The Factory Gallery

Amy Stielstra is a graphic artist, illustrator, and fine artist living and working in Middle Tennessee for over 20 years.

As an award-winning visual artist, Amy’s art has appeared in print media, books, magazines and national advertising. Amy creates and shows her fine art in a variety of mediums. Her artworks span an eclectic mix of subjects and media including watercolor, ink, pencil, pastel, oil, acrylic and encaustic beeswax painting.

Candy Fernaux is an entrepreneur, mixed media artist, singer/performing songwriter, photographer, and designer whose work is fueled by color, curiosity, and self-expression. At the heart of Candy’s work is a love of reimagining the ordinary into something bold, beautiful, and unexpected. She is drawn to color, texture, story, and objects with a past, often transforming them into something entirely new.

Whether she is writing a song, creating a piece of art, redesigning a room, looking through a camera lens, building a business, or transforming a forgotten guitar or piece of furniture, each medium becomes another way to tell a story, express an idea, and make something uniquely “Candy.”

Currently working on her third album, preparing to debut her upcoming collection of one-of-a-kind repurposed chairs from Fernaux & Co., Candy moves easily between music, visual art, photography, interiors, and more.

Carol Cheshier Hutchison is an abstract artist who earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing in 1997. She has exhibited her work in a variety of art shows and has completed countless commissioned pieces throughout her career.

Carol primarily works in mixed media, combining acrylic paint, charcoal, and found objects. Although she loves painting, drawing with charcoal (or the big box of crayons) remains her first love. She is drawn to nature, shapes, forms, and unusual perspectives, often incorporating an element of humor or surprise into her work. Her pieces explore the interpretation of her subjects through color, pattern, texture, and a spiritual lens, frequently transforming ideas and compositions that originate in her own psyche into visual stories.

Carol has a deep appreciation for things made by hand and the stories carried by physical objects. She loves working with materials that have texture, history, and evidence of the human hand.

Some of Carol’s favorite commissions are what she calls “Modern Portraits.” Rather than creating a traditional portrait or photographic representation of a family, Carol creates an abstract work that captures something uniquely personal about her client and their life.

For a Modern Portrait, Carol visits the client’s home, spends time getting to know them, and takes in the environment and meaningful details that surround them. Before beginning the artwork, she becomes still and writes a personal prayer on the canvas. The finished piece is created in her signature abstract style, incorporating the client’s chosen colors, meaningful objects, fabrics, and keepsakes. Over the years, she has incorporated everything from Legos, nails, bolts, and fabric to sheet music and even parts of a fishing pole.

Carol spends her time raising and homeschooling her precious daughter, working out, and working in her studio in downtown Columbia, Tennessee. She lives in Columbia with her husband, daughter, and Biscuit the Duchess kitty.

Bio

Deidre Husak is an accomplished Nashville artist specializing in realism.   Her mission is to capture special moments in time with the use of vibrant pigments with aqueous application.   She believes that the best thing about art is having the ability to capture rare moments in a profound way.  Inspired by the South’s abundance of creatives and of course its music, Deidre continues to extend the range of her talent and challenge the boundaries of watercolor.  Her work has been shown in local venues such as Tailgate Brewery, Association for Visual Arts Exhibit in Chattanooga, The Emporium Center Exhibit in Knoxville and Panama City Center for the Arts Exhibit.  She is a member of Tennessee Watercolor Society, Southern Watercolor Society, American Watercolor Society, International Women in Watercolor as well as the Arts Council of Williamson County and the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville.  She is currently working on various art pieces curated for the new 2027 Titan Stadium in Nashville

Bio

Eilise Bonebright is a Franklin-based contemporary artist exploring how time, movement, and memory leave their marks through layers, ripples, rings, and organic forms. Her current work draws inspiration from Tennessee’s trees, exploring the relationship between the natural world and the experiences we carry.

