Artist Neighbor Bridges India and Appalachia
Every year, the coming of spring brings with it a new set of clothes for the mountains to wear. Because the Appalachians are part of one of the oldest mountain chains on earth, this process of beautiful renewal has been going on for millions of years. It is only in recent time that human beings have added their part to this cycle. The original inhabitants of Northeast Tennessee, who gave the Great Smokeys their name, left a fairly light footprint on the land. Since their time, all successive generations adding their unique mark to the cycle of beauty have been immigrants. The Scots-Irish and Germans play a large role in the culture of Appalachia. But the future will be shaped in part by those coming to America in the 20th and 21st centuries. Artist Medha Karandikar is a wonderful example of this. A resident of Morristown, she has brought the influences of India into the artistic life of Northeast Tennessee, adding a distinctive spice to the culture of Appalachia.
Medha Karandikar was born in India. “I lived there for a good part of my life and later moved to the U.S. eleven years ago with my husband and two children,” she says. Entirely self-taught, she was attracted to art from her childhood in Mumbai. “It all started when I was given a couple of used canvases to try my hand at,” she recalls. “I had to cover them up with house paint to get a clean surface to paint on. Later I would accompany an artist cousin on sketching trips around Mumbai, which gave me the chance to use her art supplies. Helping her with exhibits and shows gave me inspiration.” While her personal artistic journey took shape during her childhood and early adult life in India, Medha feels strongly that a major aspect of her creativity is American. The more open culture of the United States, she believes, lent energy to her creative drive. “Although I have drawn and painted all the time, this country has given me the most encouragement, opportunity, and inspiration,” she notes. Medha works in a variety of media, harmonizing colored graphite, pen-and-ink, watercolor, paper collage, and acrylics into designs which also include her own style of calligraphy. While art for display is the most visible form of her creativity, it is not the most basic element of Medha’s self image. “Writing, drawing and painting have been my passion, in that order,” she says. “Painting is just an embellishment to what I write and draw. Happenings around me affect my psyche tremendously, and come out in the form of writing. Doodling while talking on the phone often gives me good ideas to work on larger pieces.”
It was Medha’s work in collage that particularly caught the attention of gallery director James-Ben Stockton. “I’ve always adored collage,” he says. “It’s an art form that is open to anyone, regardless of skill level or previous experience.” Since becoming affiliated with James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center, Medha has had the chance to teach collage in a workshop format through the gallery and shares Stockton’s enthusiasm. “Paper collage can be thought of as a basic building block of artistic expression,” she says. “It helps free the mind to view existing colors and forms as raw material from which other images can be assembled.” In the past few years, Medha’s art has gained increasing attention in East Tennessee, in no small part due to her involvement in her adopted community. Stockton credits her with a knack for retaining her style while gaining acceptance in the region. “A few years ago, I challenged my artists with a request for pieces with historic themes and childhood memories,” he recalls. “Medha produced art from her memories of India, including folk dances and visits to the railway station. They made for a delightful connection between Greene County and Bombay.” Recently, Medha’s work was selected for inclusion in Artstravaganza!, Knoxville’s yearly fine arts show. Further recognition came when her “Dragonflies” painting-collage was chosen as the March image for the event’s inaugural “Art of Healing” calendar. Even more recently, Medha was invited to be in residence and teach classes at Tennessee River Arts Village in Perryville. “In addition to being talented as an the artist,” says Stockton, Medha is warm, engaging, and articulate. Students will not only learn from studying with her but can expect to have a wonderful time in the bargain.”
In the future, Medha would like to continue her exploration of collage using printed paper as though it were paint. She continues to work as a writer, allowing her emotional expressions to give rise to symbolic sketches, which later can evolve into detailed drawings of paintings. At the same time, she is continually nurtured by her family and home. “My husband and children are my biggest support system,” she says. “My mother inspires me by her gentle questions about what I’ve been doing - it prompts me to to something creative.” A recent visit to Medha’s home exposed Stockton to another art form, cooking. “The food she prepared for us was so wonderful I’ve asked her to teach the July 19th “Fresh from the Garden” Artisan Cooking School class: an Indian Inspired Vegetarian Meal.”
So take the opportunity to meet your artist/neighbor from Morristown, Medha Karandikar. Her work is available locally and displayed with great delight at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Neighbor Featured Artist #17: The Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Celebration Collection
In His 200th Year, Andrew Johnson Continues to Inspire
With all the word processing tools available these days to the journalist, it is reassuring that the 5 “W’s” are as useful as they ever were. Very little of interest to the reader can be conveyed without the categories of who, what, when, where, and why. Much of the previous Neighbor Artist column space has focused on the “who, what, and when” that describe the talented folks of this region. The “where” that traces the source of their inspiration and the “why” that attempts to explain it can be more elusive, and tend to vary from artist to artist. But sometimes a broad theme can unite creative individuals across the whole spectrum of artistic media. The Andrew Johnson Bicentennial has done just that for the artists of James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
“Greeneville is remarkable not only in the intensity of its history but in the way the community values its own heritage,” says James-Ben Stockton. The director of a regionally celebrated art center, Stockton (and your faithful writer of this column) relocated to Greeneville in 2002. “In finding our niche and relating to our new home in Northeast Tennessee, it seemed natural to present art with historic themes. We did a similar process in 2003 for Greeneville’s 220th anniversary. But the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial celebration has really struck a chord with our artists.” With barely three months of the year-long birthday party for the 17th president having passed, 24 different artists, artisans, and organizations have joined their creative efforts, under Stockton’s direction, into the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Celebration Collection.
The Bicentennial Collection is amazing both for the range of talents taking part and for the variety of creations available to the public. “There are pieces that can be touched, used, viewed, watched, listened to, smelled, tasted, and played with,” says Stockton. The visual artists in the painting media have applied their brushes to Andrew Johnson themes. Greene County natives Barbara Miller and Barbara Bible “Jake” Carter have recreated moments from the Johnson story in acrylics and watercolors. “Jake” in particular has focused on paintings featuring the women of the Civil War era, making poignant use of the women who participate in the annual reenactment of the Battle of Blue Springs. Lynne Olka, with her gift for portraiture, has realized a unique Andrew Johnson story-portrait. Featured in it is not only an amazing likeness of the 17th president but scenes and objects from his life, including the gold watch presented to him by the former slaves of Nashville freed by his proclamation. Other striking images associated with Johnson, including his tailor shop and monument atop the hill in the National Cemetery, have been created from the talents of Greeneville native son Gary Sams, whose drawings of historic sites are local favorites. Another unique approach to the Johnson images springs from the gifted eye of Chris MacAdoo, who has captured Greeneville’s hometown president in evocative wood-block prints. Marilyn Heilman has added to the collection her two pen & ink drawings, “Old Jail Gates” and “The Old Jail Restoration” executed for the Greene County Historic Trust’s Restoration Project. All three artists have these images available in limited editions. Historian Robert Orr, local expert on Johnson’s life and career, who appeared on C-Span’s series featuring the presidents, is known in Greeneville as a man of many talents. He has used that talent to demonstrate his intimate knowledge of Johnson in an excellent biography, “President Andrew Johnson of Greeneville, Tennessee”, as well as in a wonderful video production, “His Faith Never Wavered”, written by Orr and superbly directed by Louise Orr in cooperation with the Greene County Heritage Trust. Middle Tennessee art photographer Barry Stein was so taken with the Andrew Johnson Homestead that he preserved it in his own uniquely styled giclee, also available in limited edition.
Other gallery artists have approached the Johnson story and images in three dimensions rather than two. Well-known local Dell Hughes has added Andrew Johnson to his series of Civil war busts with a marvelous likeness in cold-cast images available both in bronze finish and hand-painted. Mrs. Hughes, Dell’s spouse Jane, has applied her own artistry and whimsy to create the playful Raggedy Eliza and Andy Johnson dolls. From Main Street: Greeneville, and available exclusively from James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center are ceramic replicas of the Andrew Johnson Homestead in the popular series featuring Greeneville’s historic structures. A combination Christmas tree ornament and year-round table top sculpture depicting President Johnson and family enjoying a colorful carriage ride is another exclusive from the gallery, obtained from the White House Historical Association. “These have been extremely popular, portraying Johnson as they do in one of his rare moments of relaxation and fun,” says Stockton. Another playful and unique piece, in the form of edible art, is coming from Jane Wilson of Blue Ridge Chocolates (which make a wonderful excuse for popping by Stockton’s gallery on Main Street). Wilson is creating a gingerbread/dark chocolate house based on the Johnson tailor shop featuring her “Tennessee Truffles” filled with her special molasses cream. For more serious fun, local artist Willadeen Fort has created a specialty chess board with figures from the Civil War. Bisque-fired and hand-painted Confederate and Union soldiers contest the field in more thoughtful combat. For gentler souls, Sharon Collins – “quite simply one of the best stained glass artists I’ve ever seen,” notes Stockton – has called on the talents of the reclusive Eliza Johnson. Collins has created a window hanging based on a quilt attributed to Eliza Johnson found at the foot of her bed. Functional pottery inspired by pieces in the kitchen of the Johnson Homestead have come from the studios of locally celebrated potters. Phil Homes, of Piney Flats, has produced a series of Johnson inspired crocks in his distinctive iron-red glaze. Greenevillian Tim Frain, known for his Appalachian Impressions pieces, has created the look of older salt glazed pieces from the 19th century with a contemporary and more environmentally friendly glaze of his own creation. The pieces inspired by items in the Johnson Homestead collection, including the gold watch element in Lynne Olka’s Johnson story portrait, were brought into being with the help of Kendra Hinkle, museum technician. Hinkle’s father, noted artist and retired Greeneville police detective C. Kenneth Hinkle, is offering through the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial limited edition prints of his oil on canvas board originals. Of particular interest is his depiction of Johnson at work in his tailor shop across the street from his Early Home, a view no longer visible since the tailor shop’s enclosure within the Memorial Building in the 1920’s. An appealing 13 month daily look at Johnson’s life and times can be found through the Bicentennial Calendar, produced by the Nathanael Greene Museum. Ghostly encounters with the Johnson family are part of the regular and highly sought-after tours offered by Appalachian GhostWalks. From James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center itself come the last but not least items in the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Celebration Collection. The gallery studio is producing, in limited edition, sterling silver collectible jewelry featuring the 17th president. And for an entertaining and memorable experience in living history, there is “Tennessee Tailor”, conceived and directed by James-Ben Stockton, available only by arrangement with the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, and featuring your faithful columnist bringing Johnson’s own words and thoughts to life from the pages of history.
Altogether, an amazing collection of talent has brought together the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Celebration Collection. Its inspiration, Greeneville’s hometown president and the “Defender of the Constitution” is entirely deserving of every expression of respect, admiration, and affection. These offerings and others yet to come can be found at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center in historic Downtown Greeneville.
With all the word processing tools available these days to the journalist, it is reassuring that the 5 “W’s” are as useful as they ever were. Very little of interest to the reader can be conveyed without the categories of who, what, when, where, and why. Much of the previous Neighbor Artist column space has focused on the “who, what, and when” that describe the talented folks of this region. The “where” that traces the source of their inspiration and the “why” that attempts to explain it can be more elusive, and tend to vary from artist to artist. But sometimes a broad theme can unite creative individuals across the whole spectrum of artistic media. The Andrew Johnson Bicentennial has done just that for the artists of James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
“Greeneville is remarkable not only in the intensity of its history but in the way the community values its own heritage,” says James-Ben Stockton. The director of a regionally celebrated art center, Stockton (and your faithful writer of this column) relocated to Greeneville in 2002. “In finding our niche and relating to our new home in Northeast Tennessee, it seemed natural to present art with historic themes. We did a similar process in 2003 for Greeneville’s 220th anniversary. But the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial celebration has really struck a chord with our artists.” With barely three months of the year-long birthday party for the 17th president having passed, 24 different artists, artisans, and organizations have joined their creative efforts, under Stockton’s direction, into the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Celebration Collection.
The Bicentennial Collection is amazing both for the range of talents taking part and for the variety of creations available to the public. “There are pieces that can be touched, used, viewed, watched, listened to, smelled, tasted, and played with,” says Stockton. The visual artists in the painting media have applied their brushes to Andrew Johnson themes. Greene County natives Barbara Miller and Barbara Bible “Jake” Carter have recreated moments from the Johnson story in acrylics and watercolors. “Jake” in particular has focused on paintings featuring the women of the Civil War era, making poignant use of the women who participate in the annual reenactment of the Battle of Blue Springs. Lynne Olka, with her gift for portraiture, has realized a unique Andrew Johnson story-portrait. Featured in it is not only an amazing likeness of the 17th president but scenes and objects from his life, including the gold watch presented to him by the former slaves of Nashville freed by his proclamation. Other striking images associated with Johnson, including his tailor shop and monument atop the hill in the National Cemetery, have been created from the talents of Greeneville native son Gary Sams, whose drawings of historic sites are local favorites. Another unique approach to the Johnson images springs from the gifted eye of Chris MacAdoo, who has captured Greeneville’s hometown president in evocative wood-block prints. Marilyn Heilman has added to the collection her two pen & ink drawings, “Old Jail Gates” and “The Old Jail Restoration” executed for the Greene County Historic Trust’s Restoration Project. All three artists have these images available in limited editions. Historian Robert Orr, local expert on Johnson’s life and career, who appeared on C-Span’s series featuring the presidents, is known in Greeneville as a man of many talents. He has used that talent to demonstrate his intimate knowledge of Johnson in an excellent biography, “President Andrew Johnson of Greeneville, Tennessee”, as well as in a wonderful video production, “His Faith Never Wavered”, written by Orr and superbly directed by Louise Orr in cooperation with the Greene County Heritage Trust. Middle Tennessee art photographer Barry Stein was so taken with the Andrew Johnson Homestead that he preserved it in his own uniquely styled giclee, also available in limited edition.
Other gallery artists have approached the Johnson story and images in three dimensions rather than two. Well-known local Dell Hughes has added Andrew Johnson to his series of Civil war busts with a marvelous likeness in cold-cast images available both in bronze finish and hand-painted. Mrs. Hughes, Dell’s spouse Jane, has applied her own artistry and whimsy to create the playful Raggedy Eliza and Andy Johnson dolls. From Main Street: Greeneville, and available exclusively from James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center are ceramic replicas of the Andrew Johnson Homestead in the popular series featuring Greeneville’s historic structures. A combination Christmas tree ornament and year-round table top sculpture depicting President Johnson and family enjoying a colorful carriage ride is another exclusive from the gallery, obtained from the White House Historical Association. “These have been extremely popular, portraying Johnson as they do in one of his rare moments of relaxation and fun,” says Stockton. Another playful and unique piece, in the form of edible art, is coming from Jane Wilson of Blue Ridge Chocolates (which make a wonderful excuse for popping by Stockton’s gallery on Main Street). Wilson is creating a gingerbread/dark chocolate house based on the Johnson tailor shop featuring her “Tennessee Truffles” filled with her special molasses cream. For more serious fun, local artist Willadeen Fort has created a specialty chess board with figures from the Civil War. Bisque-fired and hand-painted Confederate and Union soldiers contest the field in more thoughtful combat. For gentler souls, Sharon Collins – “quite simply one of the best stained glass artists I’ve ever seen,” notes Stockton – has called on the talents of the reclusive Eliza Johnson. Collins has created a window hanging based on a quilt attributed to Eliza Johnson found at the foot of her bed. Functional pottery inspired by pieces in the kitchen of the Johnson Homestead have come from the studios of locally celebrated potters. Phil Homes, of Piney Flats, has produced a series of Johnson inspired crocks in his distinctive iron-red glaze. Greenevillian Tim Frain, known for his Appalachian Impressions pieces, has created the look of older salt glazed pieces from the 19th century with a contemporary and more environmentally friendly glaze of his own creation. The pieces inspired by items in the Johnson Homestead collection, including the gold watch element in Lynne Olka’s Johnson story portrait, were brought into being with the help of Kendra Hinkle, museum technician. Hinkle’s father, noted artist and retired Greeneville police detective C. Kenneth Hinkle, is offering through the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial limited edition prints of his oil on canvas board originals. Of particular interest is his depiction of Johnson at work in his tailor shop across the street from his Early Home, a view no longer visible since the tailor shop’s enclosure within the Memorial Building in the 1920’s. An appealing 13 month daily look at Johnson’s life and times can be found through the Bicentennial Calendar, produced by the Nathanael Greene Museum. Ghostly encounters with the Johnson family are part of the regular and highly sought-after tours offered by Appalachian GhostWalks. From James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center itself come the last but not least items in the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Celebration Collection. The gallery studio is producing, in limited edition, sterling silver collectible jewelry featuring the 17th president. And for an entertaining and memorable experience in living history, there is “Tennessee Tailor”, conceived and directed by James-Ben Stockton, available only by arrangement with the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, and featuring your faithful columnist bringing Johnson’s own words and thoughts to life from the pages of history.
Altogether, an amazing collection of talent has brought together the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Celebration Collection. Its inspiration, Greeneville’s hometown president and the “Defender of the Constitution” is entirely deserving of every expression of respect, admiration, and affection. These offerings and others yet to come can be found at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center in historic Downtown Greeneville.
Neighbor Featured Artist #16: Dane Hinkle
Musician Finds Ending and Beginning in Greeneville
We’ve had occasion, on previous visits to this page, to talk about the arts most often associated with the mountain South. While furniture making, pottery, and quilting all combine practical need with beauty, the Appalachian art that most directly reveals the soul is music. No color or shade of human emotion is beyond the range of musical expression. Joy and sorrow, love and hate, anger, despair, and exhilaration - all are the feelings carried forth in words and music. The intensity of these feelings is part of the unique signature of music in the mountains. The folks who make such music most often sharpen and polish their talent on countless porches, church gatherings, camp sites, and bonfires throughout Appalachia. But the genuineness and appeal of that music is bound by no feature of geography.
