" at the Hunter Art Museum and “Examinations” at AVA gallery. She was a 2018 grant recipient at the Chattanooga Film Festival and has been published in the PULSE newspaper as an “Up and Coming Artist.”
She spent her early 20’s creating opportunities for other artists through DIY artist collectives such as Shapeshifters, a moving contemporary gallery in Chattanooga, TN, and Mineral House Media. For Mineral House Media Claire helped co-found the Digital Residency Program, Mini- Docs series, monthly interviews, and media stories. As well as the tradition of a yearly artist exhibition. Her goal was to elevate underrepresented artists in the Southeast. While creating pipelines and new opportunities for artists to larger cities in order to grow the artist community in the South.
As a publication platform, MHM has been recognized in Number: Inc Magazine as a featured writer for Tennessee’s regional update in 2019.