Bio

Multidisciplinary Artist currently working in Painting/Mixed Media

Longtime resident of Franklin, TN

Using vintage ephemera, original Cyanotype Photography, old love letters, tourist’s brochures, newspapers, sheet music, etc. as the first soulful quilted layer on canvas or panel and then applying original ethereal paintings as the second layer. A mix of old and new. Sentimental and modern. Inspired by the hues of faded denim, worn leather and lace and the high/low of soft and hard elements. A longtime resident of the rolling hills of Tennessee, surrounded by bucolic horse farms and the Country Western Music Scene, flora and fauna are juxtaposed on a patchworked billboard of collaged papers. Melding days gone by, with the current, rapidly changing times.

Bio

Gina Fortunato George is a missionary of beauty who uses her creative gifts to illuminate the love and presence of God. Rooted in her deep devotion as a follower of Jesus, Gina’s artwork reflects a vision of returning to the original beauty and intimate connection of the Garden of Eden—a place where humanity was created to dwell, reflect God’s image, and walk closely with Him. Through her spirit led expressions, she seeks to inspire viewers to contemplate their true divine purpose and experience the message of the life transforming power of the gospel.
Gina aims to bring hope, light, and spiritual connection to every heart her art touches.

Bio

I studied Art History and Interior Architecture in College and then spent a career in Healthcare! My Husband Gary and I retired to Thompsons Station and I now have the time to devote to the Arts. I love to create art, garden, sing and worship and there’s no better place to do these things than here!

Artist Statement

No matter what your age or life path, whether making art is your career or your hobby or your dream, it is not too late or too egotistical or too selfish or too silly to work on your creativity. – Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

Favorite Dolly Quote

“You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try”.

Bio

Acrylic painting instructor Joan Wilkes offers classes monthly at the Franklin Recreation Center (Pet Portraits, Paint From Your Photos, Foundations of Acrylic Painting).

She also hosts private paint parties in the Franklin area with her friend, local artist Jann Stephens.

Wilkes and her family have lived in Franklin for 30 years. She is a member of the Williamson County Arts Council and the Artist Guild of Nolensville, and is a frequent exhibitor at the Franklin Art Crawl.

Her original work has been featured at the Williamson County Enrichment Center, Performing Arts Center, Franklin Library, Spring Hill Library, Brentwood Library, and the Franklin Theatre.

She also accepts commissions for her original artwork:  “Custom paintings preserve treasured memories forever.”

Bio

John “Petro” Petruska is a South Texas–born artist and printmaker based in Franklin, Tennessee. After more than twenty-five years as a professional tattoo artist, he now works full time as a Christian painter and printmaker under the name Petro Was Here.

Petro apprenticed in the historic Shaw tattoo family of Aransas Pass, Texas, and spent his career building custom work for clients across music, sports, comedy, and tech. Those sittings include Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, Kanye West, Brian “Head” Welch of Korn, comedian DL Hughley, DJ Paul (Three 6 Mafia, Academy Award winner), John McAfee, NBA All-Star DeMar DeRozan, Miles Richie, and rapper YG. The discipline of that shop floor — line, likeness, stamina, and working under a client’s eye — is still in the drawings.

He left the tattoo chair to make art that names Jesus outright. From his Franklin studio he builds originals in acrylic, Copic marker, coffee, and mixed media, and limited-edition prints drawn in Procreate, then printed, hand-signed, and numbered. Recurring subjects include the face of Christ after the Shroud of Turin, the Lion of Judah, the Lamb, American flag and faith pieces, and Tennessee stories — including a current Dolly Parton group shown at The Factory at Franklin.

Prints are offered name-your-own-price so the work can hang in a living room as easily as a church hallway. More than five thousand prints have gone out. He also gifts signed Faith and Flag and Jesus works to active-duty service members, veterans, police, firefighters, and first responders; higher-paying collectors help carry those gifts.

Petro shares process and testimony on YouTube and X as @petrowashere (100,000 subscribers; Silver Play Button, 2026). He is married to Donné Clement Petruska. Their life in Williamson County is built around Jesus first, family, and work that is meant to be lived with, not only looked at.

