University’s Winter Convocation to Be Held Jan. 17
The University of the South’s Winter Convocation will be held at 4:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 17, in All Saints’ Chapel. Honorary degrees will be presented and new members will be inducted into the Order of the Gown.
The Rt. Rev. Phoebe Roaf, bishop of the Diocese of Western Tennessee, will give the Convocation address and will receive an honorary doctor of divinity degree. Roaf is the first woman and first African American bishop in the 36-year history of the diocese. The Rev. Francis Walter III, T’57, of Sewanee, will also receive an honorary doctor of divinity.
Additional honorary degrees also will be conferred upon Dr. Ramona Doyle, C’81, a Rhodes Scholar, practicing physician, and professor of medicine; the Rev. Daniel R. Heischman, executive director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools; the Rt. Rev. Samuel Rodman, bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina; and Lee M. Thomas, C’67, former chairman and CEO of Rayonier, and former EPA administrator.
Ben Lomand Opens Free Wi-Fi Community Center; Fiber Expansion Underway
by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer
This week, telecommunication provider Ben Lomand Connect will “light up” a technology and community center at Camp Mount Milner on Jump Off Road. Outfitted with two computer terminals, a printer, and offering free Wi-Fi, the center will be open to the public from 7 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. The center is part of the fiber optic expansion being undertaken by Ben Lomand Connect in conjunction with a $1.8 million Community Connectivity grant received from the USDA just over a year ago.
Camp Mount Milner, also known as Camp Rainbow, allowed Ben Lomand to locate a trailer for the tech-community center on the front corner of the property. Instructions for computer and printer use are posted and printer paper is available. Ben Lomand Operations Manager Chad Dees suggested center users bring paper if they have a large amount of printing to do. Security and monitoring systems protect against vandalism. Ben Lomand has tech-community centers at two other locations and has had no vandalism issues.
The Community Connectivity grant, which makes the Jump Off tech-community center possible, is being matched with a $320,021 contribution from Ben Lomand. The project’s main focus is to extend fiber optic broadband service to 265 households in the areas of Jump Off Road (Hwy. 156), Sherwood Road (Hwy. 56), and Harrison Chapel (Midway community).
“Five miles of fiber optic cable are already in the ground,” said Dees, “along with five miles of existing cable.” Ben Lomand is currently engaged in laying the fiber optic cable to feed switches located at the junction of Jump Off and Jump Off Mountain Road, Sherwood and Rattlesnake Springs Road, and Harrison Chapel. With the cable to the switches in place, Ben Lomand will move on to laying the distribution fiber to feed the homes, Dees explained.
Dees anticipates the project will take 12 to 18 months to complete with Harrison Chapel and Sherwood Road coming on line first, then Jump Off Road a little later in the process.
“We’ve had some slow downs due to right of way work and encountering rock,” Dees said, “but this is normal. We’ve changed from an aerial plan to a buried plan.”
“Laying the fiber entirely underground makes it less affected by things of nature, less disruptive, calls for less tree cutting, and makes the installation cleaner. In three to four weeks it’s hard to tell we’ve been there.” Dees added that the installation crew usually waited a week or two before doing final cleanup to give the ground time to settle.
Ben Lomand has a number of other fiber projects in process, as well.
“We’re deploying more fiber on an annual basis than at any time in the history of our cooperative,” said General Manager Lisa Cope.
Ben Lomand is engaged in right of way work and tree trimming in conjunction with the installation that will bring fiber optic services to the entire Domain of the University of the South.
Grant projects are ongoing in Normandy and Pocahontas in Coffee County, with internal projects underway in Monteagle, Beech Grove and Centertown. Projects in Tracy City and Rock Island are near completion.
“Fiber optic technology is a quality of life issue making possible otherwise unavailable advances in medicine, home based businesses, and education,” Cope stressed. “This is something we’ve hoped for and dreamed about for years.”
‘Unrivaled:’ Telling the Story
by Bailey Basham, Messenger Staff Writer
Just over 120 years ago, the Sewanee Tigers boarded a train and embarked on what became the ultimate 2,500-mile road trip—the footballers were heading out to play five games in six days. At the end of the trip, the Tigers would return to the Mountain victorious, having outscored opponents Texas, Texas A & M, LSU, Tulane and Ole Miss 322–10.
Norman Jetmundsen, who graduated in 1976 from the University, said he first learned about the story as a student, but years later, the story of the Tigers is still with him.