Since coming to Greeneville, it has been my privilege and pleasure to get to know Dane Hinkle, and to be a witness to the emergence of an artist. Dane has roots in Greene County that are both deep and wide reaching. His father, Charles Hinkle, is retired from the Greeneville Police Department, and has been a touchstone for his son in more ways than one. Dane Hinkle was born in San Francisco but raised in Greene County from an early age. Rather than following his father into law enforcement, he became a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service, battling the dangerous and unpredictable blazes that plague the American West. Eventually, Dane worked his way into the elite Chena Hot-Shot Crew, a team of international firefighters, and also served with the Alaska Smoke Jumpers, who parachute into remote areas to do their work. At first, the danger was part of the job’s intoxicating appeal. Dane notes that the combination of adrenaline and sleep deprivation produced experiences of heightened sensation and awareness. Colors were more intense, and all senses were sharpened. “It was an interesting feeling,” he says. “During training I learned to call it ‘the black door’.” One close call that occurred while in that state proved to be the one that erased “all the fun” from firefighting. Dane ran out of a flare-up but has no memory of how he ended up where he was found. “I just know the helicopter pilot told me that he circled around when he saw us but that I was a mile away from my first location when he picked me up.”Some of Dane’s fellow firefighters weren’t so lucky. It’s little wonder that he returned to Greeneville in need of healing. One of the places he found it was in music and art.
“There’s a parallel between opening up your creative self and those ‘black door’ moments,” says Dane. “When I realized that, it made it easier to get comfortable with the flashes of inspiration I’d get.” Noting that his father had channelled some of his police career stress into oil painting, Dane took up the brushes and discovered that he had, in fact, inherited some of his father’s talent. from his international experience, he produced miniature stone sculptures reminiscent of Japanese netsuke from the local fossiliferous limestone. He also found himself beginning to write songs. Two different but related traditions influenced Dane’s first efforts, which, along with gallery director James-Ben Stockton, I was fortunate enough to hear. One influence was the combination of music and social change in the 1960’s, especially Bob Dylan and the Beatles. “There was a little something about Bob Dylan. There was electricity in the air during his time,” says Dane. Inspiration also came from the folk music/storytelling tradition of Appalachia. Dane, who worked on the crew invloved in the 2003-2004 renovation of the Andrew Johnson Homestead, found out that Johnson’s often dirt-poor constituents were sometimes called “mudsills”. This touched a chord in his heart. “I’m trying to reinvent some music where the lyrics have deep meaning. My songs are sometimes emotional and sometimes cynical but the music itself is always easy to listen to. It comes from the elements of real life.” This approach has generated songs with titles like “Softly in Time”, “Cotton Candy Sunset”, and “Ashes on Molly’s Grave”. Dane thinks of his style as the offspring of folk music and the blues.
“Dane is a Renaissance man,” says gallery director James-Ben Stockton. “When we first go to know him, we were delighted and impressed with his visual art, his paintings and sculptures. But quite often, he’d drop by in the late afternoon or on the weekend to play and sing for us a song he was working on. For someone who appreciates art enough to work with it professionally, it was a true privilege to observe and participate in art ‘in the making’.” For Dane, the nurturing of his gifts has been a layered process. “I started on the harmonica first,” he says. “When I first sat down with a guitar, I probably knew three chords but I built from that.” His first recordings were mostly vocals and guitar, done on borrowed equipment. Then he bought the elements of a digital recording studio, which enabled him to add in bass and harmonica for a richer sound. “I spent the better part of a year learning how to use the studio - I think I read the manual for three days before I even turned it on.” At the same time, he has expanded his live performances to include regular Thursday night appearances at the General Morgan Inn from 6 to 8:30 in the evenings. “Doing both, making my own recordings and continuing to perform live, has kind of nudged me in the direction I’d like to go, which means putting a band together. My studio lets me layer several tracks together where I play all the instruments. To do that on stage means you need more musicians.” This ongoing creative process continues to provide healing for that bruised and battered man who left a firefighting career to come home. “Now I’m working on combining the music with spending time outdoors, staying active to build up my energy and find new sources of inspiration. It’s like doing and thinking at the same time helps you be better at both. James-Ben explained to me that it was like working an experience out through your body and then expressing it by letting it come out through your hands. A lot has happened since I came home. I guess you could say that Greeneville is both a launching pad and a landing strip at the same time.”
Music is one of the hardest art forms to describe in words. The best way to experience Dane Hinkle’s music is to hear it. For live performances, look for him each Thursday evening at the General Morgan Inn. Be sure to check out his web site, www.mudsilldane.com. Dane’s music is available from over 30 sites and has been downloaded from as far away as Europe. To find both his CD’s and his paintings and sculptures, they are available locally at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center, which is extremely proud, in the case of Dane Hinkle, Artist, to have been present “at the beginning.”
We’ve had occasion, on previous visits to this page, to talk about the arts most often associated with the mountain South. While furniture making, pottery, and quilting all combine practical need with beauty, the Appalachian art that most directly reveals the soul is music. No color or shade of human emotion is beyond the range of musical expression. Joy and sorrow, love and hate, anger, despair, and exhilaration - all are the feelings carried forth in words and music. The intensity of these feelings is part of the unique signature of music in the mountains. The folks who make such music most often sharpen and polish their talent on countless porches, church gatherings, camp sites, and bonfires throughout Appalachia. But the genuineness and appeal of that music is bound by no feature of geography.
Since coming to Greeneville, it has been my privilege and pleasure to get to know Dane Hinkle, and to be a witness to the emergence of an artist. Dane has roots in Greene County that are both deep and wide reaching. His father, Charles Hinkle, is retired from the Greeneville Police Department, and has been a touchstone for his son in more ways than one. Dane Hinkle was born in San Francisco but raised in Greene County from an early age. Rather than following his father into law enforcement, he became a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service, battling the dangerous and unpredictable blazes that plague the American West. Eventually, Dane worked his way into the elite Chena Hot-Shot Crew, a team of international firefighters, and also served with the Alaska Smoke Jumpers, who parachute into remote areas to do their work. At first, the danger was part of the job’s intoxicating appeal. Dane notes that the combination of adrenaline and sleep deprivation produced experiences of heightened sensation and awareness. Colors were more intense, and all senses were sharpened. “It was an interesting feeling,” he says. “During training I learned to call it ‘the black door’.” One close call that occurred while in that state proved to be the one that erased “all the fun” from firefighting. Dane ran out of a flare-up but has no memory of how he ended up where he was found. “I just know the helicopter pilot told me that he circled around when he saw us but that I was a mile away from my first location when he picked me up.”Some of Dane’s fellow firefighters weren’t so lucky. It’s little wonder that he returned to Greeneville in need of healing. One of the places he found it was in music and art.
“There’s a parallel between opening up your creative self and those ‘black door’ moments,” says Dane. “When I realized that, it made it easier to get comfortable with the flashes of inspiration I’d get.” Noting that his father had channelled some of his police career stress into oil painting, Dane took up the brushes and discovered that he had, in fact, inherited some of his father’s talent. from his international experience, he produced miniature stone sculptures reminiscent of Japanese netsuke from the local fossiliferous limestone. He also found himself beginning to write songs. Two different but related traditions influenced Dane’s first efforts, which, along with gallery director James-Ben Stockton, I was fortunate enough to hear. One influence was the combination of music and social change in the 1960’s, especially Bob Dylan and the Beatles. “There was a little something about Bob Dylan. There was electricity in the air during his time,” says Dane. Inspiration also came from the folk music/storytelling tradition of Appalachia. Dane, who worked on the crew invloved in the 2003-2004 renovation of the Andrew Johnson Homestead, found out that Johnson’s often dirt-poor constituents were sometimes called “mudsills”. This touched a chord in his heart. “I’m trying to reinvent some music where the lyrics have deep meaning. My songs are sometimes emotional and sometimes cynical but the music itself is always easy to listen to. It comes from the elements of real life.” This approach has generated songs with titles like “Softly in Time”, “Cotton Candy Sunset”, and “Ashes on Molly’s Grave”. Dane thinks of his style as the offspring of folk music and the blues.
“Dane is a Renaissance man,” says gallery director James-Ben Stockton. “When we first go to know him, we were delighted and impressed with his visual art, his paintings and sculptures. But quite often, he’d drop by in the late afternoon or on the weekend to play and sing for us a song he was working on. For someone who appreciates art enough to work with it professionally, it was a true privilege to observe and participate in art ‘in the making’.” For Dane, the nurturing of his gifts has been a layered process. “I started on the harmonica first,” he says. “When I first sat down with a guitar, I probably knew three chords but I built from that.” His first recordings were mostly vocals and guitar, done on borrowed equipment. Then he bought the elements of a digital recording studio, which enabled him to add in bass and harmonica for a richer sound. “I spent the better part of a year learning how to use the studio - I think I read the manual for three days before I even turned it on.” At the same time, he has expanded his live performances to include regular Thursday night appearances at the General Morgan Inn from 6 to 8:30 in the evenings. “Doing both, making my own recordings and continuing to perform live, has kind of nudged me in the direction I’d like to go, which means putting a band together. My studio lets me layer several tracks together where I play all the instruments. To do that on stage means you need more musicians.” This ongoing creative process continues to provide healing for that bruised and battered man who left a firefighting career to come home. “Now I’m working on combining the music with spending time outdoors, staying active to build up my energy and find new sources of inspiration. It’s like doing and thinking at the same time helps you be better at both. James-Ben explained to me that it was like working an experience out through your body and then expressing it by letting it come out through your hands. A lot has happened since I came home. I guess you could say that Greeneville is both a launching pad and a landing strip at the same time.”
Music is one of the hardest art forms to describe in words. The best way to experience Dane Hinkle’s music is to hear it. For live performances, look for him each Thursday evening at the General Morgan Inn. Be sure to check out his web site, www.mudsilldane.com. Dane’s music is available from over 30 sites and has been downloaded from as far away as Europe. To find both his CD’s and his paintings and sculptures, they are available locally at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center, which is extremely proud, in the case of Dane Hinkle, Artist, to have been present “at the beginning.”
Neighbor Featured Artist #15: The Wood Studio
Wood Studio Reflects Tradition of Family Craftmanship
If there is an art as essential to the Appalachian culture, it is furniture making. Born in the mountains out of necessity - from the need to produce practical items for the household. It was part of the character of the mountain settlers to make these functional pieces beautiful as well. To this day, the Appalachian region is known as a mecca for cabinetry, with a tradition of keeping the art in the family and passing it to the next generation. As an example of what I’m talking about, let me introduce you to the creative world of the Cochran boys.
Visitors to James-Ben: Studio & Gallery in downtown Greeneville have seen the work of Randy, Keith, and Dylan Cochran whether they know it or not. The magnificent 8 foot maple front counter in the gallery is a creation of the Wood Studio, and represents the loving, meticulous aesthetic expressed by this team of a father and two sons. Randy Cochran and gallery director James-Ben Stockton had become acquainted as exhibitors in fine craft shows. “I hadn’t seen Randy for a while when he came to a reception for one of my gallery shows,” says Stockton. “He told me he was finally going into custom furniture-making full time. What a good day that was!” When Stockton’s gallery relocated and re-opened in historic Greeneville, a friend offered a gift of a new front counter and asked who Stockton would like to have make it. Without hesitation, he put her in touch with Randy Cochran.
A native of north Alabama, Randy Cochran is a charming fellow whose Southern drawl and wicked sense of humor make a fine counterpoint to the sophistication of his designs in cabinetry. He’s been known to describe his style as “Scandinavian-Shaker”, after two furniture-making traditions he admires. “When I was in school at Auburn, I was lucky enough to study with instructors whose professors were from the Bauhaus School of Design,” he says. After a career that included design and fabrication of wood-working machinery, telephones, industrial machinery, electronics, and museum exhibits, he built his first commissioned piece of furniture in 1973, and opened the Wood Studio in 1986. “I’ve worked every day like a crazy man ever since to build up our small family business.” As a founding member of The Furniture Society, Randy also devotes considerable time and energy to promoting the craft he loves.
Keith Cochran, Randy’s oldest son, cultivates a laid-back, ball cap persona that overlays a deeply artistic soul. He admits that he “filled all my high school electives with art classes.” His dead-pan delivery of jokes is a characteristic he shares with his father. “Keith came by the gallery on the morning of September 11th, 2001, and told us what was happening before we’d even turned on the television,” says Stockton. “We were so used to his sense of humor that at first we didn’t believe him.” Also like his dad, Keith got his degree from the College of Industrial Design at Auburn. While still in high school, he began working in the field of custom car audio systems and continued this work professionally for several years. After graduating from Auburn with several “Best of Studio” awards under his belt, Keith went to work as a custom boat builder for Hugh Saint, Inc., producing classic mahogany runabouts. With the opening of the Wood Studio, he was lured into the perilous world of self-employment.
With an outgoing father and brother, both of whom are inveterate comedians, Dylan Cochran is the “quiet one”. He began working in the Wood Studio while still in high school and was voted “Most Talented” by his classmates. An award-winner in several different art competitions, he staked out his own unique territory within a creative family with his environmental work. While continuing the family connection to Auburn University, Dylan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Management and spent a summer as an intern for the Council on Environmental Quality within the Executive Office of the President in Washington, D.C. While still in college, he participated in the Cooperative Education Program and worked as an air quality technician for an environmental consulting firm. Eventually he, too, was sweet-talked into devoting full time to the family business.
All three Cochrans now reside near the Wood Studio’s new location in north Alabama. Randy took up housekeeping in the family’s old home, a 1914 bungalow nestled “in Little Wills Valley within spitting distance of the southern-most collection point for the Trail of Tears.” Keith, with his beautiful wife Allison (and a pack of wild dogs) lives within the Bankhead National Forest. Dylan is in nearby Arley residing at the Wood Studio’s newest shop. With a fine view of Lookout Mountain, and nearby Lewis Smith Lake to satisfy outdoor interests, the Cochran boys seem to have found a contentment that feeds their creative productivity.
I’ve chosen to spend my words in describing the artists in this column because the striking visual images of their work speak more eloquentlly of their skills and love of wood than I could possibly manage. Appreciation of the beautiful design and splendid craftsmanship of the Wood Studio’s commissioned furniture has even been expressed by actor/activist Robert Redford, who has included the Cochrans’ furniture in his exclusive Sundance Catalog. “At the heart of every piece is our ambition to celebrate the natural beauty and character of the material,” says Randy (in one of his more serious moments). The Cochrans produce a full range of furniture and cabinets but a Wood Studio chair is a particular prize for its comfort and back support. “Sometimes it’s hard to get customers to sit in one of the chairs because they’re so beautiful,” says Stockton. “But once we persuade them to sit down it’s hard to get them to get back up agaiin.” Locally, the work of Randy, Keith, and Dylan can be seen, touched, sat-on, ooohed and ahhhed over, and acquired or ordered at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery. “I’ve seen men caress our maple front counter with a tenderness that makes their wives jealous,” says James-Ben Stockton. “We take great pride in affectionately representing these three gentlemen.”
If there is an art as essential to the Appalachian culture, it is furniture making. Born in the mountains out of necessity - from the need to produce practical items for the household. It was part of the character of the mountain settlers to make these functional pieces beautiful as well. To this day, the Appalachian region is known as a mecca for cabinetry, with a tradition of keeping the art in the family and passing it to the next generation. As an example of what I’m talking about, let me introduce you to the creative world of the Cochran boys.
Visitors to James-Ben: Studio & Gallery in downtown Greeneville have seen the work of Randy, Keith, and Dylan Cochran whether they know it or not. The magnificent 8 foot maple front counter in the gallery is a creation of the Wood Studio, and represents the loving, meticulous aesthetic expressed by this team of a father and two sons. Randy Cochran and gallery director James-Ben Stockton had become acquainted as exhibitors in fine craft shows. “I hadn’t seen Randy for a while when he came to a reception for one of my gallery shows,” says Stockton. “He told me he was finally going into custom furniture-making full time. What a good day that was!” When Stockton’s gallery relocated and re-opened in historic Greeneville, a friend offered a gift of a new front counter and asked who Stockton would like to have make it. Without hesitation, he put her in touch with Randy Cochran.
A native of north Alabama, Randy Cochran is a charming fellow whose Southern drawl and wicked sense of humor make a fine counterpoint to the sophistication of his designs in cabinetry. He’s been known to describe his style as “Scandinavian-Shaker”, after two furniture-making traditions he admires. “When I was in school at Auburn, I was lucky enough to study with instructors whose professors were from the Bauhaus School of Design,” he says. After a career that included design and fabrication of wood-working machinery, telephones, industrial machinery, electronics, and museum exhibits, he built his first commissioned piece of furniture in 1973, and opened the Wood Studio in 1986. “I’ve worked every day like a crazy man ever since to build up our small family business.” As a founding member of The Furniture Society, Randy also devotes considerable time and energy to promoting the craft he loves.
Keith Cochran, Randy’s oldest son, cultivates a laid-back, ball cap persona that overlays a deeply artistic soul. He admits that he “filled all my high school electives with art classes.” His dead-pan delivery of jokes is a characteristic he shares with his father. “Keith came by the gallery on the morning of September 11th, 2001, and told us what was happening before we’d even turned on the television,” says Stockton. “We were so used to his sense of humor that at first we didn’t believe him.” Also like his dad, Keith got his degree from the College of Industrial Design at Auburn. While still in high school, he began working in the field of custom car audio systems and continued this work professionally for several years. After graduating from Auburn with several “Best of Studio” awards under his belt, Keith went to work as a custom boat builder for Hugh Saint, Inc., producing classic mahogany runabouts. With the opening of the Wood Studio, he was lured into the perilous world of self-employment.
With an outgoing father and brother, both of whom are inveterate comedians, Dylan Cochran is the “quiet one”. He began working in the Wood Studio while still in high school and was voted “Most Talented” by his classmates. An award-winner in several different art competitions, he staked out his own unique territory within a creative family with his environmental work. While continuing the family connection to Auburn University, Dylan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Management and spent a summer as an intern for the Council on Environmental Quality within the Executive Office of the President in Washington, D.C. While still in college, he participated in the Cooperative Education Program and worked as an air quality technician for an environmental consulting firm. Eventually he, too, was sweet-talked into devoting full time to the family business.
