Saturdays At Todd: Textures of Our Everyday

Textures of Our Everyday
A Saturdays At Todd Creative Experience | Todd Art Gallery | MTSU Department of Art and Design

Art That Moves. Design That Matters.
Textures of Our Everyday is a collaborative community experience from the Mid-South Sculpture Alliance and the MTSU Department of Art and Design.
Image: MFA Thesis Exhibition | Courtesy of Natalie Thedford

Image: Thedford's MFA Exhibition as displayed in a contemporary gallery installation featuring her vibrant textile works, patterned fabrics, and mixed-media displays. Thedford's large, colorful wall hanging anchors the exhibition, while sculptural forms made from branches and natural materials contrast with the gallery’s clean lines and reflective floors.
📅 Sat., November 21, 2026

🕘 Time: 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

📍 Todd Art Building, Rooms 113 and 116 | MTSU

🎨 All participants are expected to attend the workshop for its full duration

• Space is limited to 12 participants, ages 14 and above.

• Free and open to the public. All materials are provided.

• Advance registration is required to participate.
Todd Art Building, Rooms 113 and 116 | MTSU
This is the first of six areas for your review and contact information.

1. Textures of Our Everyday
Discovering the Extraordinary in Everyday Surfaces

A Saturdays At Todd Creative Experience | Todd Art Gallery | MTSU Department of Art and Design

Art That Moves. Design That Matters.

Saturday, November 21, 2026

Join Nashville-based artist Natalie Thedford, your Experience Guide, for a hands-on creative adventure that invites participants to slow down, look closer, and discover the unexpected beauty and hidden stories woven into our everyday surroundings.

Meet Your Experience Guide

Drawing inspiration from traditional handcraft techniques passed down through generations, Thedford explores the connections between texture, memory, material, and place. Her distinctive artistic practice transforms familiar elements of the built environment, from cast-iron drain covers and weathered surfaces to overlooked architectural details, into compelling works of art that invite us to reconsider the ordinary.

What to Expect

Through clay pressings, rubbings, and other surface-recording techniques, Thedford reveals intricate patterns and impressions that often escape our notice.

Participants will explore these techniques firsthand, through Thedford, discovering how everyday surfaces can become sources of artistic inspiration and personal expression. A guided creative writing exercise will extend the exploration beyond the physical, inviting participants to reflect on the textures they have collected, the places they represent, and the memories or stories they inspire.

The experience culminates in a collaborative artwork combining participants' rubbings, clay pressings, and written reflections into a shared expression of observation, discovery, and community.

The completed collective artwork will be exhibited at the Arcade Arts Building in downtown Nashville, connecting individual discoveries with a wider public audience and extending the creative experience beyond Todd Art Gallery.

No previous artistic experience is necessary, just curiosity, creativity, and a willingness to see the familiar in an entirely new way.

Explore the overlooked. Experiment with texture. Discover the extraordinary in the everyday.

Educator Professional Development Certificates and Certificates of Engagement are available upon request.

Image: Natalie Thedford
Workshop Registration Policy

Registration for this workshop will close at Noon on Friday, November 20, 2026, and may close earlier if capacity is reached. If plans change, advance notice is appreciated so the space may be offered to another participant.
Image: Natalie Thedford demonstrates her artistic process for recording textures found in urban infrastructure. Working directly with a street-level metal utility cover, she transfers surface details onto a large sheet of paper, transforming an ordinary feature of the built environment into a source of creative discovery.
Images: Left: Rubbings from city drain covers, arranged in a Cathedral Window quilt pattern, 2024. View artwork, right: Four ceramic quilt blocks translated from the Cathedral Window pattern
You must click "Submit" at the bottom of this form to complete registration.
Image: Rubbings from city drain covers, arranged in a Cathedral Window quilt pattern, 2024.
2. Participant Registration Information

Please complete the following to participate in this Saturdays At Todd Workshop
Participant Age
Under-Age Notice

This workshop is open to participants ages 14 and older. Please contact us if you have questions about future offerings.
By submitting this form, I confirm that I meet the minimum age requirement for this workshop, or that I am registering on behalf of a participant who meets the minimum age requirement.
Youth Participation Acknowledment: I acknowledge that participants ages 14–17 may attend without a parent or guardian present. I understand that appropriate conduct is required and that disruptive behavior may result in removal from the workshop. I further understand that, if dismissed early, the participant is responsible for their own transportation and that MTSU, the Department of Art and Design, and Todd Art Gallery do not provide supervision or transportation following dismissal.
3. Workshop Participant Contact Information

Please complete the following by providing your preferred contact information. Email is our primary means of contact. Cell numbers assist with day of workshop announcements and final reminder.
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4. Emergency Contact Information

Please provide the full name and phone number of someone we may contact if needed during the workshop.
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Emergency Contact Phone Number
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5. Workshop Reservations

How many participants are you registering?
Capacity note: Space is limited to 12 total participants. A single registration may reserve no more than two spaces.
If you selected two reservations, please provide the name of your party's second member.
Image: Rubbings from city drain covers, arranged in a Cathedral Window quilt pattern, 2024. View artwork, detail
6. Stay Connected with the MTSU Department of Art and Design

Select the options below if you would like to receive updates about exhibitions, events, artist visits, workshops, and other Art and Design activities via email or text. (You may unsubscribe at any time. We do not share your email or text contact information.)
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Textures of Our Everyday

A Saturdays At Todd Creative Experience | Todd Art Gallery | MTSU Department of Art and Design

Workshop Registration Policy

2. Participant Registration Information

3. Workshop Participant Contact Information

4. Emergency Contact Information

5. Workshop Reservations

6. Stay Connected with the MTSU Department of Art and Design