That is why he and a small team of alumni have been working for the past year on a documentary to tell the complete story of the team and their tremendous victory.
After a year of fundraising, the team behind “Unrivaled: The 1899 Sewanee Football Season” has raised nearly $150,000 to go toward the creation of the documentary.
“We’ve now completed more than 40 interviews of Sewanee folks, football coaches, commentators. Included in the interviews are four coaches who have all won national championships. We’ve got a really good, broad range of interviews. The next major step is to edit the video down and see where we’ve got gaps that we need to fill with our narrator. This is what we are working on now. We’ve got a lot of research done and these interviews — how do we take all this information and put it together,” he said.
Jetmundsen said most people with some sort of Sewanee connection know about the team, but the details are often muddled.
“We wanted to tell the full story. When we set out to do this, we decided to tell the story but also look at the legend and lore around the team. To our surprise, we found that most of the lore was true. It was not a story of embellishment. Most of the stories we’ve heard are true,” he said. “It’s an amazing story about a team that did something that no other team has ever done or even attempted to do, and no other team ever will.”
For Jetmundsen, the importance of the project goes beyond telling the story of the team and their tremendous feat. Without the film, an important piece of Sewanee history would be lost forever.
“We have found some descendants of the players and of the coaches who have stories about the team they have passed down. This is an important part of Sewanee’s history and of college football. We wanted to capture it forever,” he said. “Those interviews would be lost if we hadn’t recorded them. I suspect that after this generation goes, without the film, I think the story would be basically lost at that point.”
Jetmundsen said he and the team are hopeful that the documentary will be complete by fall of 2020 — just in time for football season. Posters depicting the team and the beloved 1899 stained glass panel in All Saints’ Chapel are now available for purchase through the website. Donations are also greatly appreciated. For more information about the project or to become a part of its creation, visit www.sewanee1899.org
Isaiah 117 House: ‘That was me.’
by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer
At a lemonade stand event held to raise awareness about Isaiah 117 House Coffee-Franklin-Grundy, a teen who had been in foster care told expansion coordinator Susan Johnson, “That was me.”
Grundy County has no Department of Children’s Services (DCS) office. Children removed from the home often wait for a foster care placement in the judge’s chambers or county jail, Johnson said. Other times children are transported to a DCS office to wait. The DCS recently approved Johnson’s plan to establish an Isaiah 117 House (IH) based on the national model, providing a transition place where children can receive food, comfort, and love.
“The children have done nothing wrong and they’ve lost everything—their home, their family, their school and most of their belongings. Typically, they’re allowed a grocery bag or garbage sack for what they bring with them.”
DCS favors a Pelham site for the building, given the central location and proximity to the interstate. IH is looking for three-quarters an acre with or without a house. Volunteers have offered to lend a hand building or renovating, whichever is needed.
Johnson welcomes opportunities to visit groups, “anything from sewing groups to church groups to Rotary. It’s not to get money,” Johnson stresses, “but to raise awareness about what happens when children are removed from the home.”
Johnson counts raising awareness about what DCS does as critically important, as well.
“DCS is trying to supervise kids, meet their needs, and place a child all at once, an impossible task in my eyes. There are not enough foster families.”
Once Isaiah 117 House Coffee-Franklin-Grundy has a house, DCS will contact the IH coordinator when a child needs a place to wait for foster family placement. The coordinator will, in turn, contact volunteers and tell them to come to the house. The DCS staff member will remain at the house to monitor care of and interaction with the child. The house will include an office where the DCS staff member can work and simultaneously observe the child and volunteers via video camera. In addition to providing the child with an environment where they can play and receive comfort and nourishment, the arrangement spares children from sitting in an office and overhearing their case described to a potential foster family, which may take them or may reject them.
When children leave IH, the IH volunteers will send them on their way with supplies to make it easier for the foster family to take in a child.
Youth and church groups who fundraise for the project sell T-shirts, and host lemonade and hot chocolate stands.
“It’s not about selling lemonade,” Johnson insisted, but raising awareness. “You’d be surprised in two hours to see how many people come out to support other families and children.”
On the 17th of each month, the local Isaiah 117 House effort sponsors Isaiah House T-shirt day at area schools where youth wear their Isaiah House t-shirts as a way of generating conversation and discussion.