All three Cochrans now reside near the Wood Studio’s new location in north Alabama. Randy took up housekeeping in the family’s old home, a 1914 bungalow nestled “in Little Wills Valley within spitting distance of the southern-most collection point for the Trail of Tears.” Keith, with his beautiful wife Allison (and a pack of wild dogs) lives within the Bankhead National Forest. Dylan is in nearby Arley residing at the Wood Studio’s newest shop. With a fine view of Lookout Mountain, and nearby Lewis Smith Lake to satisfy outdoor interests, the Cochran boys seem to have found a contentment that feeds their creative productivity.
I’ve chosen to spend my words in describing the artists in this column because the striking visual images of their work speak more eloquentlly of their skills and love of wood than I could possibly manage. Appreciation of the beautiful design and splendid craftsmanship of the Wood Studio’s commissioned furniture has even been expressed by actor/activist Robert Redford, who has included the Cochrans’ furniture in his exclusive Sundance Catalog. “At the heart of every piece is our ambition to celebrate the natural beauty and character of the material,” says Randy (in one of his more serious moments). The Cochrans produce a full range of furniture and cabinets but a Wood Studio chair is a particular prize for its comfort and back support. “Sometimes it’s hard to get customers to sit in one of the chairs because they’re so beautiful,” says Stockton. “But once we persuade them to sit down it’s hard to get them to get back up agaiin.” Locally, the work of Randy, Keith, and Dylan can be seen, touched, sat-on, ooohed and ahhhed over, and acquired or ordered at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery. “I’ve seen men caress our maple front counter with a tenderness that makes their wives jealous,” says James-Ben Stockton. “We take great pride in affectionately representing these three gentlemen.”
Neighbor Featured Artist #14: Barbarabara "Jake" Bible carter
Watercolors Come Naturally to "Jake"
There is an irresistible quality to modesty. Such charm is radiated by those talented individuals who seem genuinely surprised by the gifts they possess. They seem to count their blessings with every new creation, which adds an element to their creativity that attracts others to it. When Barbara Bible Carter sat down to talk with me, and announced that she didn’t think there was anything about her that readers would find interesting, she was really saying that her paintings told her story better than words could. A small, elegant woman, with a serenity often illuminated with a bright smile, she demonstrates a gentility that is only enhanced by the accent that speaks to her rural Greene County roots. She is an artist/neighbor in the deepest sense of the term.
In declaring herself a person without formal education, Barbara claims the pride of place that is shared by many mountain folk. It obviously surprised her to be the subject of an art column. “I’m just a little snot-nose kid out of the holler in East Tennessee,” she says. Her family had an old grocery in Bible’s Chapel and the house where she was born was without electricity. Her mother, she remembers, always made sure that there were crayons around for drawing, while her father supplied her basic identity. “I sign all my paintings ‘Jake” because that was his nickname for me.” From her earliest memory, she noticed and found beauty in the minute details of nature. She remembers walking up a path to her mother’s garden and being captivated by the tiny flowers she saw along the way. Drawing was part of her growing up, with inspiration coming from such simple sources as the Sunday comics. “I’ve always noticed the differences between light and shadow,” she says. “I’m an intuitive painter - rather than making a statement or telling a story, my paintings are an expression of what looks right to me. I’m not real big on painting by the rules.”
The Bibles moved closer to Greeneville when Barbara was 7, and her artistic ability found an outlet in school. “We didn’t have much in the way of art teachers but I would draw different subjects relating to what we were learning.” That she would one day exhibit her paintings and win awards in competition was unimaginable at the time but she recalls setting personal challenges for herself. “When I was 10, I remember sitting on a rock in the creek and seeing the reflection of the sunset. I told myself I wanted to be able to paint it just like I saw it.” An aunt who worked in oils and copied well-known works for the enjoyment of herself and friends was an ongoing source of inspiration. “She painted well into her nineties. I painted in oils for a while but found myself attracted to watercolors and happier with what I did.” This choice of medium was a challenge in and of itself. Watercolor is generally regarded as the most difficult of the painting arts to master, and Barbara was unsatisfied with her first efforts. “Then I got the chance to do some work with a teacher named Anita Rhoney, who set me on the right track with some basic techniques. With watercolor, you can’t just paint over a mistake.”
As an adult, Barbara continued both to practice her creativity and to gain knowledge and experience wherever possible. While living in both Greenwich, Connecticut, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, she took advantage of the urban opportunities to attend art classes. Upon returning to East Tennessee, as often happens, she found that her most valuable instruction was no further away than Johnson City in the person of local legend Urban Bird. “He teaches in a very casual way, and his blunt, honest criticism really makes sense to me,” says Barbara. “He has such a good eye for seeing and correcting design flaws. I remember a piece I was working on where he said ‘well, you sure didn’t get that mill wheel right’. So I turned it into an old tire instead.” Bird has said of Barbara that she has progressed faster than most of his students. She began exhibiting in 2004 and has been both pleased and amazed to do better in competition than some of her fellow students whose work she particularly admires. Gallery director James-Ben Stockton, who has shown Barbara’s work for several years, attributes her success not just to good training but to her innate skill for making it ‘look right’. “Her gift for understanding light and shadow is the key,” he says. “She really loves the contrast between the two. That’s what raises her paintings far above the ordinary.”
With time and dedication, Barbara feels she’s beginning to hit her stride with her paintings. “I like to do everything fast,” she says. “That’s why watercolor and I get along so well.” This same sense of ‘making it look right’ also translates to her other love, interior design. “When I remember growing up in a home without electricity, it amazes me to have a 17 room house to decorate now. My friends all want me to help with interior design at their homes. Now remember, I’m no socialite! But I really enjoyed having a home economics teacher come by with her students to see how I did my house for Christmas.” With a stack of painting projects waiting for her, she has no lack of creativity to express. For now, Barbara works from photographs but looks forward to painting in the open air when the chance comes. “It took me a long time to know who I was. Watercolor was a major step in helping me with the times when I didn’t feel like I could do anything. It’s the joy of my life. I’d paint all the time if I could. I love the light and shadow. That’s the whole thing.”
Barbara Bible “Jake” Carter’s work is available locally and displayed with great satisfaction and regional pride at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
There is an irresistible quality to modesty. Such charm is radiated by those talented individuals who seem genuinely surprised by the gifts they possess. They seem to count their blessings with every new creation, which adds an element to their creativity that attracts others to it. When Barbara Bible Carter sat down to talk with me, and announced that she didn’t think there was anything about her that readers would find interesting, she was really saying that her paintings told her story better than words could. A small, elegant woman, with a serenity often illuminated with a bright smile, she demonstrates a gentility that is only enhanced by the accent that speaks to her rural Greene County roots. She is an artist/neighbor in the deepest sense of the term.
In declaring herself a person without formal education, Barbara claims the pride of place that is shared by many mountain folk. It obviously surprised her to be the subject of an art column. “I’m just a little snot-nose kid out of the holler in East Tennessee,” she says. Her family had an old grocery in Bible’s Chapel and the house where she was born was without electricity. Her mother, she remembers, always made sure that there were crayons around for drawing, while her father supplied her basic identity. “I sign all my paintings ‘Jake” because that was his nickname for me.” From her earliest memory, she noticed and found beauty in the minute details of nature. She remembers walking up a path to her mother’s garden and being captivated by the tiny flowers she saw along the way. Drawing was part of her growing up, with inspiration coming from such simple sources as the Sunday comics. “I’ve always noticed the differences between light and shadow,” she says. “I’m an intuitive painter - rather than making a statement or telling a story, my paintings are an expression of what looks right to me. I’m not real big on painting by the rules.”
The Bibles moved closer to Greeneville when Barbara was 7, and her artistic ability found an outlet in school. “We didn’t have much in the way of art teachers but I would draw different subjects relating to what we were learning.” That she would one day exhibit her paintings and win awards in competition was unimaginable at the time but she recalls setting personal challenges for herself. “When I was 10, I remember sitting on a rock in the creek and seeing the reflection of the sunset. I told myself I wanted to be able to paint it just like I saw it.” An aunt who worked in oils and copied well-known works for the enjoyment of herself and friends was an ongoing source of inspiration. “She painted well into her nineties. I painted in oils for a while but found myself attracted to watercolors and happier with what I did.” This choice of medium was a challenge in and of itself. Watercolor is generally regarded as the most difficult of the painting arts to master, and Barbara was unsatisfied with her first efforts. “Then I got the chance to do some work with a teacher named Anita Rhoney, who set me on the right track with some basic techniques. With watercolor, you can’t just paint over a mistake.”
As an adult, Barbara continued both to practice her creativity and to gain knowledge and experience wherever possible. While living in both Greenwich, Connecticut, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, she took advantage of the urban opportunities to attend art classes. Upon returning to East Tennessee, as often happens, she found that her most valuable instruction was no further away than Johnson City in the person of local legend Urban Bird. “He teaches in a very casual way, and his blunt, honest criticism really makes sense to me,” says Barbara. “He has such a good eye for seeing and correcting design flaws. I remember a piece I was working on where he said ‘well, you sure didn’t get that mill wheel right’. So I turned it into an old tire instead.” Bird has said of Barbara that she has progressed faster than most of his students. She began exhibiting in 2004 and has been both pleased and amazed to do better in competition than some of her fellow students whose work she particularly admires. Gallery director James-Ben Stockton, who has shown Barbara’s work for several years, attributes her success not just to good training but to her innate skill for making it ‘look right’. “Her gift for understanding light and shadow is the key,” he says. “She really loves the contrast between the two. That’s what raises her paintings far above the ordinary.”
With time and dedication, Barbara feels she’s beginning to hit her stride with her paintings. “I like to do everything fast,” she says. “That’s why watercolor and I get along so well.” This same sense of ‘making it look right’ also translates to her other love, interior design. “When I remember growing up in a home without electricity, it amazes me to have a 17 room house to decorate now. My friends all want me to help with interior design at their homes. Now remember, I’m no socialite! But I really enjoyed having a home economics teacher come by with her students to see how I did my house for Christmas.” With a stack of painting projects waiting for her, she has no lack of creativity to express. For now, Barbara works from photographs but looks forward to painting in the open air when the chance comes. “It took me a long time to know who I was. Watercolor was a major step in helping me with the times when I didn’t feel like I could do anything. It’s the joy of my life. I’d paint all the time if I could. I love the light and shadow. That’s the whole thing.”
Barbara Bible “Jake” Carter’s work is available locally and displayed with great satisfaction and regional pride at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
Neighbor Featured Artist #13: Phil Homes
Potter Celebrates the “Mark of the Fire”
Without question, pottery is one of the most venerated art forms in the culture of Appalachia. This appreciation for one of mankind’s oldest crafts is also found in other social traditions across the world. There is a great deal of consistency in pottery forms due to their functional expressions and the techniques that produce them, which makes it possible for pottery lovers from one region to appreciate pieces from other cultural areas. Folks in Northeast Tennessee have access to such an opportunity in the work of their neighbor from Piney Flats, Phil Homes.
“I’ve been working with clay for more than 40 years,” says Phil Homes, a well-spoken silver-haired charmer, whose long experience with his craft is evident from his assured conversation on pottery of all kinds. Like many of the previous subjects for this column, he was drawn to and relocated to the mountain South but, given the production level of his pottery studio, “retirement” is hardly an appropriate description for his move to Northeast Tennessee. A Midwesterner by birth, Homes joined the Piney Flats community nearly five years ago, bringing many years of broad experience in art but with a special affinity for pottery. “I studied engineering which eventually led to a degree in architecture from Lawrence University,” he says. “When I decided that I wanted to teach art, I got both a masters in art history and a MFA from the University of Iowa. But I suppose it was luck that dictated that my first teacher and most enduring influence was perhaps the world’s best potter.” This was Toshiko Takaezu, who would inspire Homes’ to identify as a potter. At first, he would combine both fields and teach both art history and pottery at a small Midwestern college. But over time, pottery gained more and more of his attention. “By the ‘80’s, I had more or less stopped teaching art history.”
After shifting his emphasis to the production of his own work, Homes exhibited widely in New England and the upper Midwest. “Over time, my work has changed considerably. At first I really focused on functional pieces with my designs rising from utilitarian forms. Then I explored more expressive sculptural forms with more complex surface decoration. But over time, my pieces have become simpler and subtler, with designs that emphasize the processes from which they’re made - keeping some of the marks of forming, decorating, and firing.” This elegant simplicity is what attracted Greeneville gallery director James-Ben Stockton to Homes’ pottery. “He’s a ‘potter’s potter’,” says Stockton. “Other potters represented in the gallery will often come in and want to see the new pieces Phil has brought in.” Stockton believes that Homes’ pieces are appealing because of his mastery of the Japanese influence of his first teacher, Toshiko Takaezu. “The elements that Phil does so well - the subtle glazes, the conscious retention of firing marks, the basic raised to the level of elegance - these are examples of the Japanese aesthetic. They are attractive to both both experienced and beginning collectors.” Other elements point to the Japanese perspective in Homes’ creativity. He particularly enjoys the production of raku, in which pieces fired to 1800 degrees are brought together with combustible materials, which ignite to bring both beautiful and unpredictable elements in glazing. “This offers almost unlimited, if not always controllable, variation of surface and pattern,” says Homes. “Phil has a wonderful selection of colors, including a gorgeous iron-red,” says gallery director Stockton. “His raku is glorious - it’s subtle and soft, not flashy. The pieces are of genuine museum quality - they generate an immediate sense of significance and quality.”
Another distinctly Eastern aspect of Homes’ production are his wonderful teapots. “I used to make very expensive ones until I realized that they were probably being put on shelves as ornaments. So now I make smaller ones and sell them for less on the premise that somebody might actually use them to make tea.” Although he usually favors simpler thrown forms in pottery, Homes makes a point of continuing to produce the more time-consuming teapots. “You throw the pot, then you throw the spout, then you throw the lid, then you have to fit them all together. So you can’t possibly make any money making teapots. But I like to make teapots.” Here again can be seen Homes’ early emphasis on functional, utilitarian pieces recurring in his more recent creations. “Nothing is ever lost,” says Homes. “Instead it is assimilated as part of a larger concept. The vessal tradition, utilitarian function, and subtle form and surface are not mutually exclusive. Eash expands and enhances the other.”
Even after many years at his craft, Homes still gets a sense of immediate gratification from working with clay. “You do something to it and it reacts instantly. You touch it and you leave your fingerprint. You squeeze it and it changes form. I’ve done some painting and a lot of sculpture and certainly you interact with the material, but never so much as with clay.” Like most artists, Homes has creative ambitions that are as yet unrealized, but plans to keep future experiments within his chosen realm of pottery. “There’s so much else to try,” says Homes. “You have some input with clay, but you don’t have ultimate control.”
Phil Homes pottery, in raku and stoneware, in functional yet sculptural forms, and, yes, including teapots, is locally carried and proudly exhibited by James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
Without question, pottery is one of the most venerated art forms in the culture of Appalachia. This appreciation for one of mankind’s oldest crafts is also found in other social traditions across the world. There is a great deal of consistency in pottery forms due to their functional expressions and the techniques that produce them, which makes it possible for pottery lovers from one region to appreciate pieces from other cultural areas. Folks in Northeast Tennessee have access to such an opportunity in the work of their neighbor from Piney Flats, Phil Homes.
“I’ve been working with clay for more than 40 years,” says Phil Homes, a well-spoken silver-haired charmer, whose long experience with his craft is evident from his assured conversation on pottery of all kinds. Like many of the previous subjects for this column, he was drawn to and relocated to the mountain South but, given the production level of his pottery studio, “retirement” is hardly an appropriate description for his move to Northeast Tennessee. A Midwesterner by birth, Homes joined the Piney Flats community nearly five years ago, bringing many years of broad experience in art but with a special affinity for pottery. “I studied engineering which eventually led to a degree in architecture from Lawrence University,” he says. “When I decided that I wanted to teach art, I got both a masters in art history and a MFA from the University of Iowa. But I suppose it was luck that dictated that my first teacher and most enduring influence was perhaps the world’s best potter.” This was Toshiko Takaezu, who would inspire Homes’ to identify as a potter. At first, he would combine both fields and teach both art history and pottery at a small Midwestern college. But over time, pottery gained more and more of his attention. “By the ‘80’s, I had more or less stopped teaching art history.”
After shifting his emphasis to the production of his own work, Homes exhibited widely in New England and the upper Midwest. “Over time, my work has changed considerably. At first I really focused on functional pieces with my designs rising from utilitarian forms. Then I explored more expressive sculptural forms with more complex surface decoration. But over time, my pieces have become simpler and subtler, with designs that emphasize the processes from which they’re made - keeping some of the marks of forming, decorating, and firing.” This elegant simplicity is what attracted Greeneville gallery director James-Ben Stockton to Homes’ pottery. “He’s a ‘potter’s potter’,” says Stockton. “Other potters represented in the gallery will often come in and want to see the new pieces Phil has brought in.” Stockton believes that Homes’ pieces are appealing because of his mastery of the Japanese influence of his first teacher, Toshiko Takaezu. “The elements that Phil does so well - the subtle glazes, the conscious retention of firing marks, the basic raised to the level of elegance - these are examples of the Japanese aesthetic. They are attractive to both both experienced and beginning collectors.” Other elements point to the Japanese perspective in Homes’ creativity. He particularly enjoys the production of raku, in which pieces fired to 1800 degrees are brought together with combustible materials, which ignite to bring both beautiful and unpredictable elements in glazing. “This offers almost unlimited, if not always controllable, variation of surface and pattern,” says Homes. “Phil has a wonderful selection of colors, including a gorgeous iron-red,” says gallery director Stockton. “His raku is glorious - it’s subtle and soft, not flashy. The pieces are of genuine museum quality - they generate an immediate sense of significance and quality.”