My love of the arts began at an early age with music and theater. I have been a long time active member of our local Franklin community theater, Pull-Tight Players, where I have enjoyed acting, directing, and building costumes, as well as many other backstage jobs. Through my career as an elementary educator in the Franklin Special School District, I was able to continue my artistic journey by finding new ways to present content in an engaging way. Following my retirement from education, I was searching for a new way to express myself creatively. My friend gave me a basket of paints and brushes, and I have been painting almost every day since! Primarily working with acrylics, I have been inspired by the contemporary impressionism style of using vibrant colors, loose brushstrokes, and examining the interaction of light and shadow. Recently, I have participated in local art crawls, library showings, and the Tomato Art Shows in East Nashville, as well as being featured as a local artist last Spring with The Williamson Scene.

Lori Campbell is a self-taught Tennessee artist whose work is rooted in faith and inspired by nature, music, and the beauty found in ordinary moments. Painting from her little nook in the Tennessee hills, Lori creates loose, painterly works with a love for simplicity, meaning, and the imperfect beauty of art made by hand.

Mike Brennan is an artist, speaker, creative guide, and the creator of Daily Creative Habit™, a simple but transformative practice that helps people reconnect with themselves through creativity.

After stepping away from art for nearly a decade while navigating burnout and depression, Mike returned to creativity one small sketch at a time. That daily practice didn’t just revive his artwork. It reshaped his life.

Today, through original artwork, books, workshops, speaking, Creative Chats™ podcast, and Daily Creative Habit™, Mike helps artists, leaders, teams, entrepreneurs, and everyday creatives discover that creativity isn’t reserved for a select few. It’s a way of living with greater curiosity, courage, and connection.

His work has been featured by Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, schools, conferences, and creative communities. Whether he’s creating art, speaking from the stage, or facilitating workshops, Mike invites people to rediscover themselves through the power of creative practice.

His guiding belief is simple:

Creativity isn’t a place inside us that we visit. It’s a practice we live.

Susie Ebner is a Williamson County, Tennessee, native and lives on the farm where she grew up.  She paints in acrylics, heavy body acrylics, and metallics, and dabbles in watercolor and water-soluble oils.  Her favorite subjects for painting are florals, landscapes, local scenes, and things that are meaningful to herself and to others. She has work at Gallery 48 in Columbia, Tennessee, and participates in Franklin Art Crawl, Nashville Tomato Fest Art Show, and other community arts events as time allows.

ShenShen began as the West Coast’s first female graffiti artist in the 1980s. A professional artist for more than 40 years, she has exhibited from New York to Paris and been collected by Carroll Shelby, William H. Macy, and Tim Tebow. She was named Best New Exhibitor at Red Dot Miami during Art Basel in 2023. She lives and paints in Nashville, where she founded GalleryHouse by ShenShen—a gallery featuring original art, curated exhibitions, and Signature Art Experiences that inspire creativity and connection.

Terrie Starkey is a local artist from Burns, Tennessee originally from Fairview. She has been creative most of her life, but started sharing her art publicly in 2013. Terrie enjoys painting pet portraits and live wedding paintings, but most of all she enjoys painting florals. She teaches acrylics and watercolor classes locally. 

Terrie finds inspirations in nature and has a love for Tennessee State Parks, especially Montgomery Bell State Park, where she has created a partnership allowing artists monthly showings at the Visitor Center and organized a plein air fundraiser event for the Friends of Montgomery Bell State Park for two years. 

You can find Terrie’s artwork in businesses along Main Street in Downtown Dickson, her website and in showings at The Gallery at Mulberry Mill, where she helps curate with local artist exhibits.

Her love for Dolly Parton grows beyond her music. She is most inspired by her style, originality and love for others. We can all aspire to be more like Dolly and Terrie’s hope for this piece is people connect with her while remembering all the things that Dolly held near to her heart.