Asked how people could help, Johnson said, “Come to our monthly expansion committee meetings.” Johnson stressed there were opportunities for people to become involved in whatever area suited them. The meeting date and location are posted on the Facebook page for Isaiah 117 House Coffee-Franklin-Grundy.
To donate to the nonprofit initiative, visit <isaiah117house.com>, and then select “support” and “Coffee/Franklin/Grundy County” in the dropdown box. To make a credit card donation by phone, call Johnson at (931) 808-7564.
McCrory Scholarship for the Sewanee Summer Music Festival Established
by Bailey Basham, Messenger Staff Writer
Thanks to the family of Sewanee Summer Music Festival legacy Martha McCrory, the 2020 festival season will kick off with a bang.
During the summer, McCrory’s nieces Cheri, Mary and Martha established the Martha McCrory Scholarship for the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, donating $150,000 for the endowment and for the director’s fund.
The scholarship is the largest endowment gift for the festival in more than a decade. According to John Kilkenny, artistic director, it will support scholarship funding for festival participants and allow for enhanced creative activities during the summer season. The principal cello chairs of both orchestras and the final concert of each season will also be named in honor of McCrory.
Kilkenny said over the summer, the nieces visited the Mountain, and though they had planned to wait to make their donation, the Sewanee magic moved them to cut a check that weekend.
“They expressed how proud they were about where the festival was and of its level of artistic excellence. Cheri said that Martha was not quick to compliment, but she believed she would have been really proud of where the festival is,” he said.
The Sewanee Summer Music Festival is a premier summer training program in orchestra and chamber music. It was under Martha McCrory’s direction that the festival became what is now one of the venerable summer music institutes in the nation.
“Martha built the festival into what it is today, and her legacy stretches beyond the great things she did for the festival,” she said. “For so many of the students, it’s their first festival experience, and the experience of having that early on in our careers is really transformative. It’s what made and what still makes Sewanee so special and what Martha’s legacy speaks to.”
In addition to McCrory’s impact on the festival, she also taught in the music department, impacting generations of students in the classroom and in private lessons.
Kilkenny, who was recently invited to stay on with the festival through the 2021 season, said it would be thanks to the family’s support that they will be able to continue to bring increasingly eager student musicians to the Mountain.
“Unfortunately, it often comes down to what a student can afford, so the more that we can help students not have to incur debt when they’re in their studies, the more successful they can be. This gift will be transformative for so many of our students,” he said. “It is my hope that we’ll continue to build relationships for the festival, not only with our partners throughout the country and that we’ll strengthen and continue to broaden the goals we share with the community and the university. I hope we will continue to be an important reason that Sewanee is a special place to live and work. It’s an incredible privilege for me to be a part.”
Kilkenny said he and the festival staff are looking forward to the summer 2020 season. A preview concert is scheduled for March 30. For more information about the festival or about how to give to the endowment, email <ssmfdirector@gmail.com> or call the festival office at (931) 598-1225.
100 Years of the American Legion
by Bailey Basham, Messenger Staff Writer
For the past 20 years, Bob Lawson has been a member of the American Legion. After serving in the United States Air Force from ’68 to ’72, and in the U.S. Army during the Gulf War, Lawson’s sense of pride in his country was amplified. He had served his country, and upon returning home, he was ready to serve his immediate community next.
“I was encouraged to join by Legion and Auxiliary members of Post 51. Every Legion Post is required a minimum of 15 members to maintain its charter. Since the membership was low here in Sewanee, that was a good reason to get involved. Of course later, I found out there’s more to the Legion than just membership,” he said.
Much, much more, in fact.
The American Legion, which was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919, is a veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness, according to their website. The Legion evolved from a group of World War I veterans who had grown weary of wartime efforts and trauma, and over the years, the Legion grew exponentially. Today, it is one of the most influential nonprofit groups in the U.S. This year, the organization is celebrating its 100th year.
During the past 100 years, membership doubled in size, and today, there are nearly 2 million members in more than 13,000 posts worldwide.
Lawson said the Legion is built upon four pillars: Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation; National Security; Americanism and Children and Youth. The Legion is committed to mentoring youth and sponsoring community programs, as well as advocating for patriotism, promoting national security and backing service members, past, present and future.
Lawson said through those four pillars, the Legion has done great work during the last 100 years. His hopes for the next 100 years are that the Legion continues to support veterans and their communities through local programs and posts.
