What is EBTW?

Started in 2024, Everything But The Work is a project focused on unveiling the everyday ideas that are behind one’s practice.

Everything But The Work (EBTW) is a project that supports creatives by exploring the elements that fuel their practice, asking artists to dig deeper. After seeing numerous platforms and sites that heavily focused on the end results of one’s work, co-creators Ashley Diane Saldana and Karly Jean Kainz saw an opportunity and asked, “How could we show someone’s practice without actually showing their work?” EBTW is an ongoing project of exploration and vulnerability allowing artists to share insights into their practice, but never their work.

Who is EBTW?

Ashley Diane Saldana and Karly Jean Kainz met in 2021 while attending graduate school at New Mexico State University. They quickly connected over their curiosity of ceramics, plants, and rocks, leading to their first collaborative project, Conditions of Control. Since then, they’ve continued to work together on various events and projects.

Interested in their personal practices? Check out their websites below!

Ashley Diane Saldana

Ashley Diane Saldana is an interdisciplinary artist from the United States, currently living and working in Bavaria, Germany. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from New Mexico State University and a BFA in Photography from the University of North Florida. Through her research she is interested in concepts related to walking, collecting, and the origins of materials, exploring how these elements are intertwined with place and our connection to it.

Karly Jean Kainz

Karly Jean Kainz is an interdisciplinary artist from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She holds a BFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Print & Narrative Forms from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and a MFA from New Mexico State University. Showing her work both nationally and internationally, Kainz continues her research on concepts of collection, the everyday, and repetitive rituals. Currently residing in Tennessee, Kainz is Gallery Coordinator for The Arrowmont Gallery.

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