Another distinctly Eastern aspect of Homes’ production are his wonderful teapots. “I used to make very expensive ones until I realized that they were probably being put on shelves as ornaments. So now I make smaller ones and sell them for less on the premise that somebody might actually use them to make tea.” Although he usually favors simpler thrown forms in pottery, Homes makes a point of continuing to produce the more time-consuming teapots. “You throw the pot, then you throw the spout, then you throw the lid, then you have to fit them all together. So you can’t possibly make any money making teapots. But I like to make teapots.” Here again can be seen Homes’ early emphasis on functional, utilitarian pieces recurring in his more recent creations. “Nothing is ever lost,” says Homes. “Instead it is assimilated as part of a larger concept. The vessal tradition, utilitarian function, and subtle form and surface are not mutually exclusive. Eash expands and enhances the other.”
Even after many years at his craft, Homes still gets a sense of immediate gratification from working with clay. “You do something to it and it reacts instantly. You touch it and you leave your fingerprint. You squeeze it and it changes form. I’ve done some painting and a lot of sculpture and certainly you interact with the material, but never so much as with clay.” Like most artists, Homes has creative ambitions that are as yet unrealized, but plans to keep future experiments within his chosen realm of pottery. “There’s so much else to try,” says Homes. “You have some input with clay, but you don’t have ultimate control.”
Phil Homes pottery, in raku and stoneware, in functional yet sculptural forms, and, yes, including teapots, is locally carried and proudly exhibited by James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
Neighbor Featured Artist #12: Mark Goodman
Artist Mark Goodman Paints Jazz
I have always been impressed with the passions that motivate artists. They add fuel to a kind of inner fire, both inspiring and energizing the creation of works which then can have the same motivational effect on others. Within the world of music, America’s unique contribution, jazz, represents one of the most passionate genres available to both composer/performers and listeners. For the artist featured in this column, the sounds of jazz have inspired a body of visual work as vibrant and colorful as the music that motivated its creation. Mark Goodman paints jazz.
Mark Goodman is a Michigan native whose work as a graphics artist has taken him to positions all over the country. He was precocious in art and remembers scribbling in pencil on any flat surface he could find. This included, he admits, “tables (which I still do) and my favorite, under my mom’s piano bench, where she couldn’t see the primitive art and I wouldn’t get in trouble!” He is mostly self-taught in drawing and painting although he credits teachers at all levels in school with recognizing and encouraging his talent. He specializes in art direction for weekly newspapers, a profession he entered while still living in Michigan. It was while in such a position with the Nashville Scene that he first wandered into James-Ben: Studio and Galleries in Franklin, TN. “He happened to be carrying some photographs of his paintings. Like many graphic artists he did art work that was more an expression of his personal style. In Mark’s case, most of the images were non-representational but done in what he considered the colors of jazz, particularly the cool blues and hot reds,” says gallery director James-Ben Stockton. One photograph grabbed hold of Stockton’s interest. “It was an abstracted image of a saxophone player. I remember waving it at Mark and saying ‘This! Show me more of this!’” To say that the rest is history would be an inappropriate use of understatement. From that interaction came more than Stockton had bargained for. “The next time I saw Mark, he showed me the first of his ‘jazz portraits’.” “I had always done cartooning and illustrating. It wasn’t until 1996 that I started painting in acrylics on canvas. One of my proudest moments was seeing my first show with James-Ben - it was the place where my parents first saw my art on display.”
Music was also an important part of Mark’s life from childhood. His mother and both sisters played the piano and he remembers plenty of records with everything from classical to showtunes to the Beatles. “I’m crazy about jazz,” he says. “Since I can’t sing or play an instrument, the best way I c ould connect to jazz was to paint with the music cranked up around me.” As a particular jazz portrait took shape on canvas or paper, that particular artist’s sound guided Mark to evocative representations. Although the faces were and are instantly recognizable, the paintings are often named for a song composed by or made famous by that artist. Over time, Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, and many other legends of the genre have reappeared through Mark’s gifted interpretation. His association with James-Ben: Studio and Gallery over more than a decade has proved satisfying both creatively and financially. Even after relocating first to the Denver area and then to Fort Worth, Texas in his capacity as an art director, his connection to the gallery was and still is fresh and vital. The act of having worked in concert to produce a successful painting series proved self-perpetuating. “Mark’s skill as a graphic artist, with his splendid use of color and composition, is made even more marvelous artistically when he creates a piece that feeds his soul as well,” says Stockton. “His work has consistently sold well because its quality leaps off the wall.”
Part of Mark Goodman’s success is due to his genuine devotion to the music that inspires him. Through the gallery, he supported the Franklin Jazz Festival, not only making trips back to Tennessee to attend the event but donating the use of his images to promote the festival. “There are a lot of folks, myself included, who have Mark’s Louis Armstrong image in their collection of prized t-shirts,” says Stockton. The original painting, as well as that first effort, the abstracted sax player, went into private collections in Middle Tennessee. It is a blessing that Mark Goodman’s art, along with the warm friendship of Mark and his wife Patty, relocated with James-Ben: Studio and Gallery to Northeast Tennessee as well. “We displayed Mark’s jazz portraits even before we opened the gallery doors in an exhibit at the Capitol Theater,” says Stockton. Recently, Mark and Patty Goodman visited Greeneville and, along with his jazz portraits, generously participated in Jazz at the Carnegie. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the paintings benefitted both the ETSU Jazz Ensemble and the Niswonger Children’s Hospital. “I was very proud to help out a cause I really believe in, and hope to do it again,” says Mark. “I love Greeneville and enjoyed meeting all the wonderful people there.” The next exhibit of Mark Goodman art will be in the soon-to-open Ella’s restaurant in the former Bellacino’s location. “The paintings will be a tremendous asset in creating the warm atmosphere of good food, good music, and fine art,” says Stockton.
Greeneville can look forward to being the recipient of new artistic explorations from Mark. “I would like to branch out into all kinds of music art, maybe some bluegrass, as well as rock, punk, and blues. All of that has influenced me like jazz, which is my fondest music of all. Jazz is a sweet lady,” he says. As a matter of fact, Mark’s assertion that he paints jazz from a lack of musical talent may be proven wrong in the bluegrass genre. A mandolin made the the trip with him to Greeneville and produced some mighty fine notes during their visit. In addition to its upcoming debut at Ella’s, Mark Goodman’s paintings continue to be locally available and displayed with great affection and pride at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
I have always been impressed with the passions that motivate artists. They add fuel to a kind of inner fire, both inspiring and energizing the creation of works which then can have the same motivational effect on others. Within the world of music, America’s unique contribution, jazz, represents one of the most passionate genres available to both composer/performers and listeners. For the artist featured in this column, the sounds of jazz have inspired a body of visual work as vibrant and colorful as the music that motivated its creation. Mark Goodman paints jazz.
Mark Goodman is a Michigan native whose work as a graphics artist has taken him to positions all over the country. He was precocious in art and remembers scribbling in pencil on any flat surface he could find. This included, he admits, “tables (which I still do) and my favorite, under my mom’s piano bench, where she couldn’t see the primitive art and I wouldn’t get in trouble!” He is mostly self-taught in drawing and painting although he credits teachers at all levels in school with recognizing and encouraging his talent. He specializes in art direction for weekly newspapers, a profession he entered while still living in Michigan. It was while in such a position with the Nashville Scene that he first wandered into James-Ben: Studio and Galleries in Franklin, TN. “He happened to be carrying some photographs of his paintings. Like many graphic artists he did art work that was more an expression of his personal style. In Mark’s case, most of the images were non-representational but done in what he considered the colors of jazz, particularly the cool blues and hot reds,” says gallery director James-Ben Stockton. One photograph grabbed hold of Stockton’s interest. “It was an abstracted image of a saxophone player. I remember waving it at Mark and saying ‘This! Show me more of this!’” To say that the rest is history would be an inappropriate use of understatement. From that interaction came more than Stockton had bargained for. “The next time I saw Mark, he showed me the first of his ‘jazz portraits’.” “I had always done cartooning and illustrating. It wasn’t until 1996 that I started painting in acrylics on canvas. One of my proudest moments was seeing my first show with James-Ben - it was the place where my parents first saw my art on display.”
Music was also an important part of Mark’s life from childhood. His mother and both sisters played the piano and he remembers plenty of records with everything from classical to showtunes to the Beatles. “I’m crazy about jazz,” he says. “Since I can’t sing or play an instrument, the best way I c ould connect to jazz was to paint with the music cranked up around me.” As a particular jazz portrait took shape on canvas or paper, that particular artist’s sound guided Mark to evocative representations. Although the faces were and are instantly recognizable, the paintings are often named for a song composed by or made famous by that artist. Over time, Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, and many other legends of the genre have reappeared through Mark’s gifted interpretation. His association with James-Ben: Studio and Gallery over more than a decade has proved satisfying both creatively and financially. Even after relocating first to the Denver area and then to Fort Worth, Texas in his capacity as an art director, his connection to the gallery was and still is fresh and vital. The act of having worked in concert to produce a successful painting series proved self-perpetuating. “Mark’s skill as a graphic artist, with his splendid use of color and composition, is made even more marvelous artistically when he creates a piece that feeds his soul as well,” says Stockton. “His work has consistently sold well because its quality leaps off the wall.”
Part of Mark Goodman’s success is due to his genuine devotion to the music that inspires him. Through the gallery, he supported the Franklin Jazz Festival, not only making trips back to Tennessee to attend the event but donating the use of his images to promote the festival. “There are a lot of folks, myself included, who have Mark’s Louis Armstrong image in their collection of prized t-shirts,” says Stockton. The original painting, as well as that first effort, the abstracted sax player, went into private collections in Middle Tennessee. It is a blessing that Mark Goodman’s art, along with the warm friendship of Mark and his wife Patty, relocated with James-Ben: Studio and Gallery to Northeast Tennessee as well. “We displayed Mark’s jazz portraits even before we opened the gallery doors in an exhibit at the Capitol Theater,” says Stockton. Recently, Mark and Patty Goodman visited Greeneville and, along with his jazz portraits, generously participated in Jazz at the Carnegie. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the paintings benefitted both the ETSU Jazz Ensemble and the Niswonger Children’s Hospital. “I was very proud to help out a cause I really believe in, and hope to do it again,” says Mark. “I love Greeneville and enjoyed meeting all the wonderful people there.” The next exhibit of Mark Goodman art will be in the soon-to-open Ella’s restaurant in the former Bellacino’s location. “The paintings will be a tremendous asset in creating the warm atmosphere of good food, good music, and fine art,” says Stockton.
Greeneville can look forward to being the recipient of new artistic explorations from Mark. “I would like to branch out into all kinds of music art, maybe some bluegrass, as well as rock, punk, and blues. All of that has influenced me like jazz, which is my fondest music of all. Jazz is a sweet lady,” he says. As a matter of fact, Mark’s assertion that he paints jazz from a lack of musical talent may be proven wrong in the bluegrass genre. A mandolin made the the trip with him to Greeneville and produced some mighty fine notes during their visit. In addition to its upcoming debut at Ella’s, Mark Goodman’s paintings continue to be locally available and displayed with great affection and pride at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
Neighbor Featured Artist #11: Gary Sams
ART THAT MAKES YOU SMILE
I hope you will enjoy the images accompanying this column as much as I have. Quite often, artists are accused of taking themselves too seriously. For Gary Sams, though, a good sense of humor is not only part of what motivates him to create, it is an essential tool for the medium he prefers. The phrase “luck of the draw” can be traced to card games. In Gary Sams’ case, it not only describes what he does so well but might even appear in one of his creations.
Gary Sams is one of your artist/neighbors whose roots are deep in Northeast Tennessee. Born and raised in Greene County, he has spent most of his life and career here, married his high school sweetheart, and has been part of giving two more generations to the region in his children and grandchildren. He is a graduate of Greeneville High School and served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1974. Although he is a pretty low-key fellow, who doesn’t do a lot of bragging about his talent as an artist, chances are you’ve seen some of his work in Greeneville. For three years in the ‘90’s he produced limited edition calendars with his drawings of Greeneville’s historic buildings and sites as subject matter. The calendars, of course, are long since out of date. But Gary’s images were so evocative that the pictures from those calendars still hang in many of Greeneville’s businesses to this day.
In our conversation, Gary told me that he doesn’t recall being creatively inspired by other artists but gives his mother credit for recognizing his drawing talent at an early age. “At five or six I would tag along with her to her women’s meetings,” he says. “I was kind of shy so she would give me pencils and cards to draw on.” Over time it became a habit for him to draw on whatever was handy. In school, this gained him quiet support from his teachers. “I was a doodler in class when I got bored. I had one teacher who would assign me to draw whatever president we were studying in her history class.” Since his childhood, pen and ink has been Gary’s preferred medium. His only formal training, other than a couple of weeks training with Johnson City legend Urban Bird, was one high school class in mechanical drawing. It was during his service in the Navy that his talent took definite shape. “I had a captain who asked me to illustrate pamphlets for him and to create visual aids for him to use in doing presentations. Just before my discharge I crossrated to Draftsman Illustrator. But that wasn’t what I really enjoyed. I got my fun from doing cartoons.” Gary noticed that All Hands, a Department of the Navy magazine, was holding a contest for cartoons. He submitted two entries, gaining a second place and honorable mention. “One of the side benefits of this was that my ship mates would ask me to do caricatures. Today I do something similar for my hunting buddies.”
Gary’s first serious approach to his illustration came after his discharge from the Navy. “For a short while I worked at the old Magnavox plant in the mail room. This was when I started doing pen and ink drawings and selling them in limited edition prints. Before long, they were publishing my cartoons and other artwork in the company magazine.” At this same time, being back home with an avid interest in hunting and fishing brought another dimension to Gary’s creativity. “Overall, my work mainly deals with the outdoors and the simple beauties of nature that we often overlook.” He found that being out hunting or fishing with friends was very much like his years in the Navy as an experience of comradeship well seasoned with humor. “You spend a lot of time waiting in tree stands while you’re hunting,” he says. “Sometimes an idea for a cartoon came from one of my hunting buddies doing something stupid. But there’s also an awful lot of nature going by while you’re waiting and a lot of that is pretty funny, too.” In addition to his limited edition calendars with historical subjects, Gary has also produced cartoon calendars for hunting magazines. His work has appeared in Archery World, Bowhunter, Boar Hunter, Beard and Spur, and Buckmasters. “Currently, Rack and Tennessee Valley Outdoors publish my work on a regular basis,” he says.
Looking ahead to retirement a few years down the road, Gary would like to explore painting in oils and acrylics, a departure from the black and white expression that has characterized most of his creativity. “I have only done one limited edition print in color,” he says. “I’ve got an acrylic and an oil painting that were inspired by my study with Urban Bird.” But for the most part, Gary’s work is meaningful because it is a product of relaxation. “The ideas for my cartoons just pop into my head when I’m thinking about something else,” he notes. “My creative blocks happen when I’m trying to force ideas to come. That’s one reason I find the work in oil and acrylic kind of stressful. The cartoons happen spontaneously, and can be sketched out with whatever’s handy. They’re a natural part of what I do for enjoyment.”
It is his belief that “cartoons are relaxing” that makes Gary Sams’ work delightful fun apart from his tremendous talent for drawing. If you haven’t had a chance to see this side of his creativity before, it’s a pleasure to introduce it to you. Gary’s evocative historical images are also available in limited editions prints. As part of the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Collection, his work can be obtained locally and is displayed with both pride and affection at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
I hope you will enjoy the images accompanying this column as much as I have. Quite often, artists are accused of taking themselves too seriously. For Gary Sams, though, a good sense of humor is not only part of what motivates him to create, it is an essential tool for the medium he prefers. The phrase “luck of the draw” can be traced to card games. In Gary Sams’ case, it not only describes what he does so well but might even appear in one of his creations.
Gary Sams is one of your artist/neighbors whose roots are deep in Northeast Tennessee. Born and raised in Greene County, he has spent most of his life and career here, married his high school sweetheart, and has been part of giving two more generations to the region in his children and grandchildren. He is a graduate of Greeneville High School and served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1974. Although he is a pretty low-key fellow, who doesn’t do a lot of bragging about his talent as an artist, chances are you’ve seen some of his work in Greeneville. For three years in the ‘90’s he produced limited edition calendars with his drawings of Greeneville’s historic buildings and sites as subject matter. The calendars, of course, are long since out of date. But Gary’s images were so evocative that the pictures from those calendars still hang in many of Greeneville’s businesses to this day.
In our conversation, Gary told me that he doesn’t recall being creatively inspired by other artists but gives his mother credit for recognizing his drawing talent at an early age. “At five or six I would tag along with her to her women’s meetings,” he says. “I was kind of shy so she would give me pencils and cards to draw on.” Over time it became a habit for him to draw on whatever was handy. In school, this gained him quiet support from his teachers. “I was a doodler in class when I got bored. I had one teacher who would assign me to draw whatever president we were studying in her history class.” Since his childhood, pen and ink has been Gary’s preferred medium. His only formal training, other than a couple of weeks training with Johnson City legend Urban Bird, was one high school class in mechanical drawing. It was during his service in the Navy that his talent took definite shape. “I had a captain who asked me to illustrate pamphlets for him and to create visual aids for him to use in doing presentations. Just before my discharge I crossrated to Draftsman Illustrator. But that wasn’t what I really enjoyed. I got my fun from doing cartoons.” Gary noticed that All Hands, a Department of the Navy magazine, was holding a contest for cartoons. He submitted two entries, gaining a second place and honorable mention. “One of the side benefits of this was that my ship mates would ask me to do caricatures. Today I do something similar for my hunting buddies.”