“I hope we continue the existing programs and adapt and expand with new ones if necessary. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with hoping for 100 years of peace,” he added.
To apply for membership to the American Legion or to verify eligibility, visit www.legion.org
Schools’ Cell Phone Policy Changes Likely
by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer
At the Dec. 9 meeting, the Franklin County School Board considered altering the disciplinary action prescribed by the new cell phone policy. The board also reviewed and approved the request for a change order to cover the cost of repairing sinkholes at the South Middle School construction site.
The disciplinary procedures called for in the new cell phone policy approved at the November 11 meeting were largely unchanged from the prior policy. Students in violation of the policy could pay a $25 fine or have their phones confiscated for seven days. Students refusing to relinquish their phones would be sent to the alternative school for 20 days. The new policy added phone confiscation for 20 days for the second offense.
The Tennessee School Board Association legal department and Franklin County Schools’ attorney Chuck Cagel both objected to the disciplinary procedures, said Assistant Superintendent Linda Foster.
Cagel took issue with charging a fine and with the school holding the students’ property, which could be lost or damaged while in the school’s possession resulting in liability.
According to Foster, Cagel observed “the courts like tiered consequences.” Cagel recommended a tiered disciplinary procedure for cell phone violations: first offense, phone held for the remainder of the day, to be returned to the student; second offense, phone held for the parent to pickup at the end of the day; third offense, student is not allowed to have a cell phone for the remainder of the school year.
“The policy needs to have consequences beyond the third offense,” said school board member Linda Jones.
School board member Chris Guess recommended the student be sent to the Alternative School for 20 days.
School board member Sara Marhevsky suggested the less severe consequence of in school suspension.
“Violations beyond the third offense indicate defiance and disrespect,” Jones noted, echoing other board members.
Weighing in on the discussion, Franklin County High School Principal Roger Alsup said, “I’ve never been in a district that fined kids for cell phones…it’s not that big of a problem. I haven’t had any requests from teachers for in-class cell phone use since the policy went into effect.”
Foster will incorporate the recommended changes and present them to the board for review at the next meeting, Jan. 13.
Repairing and grouting the three sinkholes discovered at the South Middle School construction site will cost $465,813, Director of Schools Stanley Bean said in presenting the change order request. The $5 million in uncommitted funds in the middle-schools construction budget will cover the expense. The sinkhole repair will not raise the cost of the two new middle schools above the $48 million total budget approved by the county commission.
Raising a question brought by middle school alumni, Bean said the alumni had asked what would be done with the bricks from the demolished buildings. Bean will meet with them to discuss the possibility of using the bricks for a fundraiser and to seek input about involving the alumni in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the two new schools.
SUD Pursues Amending Founding Act
by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer
At the Dec. 10 meeting, the Sewanee Utility District Board of Commissioners voted to ask the Tennessee legislature to amend the act that established the utility. The board also approved a slate of candidates for the upcoming commissioner election, and considered a bill adjustment request.
According to SUD manager Ben Beavers, a 1994 legislative act “recreated” the utility to allow for providing service to both Franklin and Marion counties. The act stipulates: “No member [of the board of commissioners] may serve more than two consecutive terms.”
“It’s a shame when you have people willing to serve who cannot stand for office,” said Board President Charlie Smith.
Tennessee Association of Utility Districts attorney Don Scholes advised the board the best course of action to follow to remove the term limit restriction was to ask the state legislature to amend the act and delete the term-limit language.
Smith will contact district representative Iris Rudder to make the request on SUD’s behalf.
Only eight Tennessee utilities elect commissioners, Beavers said, and most of those do not have term limits. The requested amendment will only affect SUD, since the act stipulates a number-of-residents range that applies only to SUD.
The board nominated the following slate of candidates for the upcoming commissioner election: Beeler Brush, Doug Cameron, and “Railroad” Bill Crescenzo. Voting begins Jan. 2 during regular business hours at the SUD office and continues until the Jan. 28 commissioner meeting.
The board took up a water bill adjustment request from a customer with a $3,500 bill due to an irrigation line leak. The leak resulted in a 28,000 gallon-per-day water loss over 11 days. The customer’s written appeal stated a coupling coming unglued caused the leak. The customer maintained this occurred because of increased water pressure following SUD’s recent replacement of aging, constricted cast iron water lines.
“Changing the flow doesn’t change the pressure,” Beavers stressed. Beavers also noted SUD leak insurance does not cover irrigation meters. “I told the customer the only way the board could grant an adjustment is if SUD doesn’t follow the adjustment policy.”
