Get ready for the first ever NASH illustrators EXHIBITION! ⚔️
This show will include artworks by numerous members of our group, all within the theme of mythology and folklore! The work will be on display at the Williamson County Public Library in Franklin, TN. You can see the show any time in the month of November, down the hall to the right of the main entrance. We will be present for a casual opening at 3pm on Sunday Nov 1st, followed by a creative picnic on the lawn. We look forward to showing our work for the first time as a collective, and hope to see you there!
🏫 Williamson County Public Library
1314 Columbia Ave
Franklin, TN 37064
🗓️ Nov 1-Nov 30
🕒 3:00pm on Sunday, Nov 1
Poster art by Marina Ibrahim (@msi.illustration)
My Brave Knight (lithograph print)
12″ x 9″
Tina Ritchie
Lady of the Lake
2026
digital
13” x 19”
The Lady of the Lake is a mysterious figure from Arthurian legend who, when confronted by King Arthur, grants him possession of the sword Excalibur. This moment from Arthurian legend has inspired countless artists through the centuries, varying in mediums from paintings to feature-length films. I wanted to add a contemporary illustrative style while using historic Anglo Saxon motifs to depict the iconic lady and sword.
Tina Ritchie is a full-time comic book illustrator based out of Nashville whose published works include Glarien & Thane Vol. 2, The Rise of the Raidin, The Dirty Parts of the Bible, and covers for White Ash and Scout Comics. Tina’s Isola (or “Island”) is a place where dreams take form, beasts roam freely, and women are the fiercest beasts of all.
Instagram: @tinaisoladesign
Natalie Briscoe
Little Red Hen in the Garden
2026
watercolor, gouache, colored pencil on paper
11” x 17”
The Little Red Hen is a classic folk tale about a hardworking hen who finds wheat seeds and decides to make bread. She asks her farmyard friends to help but at every single step, the animals refuse to help, answering, “Not I”. In the end, the Hen completes every task by herself and enjoys the bread by herself. The story originates from Russian tradition and was passed down orally. It was then made popular in the United States when collected by Mary Mapes Dodge in the St. Nicholas Magazine 1874. The Russian origins heavily influenced my interpretation as seen Khokhloma painting on the ceramics, intricate cross stitch pattern and the animals’ Dacha, a seasonal cottage in the countryside.
Natalie Briscoe is an illustrator, picture book maker and surface designer based in Nashville, TN. Nature, color and childhood imagination are her greatest sources of inspiration. I enjoy choosing subjects from the outdoors, such as florals, woodland critters, lush environments and playing with bright joyful color. She is currently represented by Jennifer Nelson Artists and has worked with a variety of clients such as Scholastic UK, Hallmark, American Greetings, Modern Sprout, FIKA, Sourcebooks, Dayspring and more.
Instagram: @nataliebriscoeillustration
Josie Smoot
Freyja
2026
gouache on paper
13” x 19”
Freyja, the goddess of love, beauty, war, and seiðr, is a powerful deity in Norse mythology. She is often depicted riding in a chariot pulled by two mythical cats and accompanied by the boar, Hildisvíni. She wears the necklace, Brísingamen, and wears a feathered cloak, allowing her to transform into a falcon. As the protector of Fólkvangr, she is responsible for half of those who die in battle, while the other half find their way to Valhalla. With this painting, I wanted to depict the power and beauty of the goddess while incorporating elements of her story. I used a Mucha-inspired framing device to add a design element to the piece and to showcase feminine strength.
Josie Smoot is a freelance illustrator and painter who lives in Tennessee. Her work shows her love of fantasy and character design by implementing various inspirations from mythology, fairytales, history, and her own creations. Her illustrations contain diverse and ethereal characters who tell their story through the use of strong design and color. She explores stories of feminine strength and beauty by adding supernatural elements and symbolism. She uses watercolors, gouache, and ink to express her imagination and bring her characters to life.
Instagram: @josiesmootillustration
Jeremy Sosnick
Eurydice
2026
graphite on paper (print on display)
8” x 10”
Eurydice explores the classic myth of Orpheus from a different angle. In his adventure to rescue her from the Underworld, Orpheus was instructed not to look back at Eurydice on their way back to the surface. However, he cannot resist temptation and with one gaze, Eurydice is banished to the shadows. Eurydice explores what her life could be like after this moment. Here, she wanders through the Underworld with her former self decaying in the process; the piece serves as a prologue to the main narrative.
Jeremy Sosnick currently resides in Nashville and has been a long-standing member of the NASH Illustrators. His goal is to tell stories in black and white primarily using ink and graphite. His artistic identity, Monochrome Mythology, leans on realism to tell those tales in portraiture and the comic book format. In 2027, Jeremy plans to establish a more comics-focused brand to explore more opportunities in the long-form space.
You can purchase a selection of prints at the Nashville Parthenon museum gift shop or at his Etsy store.
Instagram: @monochrome.mythology
Stephen Fox
Rakshasa
2026
digital
11” x 14”
From Hindu mythology – the Rakshasa are formidable, shape-shifting entities known for cunning illusions and insatiable hunger. This illustration is a modern imagining of a Rakshasa revealing themselves in a dark, seedy bar in the middle of the night.
Stephen Fox writes and illustrates graphic novels rooted in earnest, relatable themes unraveling in fantastical worlds.