Gary’s first serious approach to his illustration came after his discharge from the Navy. “For a short while I worked at the old Magnavox plant in the mail room. This was when I started doing pen and ink drawings and selling them in limited edition prints. Before long, they were publishing my cartoons and other artwork in the company magazine.” At this same time, being back home with an avid interest in hunting and fishing brought another dimension to Gary’s creativity. “Overall, my work mainly deals with the outdoors and the simple beauties of nature that we often overlook.” He found that being out hunting or fishing with friends was very much like his years in the Navy as an experience of comradeship well seasoned with humor. “You spend a lot of time waiting in tree stands while you’re hunting,” he says. “Sometimes an idea for a cartoon came from one of my hunting buddies doing something stupid. But there’s also an awful lot of nature going by while you’re waiting and a lot of that is pretty funny, too.” In addition to his limited edition calendars with historical subjects, Gary has also produced cartoon calendars for hunting magazines. His work has appeared in Archery World, Bowhunter, Boar Hunter, Beard and Spur, and Buckmasters. “Currently, Rack and Tennessee Valley Outdoors publish my work on a regular basis,” he says.
Looking ahead to retirement a few years down the road, Gary would like to explore painting in oils and acrylics, a departure from the black and white expression that has characterized most of his creativity. “I have only done one limited edition print in color,” he says. “I’ve got an acrylic and an oil painting that were inspired by my study with Urban Bird.” But for the most part, Gary’s work is meaningful because it is a product of relaxation. “The ideas for my cartoons just pop into my head when I’m thinking about something else,” he notes. “My creative blocks happen when I’m trying to force ideas to come. That’s one reason I find the work in oil and acrylic kind of stressful. The cartoons happen spontaneously, and can be sketched out with whatever’s handy. They’re a natural part of what I do for enjoyment.”
It is his belief that “cartoons are relaxing” that makes Gary Sams’ work delightful fun apart from his tremendous talent for drawing. If you haven’t had a chance to see this side of his creativity before, it’s a pleasure to introduce it to you. Gary’s evocative historical images are also available in limited editions prints. As part of the Andrew Johnson Bicentennial Collection, his work can be obtained locally and is displayed with both pride and affection at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
Neighbor Featured Artist #10: Albert Gaines
An Old Friend Remembered Through a Legacy of Smiles
By now you’re probably aware that I define artists more in terms of their persistent creativity than by their source of income. The artists who can make their sole, sustaining livelihood from the sale of their work are rare indeed. For that reason, the folks who inspire and challenge us because they devote such time and talent to endeavors that don’t buy the groceries or pay the mortgage are even more deserving of praise. One such artist was Albert White Gaines.
Since he rarely used his full name, from here on I’ll refer to him as Al. He has passed from the restraints of life so this column is a welcome opportunity for me to introduce him to you. The homage I wrote to Barbara de Saussure related to her contribution to my move to Northeast Tennessee. These words for my friend Al speak more to the reasons I identify as an artist myself. Quite simply, he brought artistry to everything he did. One of his great gifts was making the same perspective seem possible to those around him.
In one respect, Al Gaines was one of the most prolific artists that can be imagined. As a teacher of English, history, and drama, his creations, his students (myself among them) number in the thousands. As one of the originators of the Advanced Placement program in Tennessee public schools, his work will always continue to prod young people to think more creatively and understand more deeply. His classroom at Hillwood High School in Nashville was a sought after destination. Students had the option of choosing a pillow on the floor or a perch in the window over the confines of a desk. Discipline was rarely a problem for this man, whose lesson plans resulted in a riveting performance rather than a dry recitation of facts. There was a muscular quality to his teaching – from a man who adored football and who’d broken quite a few bones doing stunt work, Shakespeare became something that transcended tights and ruffled collars to take on boldness, flesh, and substance.
The artistry of the classroom as well as that of the live theater is both an immediate and fleeting experience. It exists in the moment of its making and afterwards really only continues in memory. It is fortunate, as you can see from the images accompanying these words, that Al didn’t confine himself to insubstantial creation. I first saw his work as a sculptor thirty years ago, while still a student in his AP English and AP European History classes. 1978 was notable for snow in Middle Tennessee. There was so much of it that we went to school only two days during January. For Al, this was a mere inconvenience. We all received a phone call reminding us that the year-end AP exams would not be rescheduled because of bad weather in Nashville. Classes would meet at his house to make up for lost time. I don’t remember the material we covered at those adventurous sessions, with most of us gaining our first real experience of driving in deep snow. What I remember is the pool table in the garage covered in plywood, on which rested a diorama of a Civil War battle – entire armies each individually sculpted by Al Gaines. His medium was “milliput”, a molding compound that hardened unfired after mixing. The figures, shaped and painted in detail, were not pressed from molds. Each was an individual born from Al’s energetic creativity. This was an art he would practice until the very end of his life.
Sculpture wasn’t enough, however. A few years after graduation, I had the opportunity to do a show, The Fantasticks with Al (in which I met gallery director James-Ben Stockton!). At the final cast party, he presented us all with pastel portrait/caricatures depicting us as we looked performing our roles. I still have the piece but I acquired something more valuable from that experience than original artwork. My teacher became my friend. While still continuing to challenge, encourage, and inspire, he also elevated me in his own estimation to a peer. In addition to being an honor, it was major milestone in growing up.
There were other shows over the years. When James-Ben: Studio and Gallery opened its doors in Franklin, Tennessee, one of the first artists to join the roster was Al Gaines. As always, his artwork came out in wonderful explosions of creative fun. The gallery was populated with hockey players, clowns, dragons, elephants, and unicorns; sleuthing hounds, flappers, Mardi Gras revelers, and angelic squirrels. At one point Al came in the back door concerned at the absence of a pair of wreathes, left over from two Christmases past with their greenery long since turned to hues of copper. “Please put them back up. I’d been meaning to paint them.” Up they went and shortly thereafter they were immortalized in watercolor. Later, Al asked to do some murals on the walls of the gallery entranceway. Soon there was a tribute to Van Gogh’s Starry Night, painted against a bright yellow background with a gleeful child flinging stars from a bucket into the sky.
Al returned to teaching after retiring but battled in his last years with a body somewhat scarred from being the agent of his lifelong enthusiasm. One of the few regrets of my move to Greeneville is that commitments here kept me from making the trip back to Nashville for his memorial. After speaking with his wife Martha, I felt the need to be present in spirit. As the service began, more than 250 miles away, I went up to the garden of the Dickson-Williams Mansion and gave him a send-off of Impossible Dream. Since this column will appear in the first week of the New Year, I’m glad to have the chance to wax a little nostalgic. But Al left behind a rather potently living body of work. Among many other things, he created his own unique version of “unforgettable”.
The work of Albert Gaines is proudly and lovingly shown in Greeneville at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
By now you’re probably aware that I define artists more in terms of their persistent creativity than by their source of income. The artists who can make their sole, sustaining livelihood from the sale of their work are rare indeed. For that reason, the folks who inspire and challenge us because they devote such time and talent to endeavors that don’t buy the groceries or pay the mortgage are even more deserving of praise. One such artist was Albert White Gaines.
Since he rarely used his full name, from here on I’ll refer to him as Al. He has passed from the restraints of life so this column is a welcome opportunity for me to introduce him to you. The homage I wrote to Barbara de Saussure related to her contribution to my move to Northeast Tennessee. These words for my friend Al speak more to the reasons I identify as an artist myself. Quite simply, he brought artistry to everything he did. One of his great gifts was making the same perspective seem possible to those around him.
In one respect, Al Gaines was one of the most prolific artists that can be imagined. As a teacher of English, history, and drama, his creations, his students (myself among them) number in the thousands. As one of the originators of the Advanced Placement program in Tennessee public schools, his work will always continue to prod young people to think more creatively and understand more deeply. His classroom at Hillwood High School in Nashville was a sought after destination. Students had the option of choosing a pillow on the floor or a perch in the window over the confines of a desk. Discipline was rarely a problem for this man, whose lesson plans resulted in a riveting performance rather than a dry recitation of facts. There was a muscular quality to his teaching – from a man who adored football and who’d broken quite a few bones doing stunt work, Shakespeare became something that transcended tights and ruffled collars to take on boldness, flesh, and substance.
The artistry of the classroom as well as that of the live theater is both an immediate and fleeting experience. It exists in the moment of its making and afterwards really only continues in memory. It is fortunate, as you can see from the images accompanying these words, that Al didn’t confine himself to insubstantial creation. I first saw his work as a sculptor thirty years ago, while still a student in his AP English and AP European History classes. 1978 was notable for snow in Middle Tennessee. There was so much of it that we went to school only two days during January. For Al, this was a mere inconvenience. We all received a phone call reminding us that the year-end AP exams would not be rescheduled because of bad weather in Nashville. Classes would meet at his house to make up for lost time. I don’t remember the material we covered at those adventurous sessions, with most of us gaining our first real experience of driving in deep snow. What I remember is the pool table in the garage covered in plywood, on which rested a diorama of a Civil War battle – entire armies each individually sculpted by Al Gaines. His medium was “milliput”, a molding compound that hardened unfired after mixing. The figures, shaped and painted in detail, were not pressed from molds. Each was an individual born from Al’s energetic creativity. This was an art he would practice until the very end of his life.
Sculpture wasn’t enough, however. A few years after graduation, I had the opportunity to do a show, The Fantasticks with Al (in which I met gallery director James-Ben Stockton!). At the final cast party, he presented us all with pastel portrait/caricatures depicting us as we looked performing our roles. I still have the piece but I acquired something more valuable from that experience than original artwork. My teacher became my friend. While still continuing to challenge, encourage, and inspire, he also elevated me in his own estimation to a peer. In addition to being an honor, it was major milestone in growing up.
There were other shows over the years. When James-Ben: Studio and Gallery opened its doors in Franklin, Tennessee, one of the first artists to join the roster was Al Gaines. As always, his artwork came out in wonderful explosions of creative fun. The gallery was populated with hockey players, clowns, dragons, elephants, and unicorns; sleuthing hounds, flappers, Mardi Gras revelers, and angelic squirrels. At one point Al came in the back door concerned at the absence of a pair of wreathes, left over from two Christmases past with their greenery long since turned to hues of copper. “Please put them back up. I’d been meaning to paint them.” Up they went and shortly thereafter they were immortalized in watercolor. Later, Al asked to do some murals on the walls of the gallery entranceway. Soon there was a tribute to Van Gogh’s Starry Night, painted against a bright yellow background with a gleeful child flinging stars from a bucket into the sky.
Al returned to teaching after retiring but battled in his last years with a body somewhat scarred from being the agent of his lifelong enthusiasm. One of the few regrets of my move to Greeneville is that commitments here kept me from making the trip back to Nashville for his memorial. After speaking with his wife Martha, I felt the need to be present in spirit. As the service began, more than 250 miles away, I went up to the garden of the Dickson-Williams Mansion and gave him a send-off of Impossible Dream. Since this column will appear in the first week of the New Year, I’m glad to have the chance to wax a little nostalgic. But Al left behind a rather potently living body of work. Among many other things, he created his own unique version of “unforgettable”.
The work of Albert Gaines is proudly and lovingly shown in Greeneville at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
Neighbor Featured Artist #9: Mel Donnelly
Wearable Art - Stylish and Sensational Against YOUR Skin
Perhaps it’s stating the obvious, but it seems to me that a person is an artist not because they’re good at drawing or painting or carving but because they see things differently than non-artists. I’ve noticed that artists are usually talented in more than one medium for the reason that they have the knack for seeing what makes an object distinctive and pleasing to the eyes of others. Mel (short for Melissa) Donnelly is one of those blessed with the gift of seeing distinctively. This is what makes her a Greeneville artist/neighbor you should get to know.
I first became acquainted with Mel Donnelly because she is also a Nashville native who relocated to Greeneville, in her case in 2001 when her spouse Dom became Tusculum College’s sports information director. I soon learned there was far more to appreciate about her than the affinity of ex-patriots from the same hometown. When she asked for company while spackling and painting the dining room of their new house, two things became instantly clear. First, that she wanted company, not help, while working to create the desired look for the room. Second was that the richly elegant appearance of the finished room was one she’d visualized in her head before ever touching spackle to plaster. “My Grandfather Curran, who painted every object and surface he could get his hands on, taught me about color and texture,” she says. “My daddy is the same way. I prefer to do the work myself because I think people who have this visual ability also have a hard time explaining the ‘look’ they want to someone else.”
This same knack is shared by gallery director James-Ben Stockton, who recognized a kindred spirit in Mel Donnelly, and claimed her knitted scarves and shawls for his gallery “because they’re far more than accessories – they’re luxurious,hand-knitted, art wear in sensuous yarns, fabulous colors and textures -- genuinely wearable art.” Mel took up knitting under the tutelage of local expert Peggy Moore only after moving to Greeneville. The craft soon proved to have a stronger attraction for her than she’d imagined. “I guess it had always bothered me that people don’t make things with their own hands anymore. The knitting became so pleasurably relaxing and meditative that I enjoyed it just for itself. Besides, good quality natural fibers, like soy wool blends or organic cotton, just seem to do the work for you.”
Mel’s dedication to wearable art has, not surprisingly, led her into the design and creation of jewelry as well. For a time she focused on lampworking, the making of individual glass beads using a torch, colored glass rods, and her own talent for color combination. Currently she produces pendants, bracelets, and earrings through the combination of eclectic beads, with a decided preference for Swarovski crystals, natural gemstones, and, especially, pearls. “Pearls have been my favorite since I was a little girl,” she says. In jewelry production, her favorite technique is bead crocheting because of its tactile connection to her love of knitting. “To me, the jewelry isn’t pretty until it’s worn. My enjoyment of it isn’t complete until it’s out of my house and making the person wearing it feel stunning.” In working with two different forms of wearable art, the distinction for Mel seems to be a matter of time and touch. “Usually it takes a lot less time to make a necklace or earring set than it does to knit a scarf or shawl,” she notes. “Maybe that’s why my satisfaction with the jewelry needs someone else to own it, wear it, and love it for the process to be complete.”
Her knitting, however, is a bird of a different stripe. “Jewelry components don’t amuse me the way yarn does. I suppose I take more basic pleasure from the feel of yarn than from beads and wire. Before I commit to knitting I need to know the yarn will feel good in my hands.” For this reason, Mel avoids acrylic in favor of natural fibers. She listens to audio books while knitting because she finds music to be distracting from the visual element of her artistry. Her color sense is never far removed from her process. “For some reason, in both yarn and jewelry, I choose colors that are not what I would usually wear.” This gives her the freedom to be spontaneous in her selections. “You can’t have a bad time in a yarn store,” she says. “When I go in, the first thing I do is walk through and react to the colors and the layout. Then I go back and feel the yarn before choosing.”
This Christmas season, Mel’s wearable art has the added charm of being, for its creator, both an example of her personality and an old friend revisited. “I spent two years finishing graduate school and had to focus on studying,” she says. “Knitting felt frivolous--like something I should feel guilty about.” She is now the marketing and membership director for the Greeneville YMCA and feels more freedom to indulge her creative self. “I want to learn how to do lace knitting and, believe it or not, since I focus on wearable art, I want to learn how to knit socks. For me that represents knitting for my pleasure.”
For me, in writing this tribute, the pleasure is in featuring someone with such style, relentless focus, and sophisticated perception. Since I don’t wear scarves, I’m holding out hope for a pair of the socks. For once in my life my feet would be enshrined in high fashion.
Mel Donnelly’s wearable art, in both fiber and jewelry, is locally available, proudly displayed, and surreptitiously touched at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
Perhaps it’s stating the obvious, but it seems to me that a person is an artist not because they’re good at drawing or painting or carving but because they see things differently than non-artists. I’ve noticed that artists are usually talented in more than one medium for the reason that they have the knack for seeing what makes an object distinctive and pleasing to the eyes of others. Mel (short for Melissa) Donnelly is one of those blessed with the gift of seeing distinctively. This is what makes her a Greeneville artist/neighbor you should get to know.
I first became acquainted with Mel Donnelly because she is also a Nashville native who relocated to Greeneville, in her case in 2001 when her spouse Dom became Tusculum College’s sports information director. I soon learned there was far more to appreciate about her than the affinity of ex-patriots from the same hometown. When she asked for company while spackling and painting the dining room of their new house, two things became instantly clear. First, that she wanted company, not help, while working to create the desired look for the room. Second was that the richly elegant appearance of the finished room was one she’d visualized in her head before ever touching spackle to plaster. “My Grandfather Curran, who painted every object and surface he could get his hands on, taught me about color and texture,” she says. “My daddy is the same way. I prefer to do the work myself because I think people who have this visual ability also have a hard time explaining the ‘look’ they want to someone else.”
This same knack is shared by gallery director James-Ben Stockton, who recognized a kindred spirit in Mel Donnelly, and claimed her knitted scarves and shawls for his gallery “because they’re far more than accessories – they’re luxurious,hand-knitted, art wear in sensuous yarns, fabulous colors and textures -- genuinely wearable art.” Mel took up knitting under the tutelage of local expert Peggy Moore only after moving to Greeneville. The craft soon proved to have a stronger attraction for her than she’d imagined. “I guess it had always bothered me that people don’t make things with their own hands anymore. The knitting became so pleasurably relaxing and meditative that I enjoyed it just for itself. Besides, good quality natural fibers, like soy wool blends or organic cotton, just seem to do the work for you.”
Mel’s dedication to wearable art has, not surprisingly, led her into the design and creation of jewelry as well. For a time she focused on lampworking, the making of individual glass beads using a torch, colored glass rods, and her own talent for color combination. Currently she produces pendants, bracelets, and earrings through the combination of eclectic beads, with a decided preference for Swarovski crystals, natural gemstones, and, especially, pearls. “Pearls have been my favorite since I was a little girl,” she says. In jewelry production, her favorite technique is bead crocheting because of its tactile connection to her love of knitting. “To me, the jewelry isn’t pretty until it’s worn. My enjoyment of it isn’t complete until it’s out of my house and making the person wearing it feel stunning.” In working with two different forms of wearable art, the distinction for Mel seems to be a matter of time and touch. “Usually it takes a lot less time to make a necklace or earring set than it does to knit a scarf or shawl,” she notes. “Maybe that’s why my satisfaction with the jewelry needs someone else to own it, wear it, and love it for the process to be complete.”
