Crafting Community Through Art

Inside Pensacola's News Artist Collective, The Undergrowth

by Nicole Willis

What began as a small craft night hosted by five friends has quickly evolved into a grassroots artist collective dedicated to supporting local creatives and building community through art.

The Undergrowth is a growing collective of multi-disciplinary artists who have united over their shared passion for art and community. The Pensacola-based artist collective recently hosted its first DIY art show, which attracted more than 200 attendees.

Established in early 2025, The Undergrowth was founded by local artists Grace Cole and Jadyn Gilliard, as well as Cole’s roommate and fellow artist, Adrianna Campagna. The group is dedicated to promoting community and resilience for local creatives and providing a punk house-style gallery space for queer artists and allies across the Gulf Coast to showcase their work.

The idea to establish The Undergrowth came to fruition during a craft night gathering at Cole and Campagna’s home. The friends regularly hosted craft nights where fellow artists and creatives were invited to show up and let their creativity flow.

“The Undergrowth started as a friendship between a few of us, and then it suddenly became this large group of artists in this community,” Cole said. “A couple of months ago, a few of us wanted to do a craft night, so we started doing craft nights every Monday. Each Monday, there was one more person, and then the next there was one more, and so on. Then we suddenly had about 35 people in my house, and I was like, ‘Whoa, people are really enjoying this.’ So, we opened it up to a lot more people,” Cole said.

With every craft night, more and more artists were connecting and creating together. Eventually, the small group of friends who gathered for craft nights blossomed into a large collective of artists, prompting the group to come up with an official name.

“We thought about [the collective’s name] for weeks. One night, we all sat down to brainstorm. We wrote down the way we’re feeling, and we had all of these crazy words like undertow, flesh, dirt and salt. Then, all of a sudden, undergrowth came up, and it was beautiful,” Cole said. “One of our friends, Michael, just said it out loud, ‘What about The Undergrowth?’ We thought that sounded really cool, because we’re the little undergrowth of Pensacola. It just stuck.”

Seeing the sense of community these craft night gatherings fostered, Cole wanted to open her home’s doors to artists in a bigger way; so, the group came together to host an art show. The invite was extended to everyone in the community, from artists to art lovers alike.

The art show, aptly titled Our House, was held at Cole and Campagna’s East Hill home and showcased the work of more than 40 local artists and creatives, some of whom had never displayed their work publicly before.

“We had about 30 artists turn work into our jury submission. I thought, ‘People just don’t know about us enough.’ So we posted on our Instagram story that we would accept any art of any kind, and people just showed up with their art on the day of the show. And we were like, ‘Yeah, hang it up.’ I think we ended up having 45 artists in total,” Cole said.

The interior and exterior walls of the house were adorned with pieces of artwork by local creatives. From oil paintings and photographs to multimedia art and even sculptures, the show highlighted a variety of creative mediums, with each piece having its own unique expression. Apart from the visual art, local emo band Other provided the soundtrack for the night.

The roommates had a creative vision for the house before they even moved in. “The first time Adrianna and I toured this house, it was empty. We immediately looked at each other and said, ‘We’ve got to do a show here,’” Cole explained. “Designing shows has really been a labor of intensity and love—it’s one of my big passions.”

Although established only a few months ago, The Undergrowth has already given back to the local community and beyond. The collective recently donated proceeds from their Our House art show to Strive Pensacola, an organization that works to support and serve the needs of queer and transgender individuals within Pensacola, as well as the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), a nonprofit organization working for the rights and well-being of children in the Middle East. The Undergrowth awarded over $700 to each organization.

“I would say about 75 percent, if not more, of our collective is queer in some way, shape or form. We really wanted to make sure that whatever we were doing was not just for us, so we chose to donate to Strive because they are a local entity,” Cole explained. “We also wanted to make sure that our proceeds reached beyond the local community, so we also donated half of our proceeds to MECA, which helps children in the Middle East. Specifically, the money donated is going to women and children in Gaza.”

With the success of Our House and the community support, Cole and The Undergrowth have no plans of slowing down. The craft night gatherings that set the framework for which The Undergrowth was built upon continue to be hosted regularly. Cole said the collective plans to host another art show again soon, which will likely take place this fall.

“We’re planning on doing a show by the end of the year again, hopefully in October or November. We want to do some kind of creature feature, creepy crawly event of some kind, and we’re really focused on getting the community together for this one,” Cole said.

If you’re interested in unleashing your creativity during a craft night or displaying your art at the next show, The Undergrowth is open to everyone.

Follow @the.undergrowth on Instagram to keep up with upcoming events and future shows. Individuals interested in getting involved with The Undergrowth can reach out through the group’s Instagram page.