Instagram: @FoxStorytelling
Joseph Christy
Minotaur
2026
mixed media
9” x 12”
The people of Athens had to sacrifice humans to the great Minotaur. The Minotaur awaits us all in the labyrinth…
Joseph Christy is a writer, illustrator, and painter born and raised in the Nashville area. His work relies on gestural drawing and strange storytelling beats.
Instagram: @josephbchristy
Brandon Bell
Sweet Snare
2026
digital
16” x 20”
This piece depicts a dramatic moment from the timeless folktale Hansel and Gretel. The story has thrilled and entertained generations of readers throughout the world, and it has been told through many adaptations in the arts, literature, film and stage.
Brandon Bell is a self-taught artist from Nashville, TN, with a BS in Early Childhood Education, Interdisciplinary Studies. He is a member of the Williamson County Cultural Arts Committee, Nash Illustrators and the Middle Tennessee Authors Circle. Specializing in digital art, Brandon has illustrated children’s books for local authors and is currently writing and illustrating works of his own.
Instagram: @omniatelier
Purchase Brandon’s books:
The Friends You Don’t See Coming
Paula Rozelle Hanback
La Llorona
2026
ink, watercolor, colored pencil, marker, acrylic
9.5″ x 12.5″
The wailing woman of the lake searches endlessly for her drowned children. This tragic figure appears throughout Hispanic folklore, including Mexico, South America, and the Southwestern United States.
Kitsune
2026
digitally drawn/painted using ClipStudio Paint
10″ x 13″
This trickster from Japanese folklore can change shapes and seduce men. She often appears as a fox with multiple tails.
Baba Yaga
2026
digitally drawn/painted using ClipStudio Paint
10″ x 13″
Baba Yaga is a mysterious witch in Slavic folklore. Most curiously, she lives in a hut that walks around on giant chicken legs.
Paula Rozelle Hanback creates imaginative and detailed illustrations in the genres of fantasy, historical, and horror. She recently completed a Taylor Swift coloring book, and was selected to draw the first-ever official Dirty Dancing coloring book. This image is adapted from her Beautiful Monsters series of coloring books. Known online as Ellezor, she creates book covers, planners, surface pattern designs, and an independent tarot deck.
Instagram: @EllezorArt
Mike Smith
Medusa
2026
digital
11″ x 17″
In Greek mythology, Medusa was one of three Gorgon sisters and the only one who was mortal. She is most commonly depicted with snakes in place of hair and a gaze that could turn anyone who looked directly at her to stone. In the Roman poet Ovid’s account, Medusa was transformed by Athena following an encounter with Poseidon in Athena’s temple. She was eventually killed by the hero Perseus, who used a reflective shield to avoid her gaze. Even after her death, Medusa’s head retained its ability to turn others to stone.
Nobody
2026
graphite on paper
11″ x 17″
As part of Odysseus’ journey he stops on an island where the cyclops Polyphemus lives and becomes trapped in a cave filled with sheep, food and milk. After Odysseus and his men offer Polyphemus undiluted wine and claiming that his name is “Nobody.” The Cyclops collapses in a drunken stupor and is then blinded by Odysseus who escapes with his remaining men by hanging under the sheep as they are let out for the day. In the end, Odysseus is overcome by his own pride as he sails away and shouts out his true name to the Cyclops whose Father is Poseidon, god of the Sea. Angered at Odysseus for harming his son, Poseidon curses him to a 10 year return voyage home.
From chip board to cardboard and post-it notes to paper bags, no surface is safe from a quick doodle or even an elaborate illustration. Mike Smith has been filling in the empty corners of blank spaces with made-up people and beings since the first time he drew on a wall as a small child. From that lowly beginning he sketched and drew on all sorts of surfaces and things until he ended up in architecture school. As a professional architect he has designed everything from grade schools to puppet factories while still venturing into the weird worlds he finds inside of blank pages. As an illustrator Mike has been commissioned to create book covers, video game characters and ships, character design development and writing for a children’s show and all sorts of things in between!
Instagram: @doodlebags
The Illustrious Sanguine
Altarpiece
2026
pen and ink
56″ x 20″ (together), 16″ x 20″ (individual panels)
Tarot is an Italian card game originating in the 15th century; it is more widely known as a tool for divination in the Western Esotericism. In this tradition, the Minor Arcana, the 56 cards with different numbers and suits, represent the mundane people and places of daily life, while the Major Arcana represent archetypal concepts like Death, Strength, or Judgement. By drawing an arbitrary number and ordering them into an equally arbitrary layout, practitioners of the occult purport to be able to predict the future, read minds, or gain insight into personal dilemmas. In my deck, the Minor Arcana each feature different seminal or influential figures in occult history, while the cards in the Major Arcana all depict different forms of evil. I have a complicated relationship to occultism—it can apply philosophical concepts to daily life in beautifully, weirdly practical ways, yet it has justified so much solipsism, exploitation, and sheer cruelty. My hope is to honor what I respect while holding accountable an institution that many don’t even recognize as a singular institution.
The Illustrious Sanguine is an anti-genre, multimedia cyberweird illustrator. His work explores processes of automation, assimilation, and exploitation within information systems, particularly his long-form comic project ELDERNET. He is a 2026 Arcade Arts Artist-in-Residence, and his work has appeared at COOP Gallery, Random Sample, and Galerie Tangerine.
The Illustrious Sanguine’s website
Substack: @7r4p320h3dr0n
Instagram: @doodlebags