Her knitting, however, is a bird of a different stripe. “Jewelry components don’t amuse me the way yarn does. I suppose I take more basic pleasure from the feel of yarn than from beads and wire. Before I commit to knitting I need to know the yarn will feel good in my hands.” For this reason, Mel avoids acrylic in favor of natural fibers. She listens to audio books while knitting because she finds music to be distracting from the visual element of her artistry. Her color sense is never far removed from her process. “For some reason, in both yarn and jewelry, I choose colors that are not what I would usually wear.” This gives her the freedom to be spontaneous in her selections. “You can’t have a bad time in a yarn store,” she says. “When I go in, the first thing I do is walk through and react to the colors and the layout. Then I go back and feel the yarn before choosing.”
This Christmas season, Mel’s wearable art has the added charm of being, for its creator, both an example of her personality and an old friend revisited. “I spent two years finishing graduate school and had to focus on studying,” she says. “Knitting felt frivolous--like something I should feel guilty about.” She is now the marketing and membership director for the Greeneville YMCA and feels more freedom to indulge her creative self. “I want to learn how to do lace knitting and, believe it or not, since I focus on wearable art, I want to learn how to knit socks. For me that represents knitting for my pleasure.”
For me, in writing this tribute, the pleasure is in featuring someone with such style, relentless focus, and sophisticated perception. Since I don’t wear scarves, I’m holding out hope for a pair of the socks. For once in my life my feet would be enshrined in high fashion.
Mel Donnelly’s wearable art, in both fiber and jewelry, is locally available, proudly displayed, and surreptitiously touched at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
Neighbor Featured Artist #8: Barbara de Saurrure
A Belated Thanksgiving Memory
As you get older, the holidays become more and more a season filled with the memories of those who remain with you only in spirit. Because I am so often aware of what a blessing it is to have joined the Greeneville community five years ago, I found myself thinking this Thanksgiving of an artist friend who helped open the door to Northeast Tennessee even though she was not here in body. Barbara de Saussure was an Oak Ridger – which made her a neighbor in the way all Northeast Tennessee communities are, as part of the pattern in a cultural quilt. She was one of the first “real” artists I can remember knowing, one whose work had a style I could recognize, one whose technique in painting was both sophisticated and difficult to master, and one who, to the end of her life, took more pleasure in making her art than anyone else I can think of.
One of the fascinating things about some of our previous artist “neighbors” is the confluence of events that has brought them to East Tennessee from other parts of the world. Barbara de Saussure was born in New York City and ended up in Oak Ridge because of nuclear energy. She met her future spouse, Gerard de Saussure, when he was at MIT and used to reminisce about their first dates, when they needed a translator; de Saussure was Swiss and spoke only French, in which Barbara would later become fluent. His work at Oak Ridge National Laboratories brought them to East Tennessee, where Barbara remained for the rest of her life. She began painting in the 1950’s and worked with oils, acrylics, and watercolors, evolving from a realistic approach to images to what would later become expressionism, with a strong preference for the abstract. She was largely self-taught, which ultimately proved to be they key to her development of a uniquely personal style. Late in her career, when asked how long it took to paint one of her enormous 60” by 40” canvases, she would shrug, make a face, and say, “It takes an hour to an hour and a half to apply the paint but it took sixty years to learn how and where to put it.” Over the years the couple, Barbara with her painting, and Gerard with his penchant for driving through the twisted Oak Ridge streets in a convertible with white hair flowing in the wind, became low-key legends in the area. Extremely private, Barbara resisted too public a role but instead attracted a dedicated following of collectors who were drawn to the surreal quality of her work. One of these was James-Ben Stockton, now the director of Greeneville’s regional art center. “Barbara was a hero of mine. Wherever I go, I always hang her pieces on the wall first and then I know I’m home.”
Throughout her life, Barbara produced her work in intense bursts of creativity, followed by times, sometimes intervals of years, when she was absorbing ideas and images, lying “fallow” artistically. Her circle of collectors always waited with impatience to see what her next period of production would bring. Each new burst of creativity would bring new images, a fresh series of studies exploring a particular subject, a different color palette. “When I’m not painting, I’m looking at things intensely and thinking very carefully about how the shapes relate to each other and how the colors combine,” she would say. “A lot of thought goes into my work but not a lot of time in painting it. If I work on a piece for more than two or three hours I know it won’t be successful.” Her paintings were distinctive for their bold colors and textures. Stockton, who once mounted an exhibition of Barbara’s work consisting of 46 canvases, remembers the effect it had. “With this wonderful cacophony of colors and shapes, it was like being inside a circus. People who saw it couldn’t help smiling. They would tell me how joyful they felt after viewing the show, which we called Panache.”
One of the longest periods of “lying fallow” for Barbara came after the death of her beloved Gerard. “Then I saw her at one of her favorite restaurants in Oak Ridge,” says James-Ben. “I asked her when she was going to paint again and she said she didn’t know. A couple of weeks later a friend and fellow Barbara collector called and told me she’d seen Barbara and that she’d grinned and said she’d picked up some canvases.” In the next three years, “some canvases”, filled with glorious Barbara de Saussure paintings, numbered more than two hundred. She did some of her best work at what would be the end of her own life. “It was amazing,” says James-Ben. “We inventoried 90 completed works after she died, all of which she left to the Oak Ridge Art Center. Invitations were sent out announcing her final show and sale. Every piece was bought before the show even opened. I know, because I got the last two.”
I felt compelled to include Barbara de Saussure among our artist “neighbors” because, even after she was gone, she helped me move to Greeneville. It was in delivering one of Barbara’s enormous floral studies, in which she could create a perfect flower petal with a single swipe of a palette knife (“I haven’t used a brush in 15 or 20 years,” she’d say) that this gifted artist’s work caught the eye of Scott Niswonger. In large part, that single moment resulted in the relocation of James-Ben: Studio & Gallery to Northeast Tennessee. It is a move I cherish.
One more story. The young man who did the interior painting of my apartment spent an afternoon eyeing one of Barbara’s paintings in its new home on the wall he’d just finished. When he left that afternoon, he said, “I don’t think I understand it. But I like looking at it.” Very little of Barbara de Saussure’s work is still available. But what is can be found, proudly and affectionately displayed, at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center.
As you get older, the holidays become more and more a season filled with the memories of those who remain with you only in spirit. Because I am so often aware of what a blessing it is to have joined the Greeneville community five years ago, I found myself thinking this Thanksgiving of an artist friend who helped open the door to Northeast Tennessee even though she was not here in body. Barbara de Saussure was an Oak Ridger – which made her a neighbor in the way all Northeast Tennessee communities are, as part of the pattern in a cultural quilt. She was one of the first “real” artists I can remember knowing, one whose work had a style I could recognize, one whose technique in painting was both sophisticated and difficult to master, and one who, to the end of her life, took more pleasure in making her art than anyone else I can think of.
One of the fascinating things about some of our previous artist “neighbors” is the confluence of events that has brought them to East Tennessee from other parts of the world. Barbara de Saussure was born in New York City and ended up in Oak Ridge because of nuclear energy. She met her future spouse, Gerard de Saussure, when he was at MIT and used to reminisce about their first dates, when they needed a translator; de Saussure was Swiss and spoke only French, in which Barbara would later become fluent. His work at Oak Ridge National Laboratories brought them to East Tennessee, where Barbara remained for the rest of her life. She began painting in the 1950’s and worked with oils, acrylics, and watercolors, evolving from a realistic approach to images to what would later become expressionism, with a strong preference for the abstract. She was largely self-taught, which ultimately proved to be they key to her development of a uniquely personal style. Late in her career, when asked how long it took to paint one of her enormous 60” by 40” canvases, she would shrug, make a face, and say, “It takes an hour to an hour and a half to apply the paint but it took sixty years to learn how and where to put it.” Over the years the couple, Barbara with her painting, and Gerard with his penchant for driving through the twisted Oak Ridge streets in a convertible with white hair flowing in the wind, became low-key legends in the area. Extremely private, Barbara resisted too public a role but instead attracted a dedicated following of collectors who were drawn to the surreal quality of her work. One of these was James-Ben Stockton, now the director of Greeneville’s regional art center. “Barbara was a hero of mine. Wherever I go, I always hang her pieces on the wall first and then I know I’m home.”
Throughout her life, Barbara produced her work in intense bursts of creativity, followed by times, sometimes intervals of years, when she was absorbing ideas and images, lying “fallow” artistically. Her circle of collectors always waited with impatience to see what her next period of production would bring. Each new burst of creativity would bring new images, a fresh series of studies exploring a particular subject, a different color palette. “When I’m not painting, I’m looking at things intensely and thinking very carefully about how the shapes relate to each other and how the colors combine,” she would say. “A lot of thought goes into my work but not a lot of time in painting it. If I work on a piece for more than two or three hours I know it won’t be successful.” Her paintings were distinctive for their bold colors and textures. Stockton, who once mounted an exhibition of Barbara’s work consisting of 46 canvases, remembers the effect it had. “With this wonderful cacophony of colors and shapes, it was like being inside a circus. People who saw it couldn’t help smiling. They would tell me how joyful they felt after viewing the show, which we called Panache.”
One of the longest periods of “lying fallow” for Barbara came after the death of her beloved Gerard. “Then I saw her at one of her favorite restaurants in Oak Ridge,” says James-Ben. “I asked her when she was going to paint again and she said she didn’t know. A couple of weeks later a friend and fellow Barbara collector called and told me she’d seen Barbara and that she’d grinned and said she’d picked up some canvases.” In the next three years, “some canvases”, filled with glorious Barbara de Saussure paintings, numbered more than two hundred. She did some of her best work at what would be the end of her own life. “It was amazing,” says James-Ben. “We inventoried 90 completed works after she died, all of which she left to the Oak Ridge Art Center. Invitations were sent out announcing her final show and sale. Every piece was bought before the show even opened. I know, because I got the last two.”
I felt compelled to include Barbara de Saussure among our artist “neighbors” because, even after she was gone, she helped me move to Greeneville. It was in delivering one of Barbara’s enormous floral studies, in which she could create a perfect flower petal with a single swipe of a palette knife (“I haven’t used a brush in 15 or 20 years,” she’d say) that this gifted artist’s work caught the eye of Scott Niswonger. In large part, that single moment resulted in the relocation of James-Ben: Studio & Gallery to Northeast Tennessee. It is a move I cherish.
One more story. The young man who did the interior painting of my apartment spent an afternoon eyeing one of Barbara’s paintings in its new home on the wall he’d just finished. When he left that afternoon, he said, “I don’t think I understand it. But I like looking at it.” Very little of Barbara de Saussure’s work is still available. But what is can be found, proudly and affectionately displayed, at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center.
Neighbor Featured Artist #7: Tim Frain
GREENEVILLE POTTER GIVES TRADITIONAL FORMS NEW LIFE
Among the earliest art forms practiced in the Appalachian Mountains was pottery. Because the region was isolated, the difficulty in transporting finished goods made it necessary for settlers to “make their own.” Since these earliest European settlers tended to be Scots-Irish and German, with strong cultural histories, handmade pieces from the very beginning combined “functional” with “beautiful”. Our artist “neighbor” for this column, Tim Frain, both follows and continues this tradition. A resident of Greene County for nearly 10 years, Tim’s work in a variety of artistic media is already familiar and sought after by collectors from all over the Mountain South.
In the case of Indiana native Time Frain, the phrase “proficient in a variety of media” is an understatement. “When Tim first connected with our gallery, and announced that he created in nine different art forms, I couldn’t help rolling my eyes,” says James-Ben Stockton, director of James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center. “Usually that kind of statement describes someone who is a ‘jack of all trades and master of none’. On that assumption, Tim proved me wrong in a hurry.” Frain was in fact both extremely talented and technically proficient in functional and sculptural pottery, watercolor, drawing, paper-making, silk screen, etching, photography, oils, acrylics, and egg tempera. In the five years of his association with the gallery, he has added glass, silver work, and precious metals clay to his repertoire. The crowning touch on this overabundance of talent is that Tim Frain is self-taught in all his forms of creative expression. “Art has been the essential part of me since before I can remember,” he says. “I know I was painting in watercolor at four and that at around that age my uncle gave me my first art reference book.” The same uncle inspired his nephew by example as well, being the only real “artistic type” in a family noted for producing teachers. “He wasn’t their idea of respectable,” says Tim. “But he was a professional commercial artist. I remember that he did in-house graphics for signage with U.S. Steel.” A combination of innate talent, persistence, and curiosity led Tim to pursue a similar course, enabling him to make art the focus of his working life. “Making money was a series of diversions in order to make art. Eventually the ‘diversions’ took over. In my case, that took the form of framing artwork rather than producing it.” A trip to France in 1998 provided Tim with a change in perspective. “The frame shop was consuming all my energy,” he says. “But the view from Biarritz of the sun sinking into the ocean convinced me that it was time to get out of Wabash, Indiana.” In scouting out areas to relocate and re-establish his artistic self, Tim found fertile ground in Northeast Tennessee. “The area was beautiful and inviting and had a craft tradition that helped inspire me to set up my pottery studio,” he says. “Besides, I found out that buying property in France was a pain in the … well, you know.”
While he is still able to flex his creative muscles in the visual arts of painting and photography, it is his pottery that has brought Tim success and satisfaction. His talent and varied technical skills have had the effect of making his pottery uniquely appealing. In homage to the traditions of his adopted home, he has both studied the time-honored forms of Tennessee/North Carolina historic potteries and produced pieces in that style called ‘Appalachia Ware’. Adding his own artistic sense has allowed him to make the transition to pieces he now calls ‘Appalachian Impressions’. The aesthetics of his glazing have been influenced not just by the technical mastering of formulas and firing temperatures but by his own painting. “A landscape is not just something to be painted on paper or canvas,” he notes. “When you put one on a piece of functional pottery it creates something truly unique.” This concept has led Tim to create glazing colors and patterns for a variety of special circumstances, such as the ‘Satsuke’ pieces he did by commission for Greeneville’s former restaurant Azaleas. “Satsuke is the Japanese for ‘azalea’,” he says. “I created pieces for their sushi menu items that no other restaurant had.” Tim’s pottery is produced in high-fired stoneware, earthenware, porcelain, and raku. An interesting twist on the definition of ‘functional’ came with his creation of porcelain ‘Iris Awards’ given by Main Street: Greeneville to honor historic preservation. In the more traditional form of functional pottery, Tim’s considerable cooking skills add even more appeal to his pieces. “All my pottery intended for cooking and serving is personally tested in my kitchen before being made available to the public,” he says. “I call it ‘pottery designed with the menu in mind’.” This production standard has been particularly pleasing to gallery director James-Ben Stockton. “We’ve tried Tim’s pieces in our own kitchen and can vouch for their combination of functionality and presentation appeal. As a gallery, this has enabled us to build up a reliable clientele for Tim’s work. For lots of folks in the area, it just isn’t Christmas without a piece of Tim’s to give or receive.” An exclusive tradition at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center is the ‘Christmas Bonanza’ of Tim Frain pottery. “Customers only have to buy one piece of Tim’s ‘Red Moss’ or ‘Appalachian Impressions’ work at full price and then they can get any (and as many) discontinued, remaindered, or ‘things that went bump in the night’ pieces for 50% off,” says Stockton.
Although Northeast Tennessee has provided Tim Frain with the nurture and inspiration that it does for most artists, he has not settled into complacency. “One of the pleasures of working with Tim is that he’s always trying something new,” says Stockton. “He can produce ideas of his own or respond to something from me or a client. This has meant over the years that he’s willing to do commissions, something many artists are too insecure to attempt.” “The one thing that has been true throughout my life is that art is life,” says Tim. “Even though I’m most involved with producing functional pottery, my work is done because I like it. I think customers respond to that.” His wish list for future creativity includes more emphasis on sculpture. Typically, he does not distinguish between stone, wood, or metal but would like to spend time working with all three. It is also typical that elements of sculpture, like his painting, are already present in the pottery that is his livelihood. Participation in regional craft fairs and shows provides regular opportunities to travel, but Tim does enjoy the trips that are not the product of his creative work but that are intended to stimulate it. “I guess San Francisco is the place I’ve gone most often to unwind and recharge, “ he says. “And, of course, I can always be persuaded to go back to France.”
Tim Frain is a treasured asset of Northeast Tennessee. Although intensely private, his art work makes him accessible to those who want to encounter an eminently worthwhile artist ‘neighbor’. His work in a number of different media is available locally and unreservedly displayed at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center.
Among the earliest art forms practiced in the Appalachian Mountains was pottery. Because the region was isolated, the difficulty in transporting finished goods made it necessary for settlers to “make their own.” Since these earliest European settlers tended to be Scots-Irish and German, with strong cultural histories, handmade pieces from the very beginning combined “functional” with “beautiful”. Our artist “neighbor” for this column, Tim Frain, both follows and continues this tradition. A resident of Greene County for nearly 10 years, Tim’s work in a variety of artistic media is already familiar and sought after by collectors from all over the Mountain South.
