Meredith College has a new exhibit called Process as Practice: A Glimpse Into the Studio.
The exhibit features work by the Meredith College Art Department Faculty and Staff. It is in the Frankie G. Weems Gallery in the Gaddy-Hamrick Art Center. The opening reception was held last night, February 20, 2026, and included a talk with the artists.
Shannon Johnstone, my professor when I attended Meredith College, shared her work on Picturing Pigs. She gave a presentation about the origin of the project. The art installation project is a complex look at the depiction of animals and she did an excellent job breaking it down into a short presentation that covers years of research and exploration.
About Picturing Pigs
Picturing Pigs began as a conversation between Shannon Johnstone and Jane M. Casteline.
They discussed the logo of a large grocery story chain, which features a cartoon pig dressed as a butcher. It struck them as odd to dress a pig as a butcher. It’s an obvious conflict of interest: why would he butcher himself? The conversation grew into the general depiction of pigs in the Southeast. They are often cartoons in precarious positions like grilling meat, delivering pulled-pork sandwiches, etc. This led to the question of where you could actually see real pigs living their best lives?
Shannon and Jane discovered it was difficult to see real pigs, despite this being “hog country” where they outnumber humans 29:1 in some counties. Most pigs are in large buildings called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFOs), where the general public can’t see them. In their search, they found two specific sanctuaries dedicated to helping farm animals and veganism. (Meaning the pigs you saw were safe and would never be consumed by humans.) The Blind Spot Animal Sanctuary and Sisu Refuge are two vegan sanctuaries in North Carolina dedicated to helping farm animals, especially pigs.
Shannon and Jane visited, took photos, and started sharing images online. They applied for a grant and installed two billboards in eastern N.C., along I-40, in the counties with the highest pork production. The goal was to help people see real pigs, however, it wasn’t that easy.
The billboard companies told them no. They simply stopped answering calls or responding to emails. But Shannon and Jane persisted and finally found one company that agreed to put up the billboards.
Teri Saylor and I eventually joined the project to help continue depicting real pigs living their best lives. We are currently in post-production on a documentary about the art installation project and the pigs that have been on billboards. Please stay tuned as we finish the film and look forward to sharing it with you.
The Artistic Process
It was really lovely to be back at Meredith College.
While standing in the Weems Gallery, among my professors, and hearing them talk about their process, I realized how hungry I am for more of that. I am deeply grateful for the chance to see their creative process and approach to their craft. It was inspiring to be surrounded by artists exploring the things we face daily: finding inspiration, exploring our craft, learning rules and when to break them, facing failure as part of the process, feeling disappointed, collaborating, and finding a way to finish one piece to move on to something else. And/or maybe return to the same concepts again years later.
The creative process can be a messy one. I found myself very happy for these artists who have the resources to explore something creative: time, energy, space, funding, etc. Making movies has been incredibly difficult and consuming of resources. I love making movies. It was really refreshing to be around people that know the evolution of a piece of art can be, well, a bit complicated.
My background is in creative things. I began producing out of need; no one else would do it. And while those skills have been incredibly helpful and I wouldn’t change a thing, I do frequently daydream about being able to focus only on the creative aspects. I yearn for the resources to simply explore.
I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of Picturing Pigs.
I can’t wait to share the finished film with you all.
Process as Practice
The work is on display until March 6, 2026. Meredith College is at 3800 Hillsborough Street, in Raleigh, North Carolina. If you’re unfamiliar with the college campus, you may want to reference this campus map.
For more information please visit the Meredith College art gallery website.