In the case of Indiana native Time Frain, the phrase “proficient in a variety of media” is an understatement. “When Tim first connected with our gallery, and announced that he created in nine different art forms, I couldn’t help rolling my eyes,” says James-Ben Stockton, director of James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center. “Usually that kind of statement describes someone who is a ‘jack of all trades and master of none’. On that assumption, Tim proved me wrong in a hurry.” Frain was in fact both extremely talented and technically proficient in functional and sculptural pottery, watercolor, drawing, paper-making, silk screen, etching, photography, oils, acrylics, and egg tempera. In the five years of his association with the gallery, he has added glass, silver work, and precious metals clay to his repertoire. The crowning touch on this overabundance of talent is that Tim Frain is self-taught in all his forms of creative expression. “Art has been the essential part of me since before I can remember,” he says. “I know I was painting in watercolor at four and that at around that age my uncle gave me my first art reference book.” The same uncle inspired his nephew by example as well, being the only real “artistic type” in a family noted for producing teachers. “He wasn’t their idea of respectable,” says Tim. “But he was a professional commercial artist. I remember that he did in-house graphics for signage with U.S. Steel.” A combination of innate talent, persistence, and curiosity led Tim to pursue a similar course, enabling him to make art the focus of his working life. “Making money was a series of diversions in order to make art. Eventually the ‘diversions’ took over. In my case, that took the form of framing artwork rather than producing it.” A trip to France in 1998 provided Tim with a change in perspective. “The frame shop was consuming all my energy,” he says. “But the view from Biarritz of the sun sinking into the ocean convinced me that it was time to get out of Wabash, Indiana.” In scouting out areas to relocate and re-establish his artistic self, Tim found fertile ground in Northeast Tennessee. “The area was beautiful and inviting and had a craft tradition that helped inspire me to set up my pottery studio,” he says. “Besides, I found out that buying property in France was a pain in the … well, you know.”
While he is still able to flex his creative muscles in the visual arts of painting and photography, it is his pottery that has brought Tim success and satisfaction. His talent and varied technical skills have had the effect of making his pottery uniquely appealing. In homage to the traditions of his adopted home, he has both studied the time-honored forms of Tennessee/North Carolina historic potteries and produced pieces in that style called ‘Appalachia Ware’. Adding his own artistic sense has allowed him to make the transition to pieces he now calls ‘Appalachian Impressions’. The aesthetics of his glazing have been influenced not just by the technical mastering of formulas and firing temperatures but by his own painting. “A landscape is not just something to be painted on paper or canvas,” he notes. “When you put one on a piece of functional pottery it creates something truly unique.” This concept has led Tim to create glazing colors and patterns for a variety of special circumstances, such as the ‘Satsuke’ pieces he did by commission for Greeneville’s former restaurant Azaleas. “Satsuke is the Japanese for ‘azalea’,” he says. “I created pieces for their sushi menu items that no other restaurant had.” Tim’s pottery is produced in high-fired stoneware, earthenware, porcelain, and raku. An interesting twist on the definition of ‘functional’ came with his creation of porcelain ‘Iris Awards’ given by Main Street: Greeneville to honor historic preservation. In the more traditional form of functional pottery, Tim’s considerable cooking skills add even more appeal to his pieces. “All my pottery intended for cooking and serving is personally tested in my kitchen before being made available to the public,” he says. “I call it ‘pottery designed with the menu in mind’.” This production standard has been particularly pleasing to gallery director James-Ben Stockton. “We’ve tried Tim’s pieces in our own kitchen and can vouch for their combination of functionality and presentation appeal. As a gallery, this has enabled us to build up a reliable clientele for Tim’s work. For lots of folks in the area, it just isn’t Christmas without a piece of Tim’s to give or receive.” An exclusive tradition at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center is the ‘Christmas Bonanza’ of Tim Frain pottery. “Customers only have to buy one piece of Tim’s ‘Red Moss’ or ‘Appalachian Impressions’ work at full price and then they can get any (and as many) discontinued, remaindered, or ‘things that went bump in the night’ pieces for 50% off,” says Stockton.
Although Northeast Tennessee has provided Tim Frain with the nurture and inspiration that it does for most artists, he has not settled into complacency. “One of the pleasures of working with Tim is that he’s always trying something new,” says Stockton. “He can produce ideas of his own or respond to something from me or a client. This has meant over the years that he’s willing to do commissions, something many artists are too insecure to attempt.” “The one thing that has been true throughout my life is that art is life,” says Tim. “Even though I’m most involved with producing functional pottery, my work is done because I like it. I think customers respond to that.” His wish list for future creativity includes more emphasis on sculpture. Typically, he does not distinguish between stone, wood, or metal but would like to spend time working with all three. It is also typical that elements of sculpture, like his painting, are already present in the pottery that is his livelihood. Participation in regional craft fairs and shows provides regular opportunities to travel, but Tim does enjoy the trips that are not the product of his creative work but that are intended to stimulate it. “I guess San Francisco is the place I’ve gone most often to unwind and recharge, “ he says. “And, of course, I can always be persuaded to go back to France.”
Tim Frain is a treasured asset of Northeast Tennessee. Although intensely private, his art work makes him accessible to those who want to encounter an eminently worthwhile artist ‘neighbor’. His work in a number of different media is available locally and unreservedly displayed at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center.
Neighbor Featured Artist #6: Jody Palm
Artist Quilts Her Way To Warm Reception
Since we’re now feeling the first real chill of the season – that bone-deep cold that creeps down from the high places – it’s nice that there’s a mountain art form that keeps you warm. So it’s also nice to have a neighbor who quilts. In that spirit, I’d like to introduce you to Jody Palm. Jody is a good example of just how strong a pull the mountains have on the abundantly creative. In fact, her story demonstrates that the Appalachian lure is both powerful and contagious.
Born in Winnetka, Illinois, and a resident of the upper Midwest for most of her life, Jody Palm’s connection to the mountain South came through not one but two degrees of separation. “My parents had retired to Northeast Tennessee, but they were ‘recruited’ to the area by friends who’d retired here earlier,” she says. She made the move to Greeneville herself in 2000, in part to help her mother, who was widowed, but also from having reached ‘burn-out level’ in her career in Chicago as a consultant in technical writing and training for the software industry. “To tell you the truth, I wasn’t that happy to move here, but then I wasn’t happy about much at the time,” she says. “But I soon fell in love with the slower pace and small-town embrace of Greeneville.” In her former life in Illinois, Jody’s artistry was expressed through music and theater. “I could sing before I could talk,” she recalls. Her choral experiences in high school led to formal voice training when she entered the University of Northern Illinois. The owner of a magnificent contralto vocal instrument, Jody found that both her musical ability and comic acting skills made her sought after in the theater. This propelled her into direct conflict with her father. “He wanted me to major in accounting. I decided to get my degree in theater. It got so heated, it was years before we were able to reconcile. But we did!” After working in the Chicago professional theater, Jody found it better suited her temperament to take a more free-lance approach to performance, and indulged her muse with a professional carol-singing group, solo engagements specializing in German lieder, and work with the Chicago Symphony Chorus. In 2000, the opportunity to move south to Greeneville appeared. With her creative approach to life, Jody chose to make the most of it. “Among other things, I realized that Northeast Tennessee was the perfect place for me to take up quilting, which I’d always wanted to do.”
Quilting proved to be the perfect connection between Jody and her new home. Mentored by Peggy Konski and the Newcomer Quilters group in Greeneville, she not only mastered the art but now teaches it to others. “Initially I loved quilting for its use of geometric forms and colors,” she says. “Then I found even more to appreciate in realizing that the pattern squares generate secondary designs when they’re put together.” A good example is found at the center of her ‘Christmas Star’ piece. The process of perfecting of her technique provided Jody with the chance to give back to the Greeneville community in the making of quilts for Holston Home, the Hope Center, Smokey Mountain Hospice, and Baptist Family Ministries. “I did an “I love Sports’ quilt for the Laws family when their quadruplets were born. With four newborns in the family, one of the other children needed a reminder that he was still special.” A particularly striking piece was done for the Seventh Day Adventist Church using a variation on the ‘King David’s Crown’ pattern. Jody’s membership in the Jonesborough Old Town Quilter’s Guild provided the inspiration for ‘Psychedelic Kitty’, when guild members were asked to create pieces that matched interior paint samples with compatible fabrics. Several of Jody’s quilts have been featured in the American Quilting Society’s yearly Art Quilt calendars. Most of her pieces have received ribbons, including Best of Show designations, in competition. Having mastered the traditional patterns, and comfortable with both hand and machine stitching (“I put in a lot of stitches!”), Jody is known for her unique, contemporary designs. She is fascinated with the Japanese notan technique, in which patterns combine to generate new images. She has also taken inspiration from both Kandinsky and Matisse in creating art quilts that are similar to collage. “More and more I’m focused on ‘art quilts. I like to choose colors that challenge me and to incorporate embellishments such as beads.”
Ultimately, Jody has found that her move to the mountain South has expanded her creative spirit and enabled her to make a life with the variety of interests she loves. In addition to quilting, she has continued her music and theatrical performances, including a marvelous turn as Katisha in Theater-At-Tusculum’s Mikado. She has re-awakened the interest in cultivating roses that goes back to her maternal grandfather, ‘Gramps’, who helped her finish college and become the first member of her family to do so. Currently she is vice-president of the Greene County Rose Society. Even though her family roots are in the North (“I’m a Yankee back to 1634”), she has developed an interest in genealogy and found one of the best resources for exploring it right in downtown Greeneville. “Don Miller at the Cox Library has been wonderful in helping me do research, even though my ancestors aren’t from this area,” she says. “Working with him both on my projects and on his has helped me open up an interest in the local history and feel more a part of the community.” In other words, each aspect of Jody Palm’s creative spirit has been able to flourish here in Northeast Tennessee. She is definitely an ‘artist neighbor’ you should get to know.
Jody Palm’s quilts are available locally and proudly displayed at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery.
Since we’re now feeling the first real chill of the season – that bone-deep cold that creeps down from the high places – it’s nice that there’s a mountain art form that keeps you warm. So it’s also nice to have a neighbor who quilts. In that spirit, I’d like to introduce you to Jody Palm. Jody is a good example of just how strong a pull the mountains have on the abundantly creative. In fact, her story demonstrates that the Appalachian lure is both powerful and contagious.
Born in Winnetka, Illinois, and a resident of the upper Midwest for most of her life, Jody Palm’s connection to the mountain South came through not one but two degrees of separation. “My parents had retired to Northeast Tennessee, but they were ‘recruited’ to the area by friends who’d retired here earlier,” she says. She made the move to Greeneville herself in 2000, in part to help her mother, who was widowed, but also from having reached ‘burn-out level’ in her career in Chicago as a consultant in technical writing and training for the software industry. “To tell you the truth, I wasn’t that happy to move here, but then I wasn’t happy about much at the time,” she says. “But I soon fell in love with the slower pace and small-town embrace of Greeneville.” In her former life in Illinois, Jody’s artistry was expressed through music and theater. “I could sing before I could talk,” she recalls. Her choral experiences in high school led to formal voice training when she entered the University of Northern Illinois. The owner of a magnificent contralto vocal instrument, Jody found that both her musical ability and comic acting skills made her sought after in the theater. This propelled her into direct conflict with her father. “He wanted me to major in accounting. I decided to get my degree in theater. It got so heated, it was years before we were able to reconcile. But we did!” After working in the Chicago professional theater, Jody found it better suited her temperament to take a more free-lance approach to performance, and indulged her muse with a professional carol-singing group, solo engagements specializing in German lieder, and work with the Chicago Symphony Chorus. In 2000, the opportunity to move south to Greeneville appeared. With her creative approach to life, Jody chose to make the most of it. “Among other things, I realized that Northeast Tennessee was the perfect place for me to take up quilting, which I’d always wanted to do.”
Quilting proved to be the perfect connection between Jody and her new home. Mentored by Peggy Konski and the Newcomer Quilters group in Greeneville, she not only mastered the art but now teaches it to others. “Initially I loved quilting for its use of geometric forms and colors,” she says. “Then I found even more to appreciate in realizing that the pattern squares generate secondary designs when they’re put together.” A good example is found at the center of her ‘Christmas Star’ piece. The process of perfecting of her technique provided Jody with the chance to give back to the Greeneville community in the making of quilts for Holston Home, the Hope Center, Smokey Mountain Hospice, and Baptist Family Ministries. “I did an “I love Sports’ quilt for the Laws family when their quadruplets were born. With four newborns in the family, one of the other children needed a reminder that he was still special.” A particularly striking piece was done for the Seventh Day Adventist Church using a variation on the ‘King David’s Crown’ pattern. Jody’s membership in the Jonesborough Old Town Quilter’s Guild provided the inspiration for ‘Psychedelic Kitty’, when guild members were asked to create pieces that matched interior paint samples with compatible fabrics. Several of Jody’s quilts have been featured in the American Quilting Society’s yearly Art Quilt calendars. Most of her pieces have received ribbons, including Best of Show designations, in competition. Having mastered the traditional patterns, and comfortable with both hand and machine stitching (“I put in a lot of stitches!”), Jody is known for her unique, contemporary designs. She is fascinated with the Japanese notan technique, in which patterns combine to generate new images. She has also taken inspiration from both Kandinsky and Matisse in creating art quilts that are similar to collage. “More and more I’m focused on ‘art quilts. I like to choose colors that challenge me and to incorporate embellishments such as beads.”
Ultimately, Jody has found that her move to the mountain South has expanded her creative spirit and enabled her to make a life with the variety of interests she loves. In addition to quilting, she has continued her music and theatrical performances, including a marvelous turn as Katisha in Theater-At-Tusculum’s Mikado. She has re-awakened the interest in cultivating roses that goes back to her maternal grandfather, ‘Gramps’, who helped her finish college and become the first member of her family to do so. Currently she is vice-president of the Greene County Rose Society. Even though her family roots are in the North (“I’m a Yankee back to 1634”), she has developed an interest in genealogy and found one of the best resources for exploring it right in downtown Greeneville. “Don Miller at the Cox Library has been wonderful in helping me do research, even though my ancestors aren’t from this area,” she says. “Working with him both on my projects and on his has helped me open up an interest in the local history and feel more a part of the community.” In other words, each aspect of Jody Palm’s creative spirit has been able to flourish here in Northeast Tennessee. She is definitely an ‘artist neighbor’ you should get to know.
Jody Palm’s quilts are available locally and proudly displayed at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery.
Neighbor Featured Artist #5: Lynne Olka
Since my last column focused on an artist who teaches Greene County children, you should take my next pronouncement with a grain of salt. Sometimes art teachers don’t know what they’re talking about in deciding whether their students have talent. Which brings us to Lynn Olka, the featured Neighbor artist for this edition. Within our Northeast Tennessee community, Lynn is one of the most talented people you’ve probably never heard of. My hope is that the words and images you see before you will correct that situation and introduce you to an ‘artist neighbor’ you’ll be glad to have met.
Lynn Olka has something in common with Karen Fine, my previous featured artist, in that she was born in Buffalo, New York. Although she left upstate New York as a toddler, the roots of her art can be traced to her birthplace. “I don’t really remember this but my mother has told me my first experience with art came when I was only a year and a half old,” she says. “We would wait at a diner for Dad to get off work and there was an old gentleman there in a wheelchair. Mom would put me in his lap. He had pencils and crayons waiting for me when we came in and would guide my hands to mark on the paper.” A year later, Lynn’s family moved to Oak Ridge so her earliest memories and upbringing are those of an East Tennessean. Even before starting school, her exposure to art continued both informally and naturally. “Our next door neighbor was my babysitter. Her son was an art major in college and would sketch out in the yard. His mother would send me out with him and he even supplied me with paper, pencils, and crayons.” As she grew up, Lynn’s experience of art continued to be centered around her home life. Her father would stretch rolls of paper across the kitchen wall. “While Mom did the dishes, Dad and my sister and I had drawing sessions with pastels every night.” The creative support of her family was even more important by the time Lynn reached junior high school, when an art teacher, of the type mentioned above, told her that she was wasting his time and taking up space in his class. “It was a good lesson in following your heart no matter what others tell you,” she says. “He was wrong, of course. After high school, I worked for years as a general board artist.” Her skills as an illustrator, expressed through the print media, opened doors for Lynn into a delightfully varied career. She illustrated for coloring books and designed logos in New York City, did graphic design for a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, and continued her general board artistry for a printing company in Panama City, Florida. While working in Houston, Texas, she seized an opportunity to attend an art school to broaden her range of skills. “Actually, I found the school while I was laid off for 3 days,” she says. “When I went back to work, it was with the stipulation that my schedule would be flexible enough for me to attend classes at the same time.” Although her work in the printing industry moved her creative focus away from the production of fine art, Lynn does not regret the distraction. “The printing work was like putting giant puzzles together. I created layouts photomechanically, built traps, shrinks, spreads, gutter jumps – all done by hand. It was very exciting!”
Design and layout have influenced Lynn’s fine art, and since moving back to East Tennessee and Greeneville this form of her expression has moved to the forefront. Her preferred media are watercolor and prismacolor, tools that are familiar to her from her work as an illustrator. She has continued her studies in watercolor with the well-known Johnson City artist/teacher Urban Bird. Through her association with James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center, Lynn was commissioned to do a portrait series focused on ‘Soldiers of the Tennessee Valley’, including such subjects as Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, John Hunt Morgan, and Captain Tod Carter, portrayed through the vehicle of ‘story portraits’, in which the background is a painted collage of scenes from the subject’s life. Prints from the series are available at the gallery, signed and numbered in limited edition. “The commission plus my current studies really forced me to concentrate on portraits,” she says. “Not just technically but in theory – defining for myself what makes a portrait good.” In addition to human subjects, she also paints portraits of birds and animals “because I love them. I don’t just do generic representations but paint them as the individuals they are.”
With her varied career, both technically and geographically, Lynn names Tennessee as her favorite living space and credits its mountains, woods and wildlife, streams and waterfalls with awakening the fine art she now creates. Her current project is a series of Andrew Johnson, done in cooperation with the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, with story lines with the composition done in both sepia tone and full color. The technique is a further exploration of the process she began with her ‘Soldiers’ series. “I want the audience to be inspired to look more deeply at the portrait and understand the symbols within it,” she says. “For personal portraits of people and animals I want the viewer to look at the painting and recall fond memories and experiences of places and things that are emotionally meaningful.” Future plans include series on both the Southeastern Indian tribes and the Civil War with images of Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses Grant. She has added oil painting to her repertoire and would like to further develop her three dimensional skills with carvings (such as her cardinal in relief) to enhance her painting and to create frames to complement them. “I paint because I have to,” she says. “My time spent painting is when I’m most at peace with the world.”
Lynn Olka’s art is carried locally and proudly displayed at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center.
Lynn Olka has something in common with Karen Fine, my previous featured artist, in that she was born in Buffalo, New York. Although she left upstate New York as a toddler, the roots of her art can be traced to her birthplace. “I don’t really remember this but my mother has told me my first experience with art came when I was only a year and a half old,” she says. “We would wait at a diner for Dad to get off work and there was an old gentleman there in a wheelchair. Mom would put me in his lap. He had pencils and crayons waiting for me when we came in and would guide my hands to mark on the paper.” A year later, Lynn’s family moved to Oak Ridge so her earliest memories and upbringing are those of an East Tennessean. Even before starting school, her exposure to art continued both informally and naturally. “Our next door neighbor was my babysitter. Her son was an art major in college and would sketch out in the yard. His mother would send me out with him and he even supplied me with paper, pencils, and crayons.” As she grew up, Lynn’s experience of art continued to be centered around her home life. Her father would stretch rolls of paper across the kitchen wall. “While Mom did the dishes, Dad and my sister and I had drawing sessions with pastels every night.” The creative support of her family was even more important by the time Lynn reached junior high school, when an art teacher, of the type mentioned above, told her that she was wasting his time and taking up space in his class. “It was a good lesson in following your heart no matter what others tell you,” she says. “He was wrong, of course. After high school, I worked for years as a general board artist.” Her skills as an illustrator, expressed through the print media, opened doors for Lynn into a delightfully varied career. She illustrated for coloring books and designed logos in New York City, did graphic design for a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, and continued her general board artistry for a printing company in Panama City, Florida. While working in Houston, Texas, she seized an opportunity to attend an art school to broaden her range of skills. “Actually, I found the school while I was laid off for 3 days,” she says. “When I went back to work, it was with the stipulation that my schedule would be flexible enough for me to attend classes at the same time.” Although her work in the printing industry moved her creative focus away from the production of fine art, Lynn does not regret the distraction. “The printing work was like putting giant puzzles together. I created layouts photomechanically, built traps, shrinks, spreads, gutter jumps – all done by hand. It was very exciting!”
Design and layout have influenced Lynn’s fine art, and since moving back to East Tennessee and Greeneville this form of her expression has moved to the forefront. Her preferred media are watercolor and prismacolor, tools that are familiar to her from her work as an illustrator. She has continued her studies in watercolor with the well-known Johnson City artist/teacher Urban Bird. Through her association with James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center, Lynn was commissioned to do a portrait series focused on ‘Soldiers of the Tennessee Valley’, including such subjects as Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, John Hunt Morgan, and Captain Tod Carter, portrayed through the vehicle of ‘story portraits’, in which the background is a painted collage of scenes from the subject’s life. Prints from the series are available at the gallery, signed and numbered in limited edition. “The commission plus my current studies really forced me to concentrate on portraits,” she says. “Not just technically but in theory – defining for myself what makes a portrait good.” In addition to human subjects, she also paints portraits of birds and animals “because I love them. I don’t just do generic representations but paint them as the individuals they are.”
With her varied career, both technically and geographically, Lynn names Tennessee as her favorite living space and credits its mountains, woods and wildlife, streams and waterfalls with awakening the fine art she now creates. Her current project is a series of Andrew Johnson, done in cooperation with the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, with story lines with the composition done in both sepia tone and full color. The technique is a further exploration of the process she began with her ‘Soldiers’ series. “I want the audience to be inspired to look more deeply at the portrait and understand the symbols within it,” she says. “For personal portraits of people and animals I want the viewer to look at the painting and recall fond memories and experiences of places and things that are emotionally meaningful.” Future plans include series on both the Southeastern Indian tribes and the Civil War with images of Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses Grant. She has added oil painting to her repertoire and would like to further develop her three dimensional skills with carvings (such as her cardinal in relief) to enhance her painting and to create frames to complement them. “I paint because I have to,” she says. “My time spent painting is when I’m most at peace with the world.”
Lynn Olka’s art is carried locally and proudly displayed at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center.
Neighbor Featured Artist #4: Karen Fine
As I’ve pointed out before, the mountain South has a magic that attracts talent from far and wide. In particular, artists with a strong sense of the spiritual find nurture in this region, where the sense of the Creator is always close at hand. Awareness of this presence is of great benefit to artists in the production of their own work, providing inspiration when the creative juices are flowing and comfort when they are not. But the spiritual ambience of Northeast Tennessee is even more essential to artists who teach. Because they nurture the creativity of others, teachers need the renewal and wisdom that is the natural outflow of the Appalachian mountains.
Without having named her, I have nevertheless just described the subject of this column. But artist/teacher is far too tame a description for Karen Fine. She is a unique gem among the transplants to Northeast Tennessee, an individual with a wide array of creative gifts who has allowed her adopted home to shape her talent and artistry. In return, she has not only brought forth works of fine art but helped awaken the talents of Greene County’s children.
Karen was born in upstate New York near Niagara Falls and grew up in Boston. She received her BFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with a concentration in painting and art history. Her studies also included graphic design and her expertise was developed, as she notes with pride, “before computers.” Recognition of her talent came early. “My first show was in Boston City Hall,” she remembers. For most of her career, she has generally focused on art in two dimensions but has recently ventured into the realm of sculpture. “James-Ben, whose gallery represents me, noticed that some of my paintings were also assemblages and suggested that maybe it was time for me to ‘get off the canvas’.” The willingness to experiment with different creative forms has not only benefited Karen’s career but also exemplifies her approach to life in general. “I live in art,” she says. “As a professional artist I call the business ‘MyArt4Me’ but that just means that life and art are inseparable to me. It’s one of the things I teach my students,” she adds.
Teaching, for Karen, is really just another art form. She began sharing her talent and perspective while living on Guam, giving informal instruction to dependents at the military base. “My students ranged from 6 to 80.” Her return to the U.S. led her to a teaching certificate from East Carolina University and to a deep connection to the mountain South. “I love the mountains,” she says. “There can’t be any place better for a creative, spiritual person.” For the past 8 years she has taught art at Tusculum View Elementary School in Greeneville, working with grades K through 5, and instilling her belief in life as an art form. “I’m not trying to train professional artists,” she says. “My classes are very process oriented. I want them to experience art as something that brings them bliss. Talking about art with them is as important as creating specific pieces.” Karen’s life and professional experience are a tremendous asset to Greeneville’s children, introducing them to a more worldly and artistically well versed experience than is usual. In addition to drawing and painting, her students are introduced to batik and weaving. “I suppose I’m more concerned with the ‘inner child’ than many teachers,” she says. “For my kids, technique is less important than the fun and whimsy and spontaneity of creating.” But there is a practicality involved in Karen’s teaching philosophy as well. “Art has a precarious position in public education,” she notes. “I’m always aware that teaching creative thinking will help students in their other subjects as well.”
In keeping with her belief that the journey is more important that the destination, Karen continues to expand her own talents. Greenevillians may be more familiar with her theatrical artistry as the director of such Little Theatre production as “Little Shop of Horrors”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, and “Amadeus”. “The theater is where I often get to work with kids I taught when they were younger,” she says. “Some of them are nearing graduation now.” She draws support and inspiration from her beautiful canine companion Ginger (“she’s my muse!”) and is already planning her next artistic adventure. “I want to learn glass-blowing. There’s something about the play of light … “
For Karen Fine, it’s all about play … and light … and the journey. Her individual creations are locally available and proudly displayed at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center.
Without having named her, I have nevertheless just described the subject of this column. But artist/teacher is far too tame a description for Karen Fine. She is a unique gem among the transplants to Northeast Tennessee, an individual with a wide array of creative gifts who has allowed her adopted home to shape her talent and artistry. In return, she has not only brought forth works of fine art but helped awaken the talents of Greene County’s children.
Karen was born in upstate New York near Niagara Falls and grew up in Boston. She received her BFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with a concentration in painting and art history. Her studies also included graphic design and her expertise was developed, as she notes with pride, “before computers.” Recognition of her talent came early. “My first show was in Boston City Hall,” she remembers. For most of her career, she has generally focused on art in two dimensions but has recently ventured into the realm of sculpture. “James-Ben, whose gallery represents me, noticed that some of my paintings were also assemblages and suggested that maybe it was time for me to ‘get off the canvas’.” The willingness to experiment with different creative forms has not only benefited Karen’s career but also exemplifies her approach to life in general. “I live in art,” she says. “As a professional artist I call the business ‘MyArt4Me’ but that just means that life and art are inseparable to me. It’s one of the things I teach my students,” she adds.
Teaching, for Karen, is really just another art form. She began sharing her talent and perspective while living on Guam, giving informal instruction to dependents at the military base. “My students ranged from 6 to 80.” Her return to the U.S. led her to a teaching certificate from East Carolina University and to a deep connection to the mountain South. “I love the mountains,” she says. “There can’t be any place better for a creative, spiritual person.” For the past 8 years she has taught art at Tusculum View Elementary School in Greeneville, working with grades K through 5, and instilling her belief in life as an art form. “I’m not trying to train professional artists,” she says. “My classes are very process oriented. I want them to experience art as something that brings them bliss. Talking about art with them is as important as creating specific pieces.” Karen’s life and professional experience are a tremendous asset to Greeneville’s children, introducing them to a more worldly and artistically well versed experience than is usual. In addition to drawing and painting, her students are introduced to batik and weaving. “I suppose I’m more concerned with the ‘inner child’ than many teachers,” she says. “For my kids, technique is less important than the fun and whimsy and spontaneity of creating.” But there is a practicality involved in Karen’s teaching philosophy as well. “Art has a precarious position in public education,” she notes. “I’m always aware that teaching creative thinking will help students in their other subjects as well.”
In keeping with her belief that the journey is more important that the destination, Karen continues to expand her own talents. Greenevillians may be more familiar with her theatrical artistry as the director of such Little Theatre production as “Little Shop of Horrors”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, and “Amadeus”. “The theater is where I often get to work with kids I taught when they were younger,” she says. “Some of them are nearing graduation now.” She draws support and inspiration from her beautiful canine companion Ginger (“she’s my muse!”) and is already planning her next artistic adventure. “I want to learn glass-blowing. There’s something about the play of light … “
For Karen Fine, it’s all about play … and light … and the journey. Her individual creations are locally available and proudly displayed at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center.
Neighbor Featured Artist #3: James-Ben: Designer/Artisan
The “artist neighbor” for this issue is a team rather than an individual. But, like our previous featured talents, the lure of East Tennessee proved an irresistible siren song. In the case of James-Ben: Designer/Artisan, the come-hither tune was heard not by one set of ears but by two. As producers of wearable art, James-Ben Stockton and Daniel Luther have come a long way from “lost-wax” casting on a kitchen floor in Nashville. In coming to Greeneville, what they had originally intended as a semi-retirement has become a personal and professional reinvention. For the proof of this assertion, look no further than the byline of this column. You’ll find the name of one of the fellows featured in this piece. There’s more going on than someone tooting his own horn. Consider instead that Greeneville is a place where a silversmith can be an art columnist.
James-Ben Stockton grew up in Jamestown, Tennessee, on the Cumberland Plateau that splits the difference between the middle and eastern divisions of the state. Immensely creative as a child, he worked in pottery until his studies at the University of Tennessee exposed him to metalsmithing and jewelry design. “I admired a ring worn by the metals professor and asked her to make me one,” he recalls. “She told me to come take her class and learn how to make it myself.” As an artist, James-Ben had found his medium. “I took enough classes to keep my forestry scholarship but I knew from that point that I was a jewelry designer/artisan.” His mastery of technique was so rapid that he was student teaching while still an undergraduate, and his first national design awards came during this same period. He also studied at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg and believes to this day that his artistic roots are deep in the mountains of East Tennessee. “Working with precious metals is like alchemy. It’s based on science but has a strong element of magic in the creative process.” James-Ben’s individually designed and crafted jewelry in gold, silver, and platinum has been commissioned, collected, and worn by folks in more than 30 states and 8 foreign countries. “I am so fortunate that I’ve been able to spend most of my working life as an artist,” he says.
In the 1980’s, James-Ben worked as the Designer/Artisan-in-Residence for the Regional Gallery at the Knoxville World’s Fair. During this time he met partner Daniel Luther, who also had metalsmithing in his blood. “When I began working with James-Ben in the jewelry studio, my hands were immediately comfortable with the tools. My Granddaddy Luther was a foundryman whose backyard workshop was one of my favorite places growing up.” The two have collaborated in jewelry production for more than twenty years. “We use the word ‘bottega’ to describe our process,” says Daniel. “The word refers to the Renaissance masters who divided the elements of their commissions among their apprentices according to their talent and skill level.” “From design to final polish, there are many steps to creating jewelry,” adds James-Ben. “We each do the steps we’re best at, which means every finished piece has both sets of hands involved.”
“Our awareness of history has a personal application for many of our clients,” says James-Ben. “Within the studio creativity, my favorite experience is a process called “Contemporary Heirlooms. For lack of a better term , we "recycle" a client’s legacy gold and stones. This is particularly applicable in the creation of wedding jewelry. Brides and grooms are frequently offered family rings to use for their wedding. which at times can become somewhat awkward. How does the couple choose a personal reflection of themselves while honoring these family gifts? Our contemporary heirloom process recombines all that family history into a set of rings that express the new couple’s preferences while celebrating the merging of the families.”
For several years, Stockton and Luther operated James-Ben: Designer/Artisan within a larger fine craft gallery in Franklin, Tennessee. The experience led to the opening of James-Ben: Studio and Gallery in 1992. “The wonderful interactions with other artists in many different media has expanded our own creativity,” says James-Ben. “Our experience of art itself has expanded to include writing, performance, and, best of all, cooking!” The number of artists represented by the gallery has grown from a dozen or so to more than 140, encompassing the whole state of Tennessee from Memphis to Bristol.
In 2001, Stockton and Luther were recruited by philanthropist Scott Niswonger to bring their talents to Greeneville. “Our only regret is that we didn’t make the move sooner,” says James-Ben. “It’s marvelous to be part of Greeneville’s rebirth. We’ve re-energized ourselves. The addition of teaching facilities to the gallery has expanded us into an art center.” But at the heart of it all, James-Ben: Designer/Artisan is still in operation. “The making of jewelry used to be our sole focus and now it is one among many,” says Daniel, wistfully. “But there is still such joy in doing that process that started it all.” “The studio is where we go to rekindle the creative fires,” notes James-Ben. “And to get our hands dirty.”
James-Ben Stockton grew up in Jamestown, Tennessee, on the Cumberland Plateau that splits the difference between the middle and eastern divisions of the state. Immensely creative as a child, he worked in pottery until his studies at the University of Tennessee exposed him to metalsmithing and jewelry design. “I admired a ring worn by the metals professor and asked her to make me one,” he recalls. “She told me to come take her class and learn how to make it myself.” As an artist, James-Ben had found his medium. “I took enough classes to keep my forestry scholarship but I knew from that point that I was a jewelry designer/artisan.” His mastery of technique was so rapid that he was student teaching while still an undergraduate, and his first national design awards came during this same period. He also studied at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg and believes to this day that his artistic roots are deep in the mountains of East Tennessee. “Working with precious metals is like alchemy. It’s based on science but has a strong element of magic in the creative process.” James-Ben’s individually designed and crafted jewelry in gold, silver, and platinum has been commissioned, collected, and worn by folks in more than 30 states and 8 foreign countries. “I am so fortunate that I’ve been able to spend most of my working life as an artist,” he says.
In the 1980’s, James-Ben worked as the Designer/Artisan-in-Residence for the Regional Gallery at the Knoxville World’s Fair. During this time he met partner Daniel Luther, who also had metalsmithing in his blood. “When I began working with James-Ben in the jewelry studio, my hands were immediately comfortable with the tools. My Granddaddy Luther was a foundryman whose backyard workshop was one of my favorite places growing up.” The two have collaborated in jewelry production for more than twenty years. “We use the word ‘bottega’ to describe our process,” says Daniel. “The word refers to the Renaissance masters who divided the elements of their commissions among their apprentices according to their talent and skill level.” “From design to final polish, there are many steps to creating jewelry,” adds James-Ben. “We each do the steps we’re best at, which means every finished piece has both sets of hands involved.”
“Our awareness of history has a personal application for many of our clients,” says James-Ben. “Within the studio creativity, my favorite experience is a process called “Contemporary Heirlooms. For lack of a better term , we "recycle" a client’s legacy gold and stones. This is particularly applicable in the creation of wedding jewelry. Brides and grooms are frequently offered family rings to use for their wedding. which at times can become somewhat awkward. How does the couple choose a personal reflection of themselves while honoring these family gifts? Our contemporary heirloom process recombines all that family history into a set of rings that express the new couple’s preferences while celebrating the merging of the families.”
For several years, Stockton and Luther operated James-Ben: Designer/Artisan within a larger fine craft gallery in Franklin, Tennessee. The experience led to the opening of James-Ben: Studio and Gallery in 1992. “The wonderful interactions with other artists in many different media has expanded our own creativity,” says James-Ben. “Our experience of art itself has expanded to include writing, performance, and, best of all, cooking!” The number of artists represented by the gallery has grown from a dozen or so to more than 140, encompassing the whole state of Tennessee from Memphis to Bristol.
In 2001, Stockton and Luther were recruited by philanthropist Scott Niswonger to bring their talents to Greeneville. “Our only regret is that we didn’t make the move sooner,” says James-Ben. “It’s marvelous to be part of Greeneville’s rebirth. We’ve re-energized ourselves. The addition of teaching facilities to the gallery has expanded us into an art center.” But at the heart of it all, James-Ben: Designer/Artisan is still in operation. “The making of jewelry used to be our sole focus and now it is one among many,” says Daniel, wistfully. “But there is still such joy in doing that process that started it all.” “The studio is where we go to rekindle the creative fires,” notes James-Ben. “And to get our hands dirty.”
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