The policy states: “If an investigation of the meter and meter record establishes that the meter was properly read and that there was no failure of utility equipment, the bill will remain valid and payable.”
“It’s unfortunate,” Commissioner Paul Evans said. “But it’s a straight black-and-white policy thing.”
“We reviewed the customer’s appeal, and nothing warrants policy changes,” Smith said. “The policy was followed.”
Sascha Comes Home
by Bailey Basham, Messenger Staff Writer
When Joey DiDomenico and his family relocated from Murfreesboro to the Mountain earlier this year, he did not anticipate the community rallying behind them so quickly.
However, on Thanksgiving, when his one-year-old German shepherd Sascha did not come home from her morning romp, DiDomenico said neighbors near and far did not waste any time in stepping up.
“We starting posting stuff on community Facebook pages and on our personal accounts to see if anyone had seen Sascha. We went to the vet’s office, All Creatures, to let the staff know to be on the lookout for a German shepherd,” DiDomenico said. “The next morning, our male dog, Axel, came back, and I started combing the area for Sascha. We had not heard anything. We had started to give up hope at that point.”
Sascha was missing for a full week before the family heard anything. It was a staffer at All Creatures Veterinary Clinic in Monteagle that helped the family reconnect with their pet. She had been on the lookout for a female German shepherd since Sascha had run away a week earlier. When a local family brought Sascha in for a well check, she connected the dots.
The family who initially found Sascha told DiDomenico that on Thanksgiving, their children and grandchildren had come for a visit. While they were there, Sascha showed up on her doorstep.
“They ended up falling in love with Sascha. Not knowing she belonged to anyone, they took her to the vet and gave her all new shots and a bath and proceeded to send her home to Pennsylvania for the grandkids,” he said. “Apparently it didn’t work out, and the family took her to a shelter in Pennsylvania. It was the nurse at All Creatures who helped to sort things out. The day after we’d let them know to be on the lookout, the nurse called the family and said, ‘Hey, I think that’s their dog.’”
After talking with the family and connecting with the couple in Pennsylvania, DiDomenico said he was prepared to make the 12-hour drive to retrieve Sascha. He and his 8-year-old daughter Belle, a second grader at Sewanee Elementary, piled up in the car and began the nearly 700-mile drive.
“The whole way up there, she was just chomping at the bit. We were standing in the gas station when we see this car pull up, and Belle said, ‘Really, can we go?’ She grabbed my hand, and we took off,” he said. “She was so excited. She rubbed Sascha from her car seat the entire way home.”
DiDomenico said as soon as he got home, he posted an update on social media to let neighbors who had been invested in the story know of Sascha’s safe return.
“For us being kind of new residents, the amount of support from strangers who helped look for her made us feel really validated about the fact that we are supposed to be here in Sewanee,” he said. “People would post that they were getting in their cars to drive around and look for Sascha and that they’d been asking their neighbors if they’d seen her. The whole community pulled together, and that just reaffirms why we are here.”
Monteagle: Silent Auction, Leaf Pickup, Disaster Planning
by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer
At the Nov. 25 Monteagle City Council meeting, librarian Karen Tittle announced the ongoing silent auction at the May Justus Memorial Library in Monteagle. The council also heard updates on leaf pickup, disaster planning and construction of the new fire hall.
The library’s silent auction funds the summer reading programs, which typically attract as many as 100 area youth and their families, Tittle said. The auction features theme baskets offering games and toys, kitchenwares, craft items, and more. Bidding ends at noon today, Dec. 6.
Addressing concerns about leaves clogging the gutters, Vice Mayor Tony Gilliam said the city would pick up leaves on city property and select problem locations. Due to the cost and manpower demands, the city discontinued leaf pick up this fall, but will make exceptions to prevent drainage issues.
Reporting on the Planning Commission’s disaster readiness efforts, Gilliam said the commission met with Marion County Emergency Management Director Steve Lamb. “We’re getting on board with those folks so the next time we have a disaster, we don’t have to go through FEMA and will have people in our own county who can help us.”
The Planning Commission is also looking into pursuing block grants to assist with the purchase of two fire trucks.
“The new fire hall is 96 percent complete,” Gilliam said. The fire department is expected to occupy the building in early December.
Gilliam also announced the new roof on the post office had been completed.
Looking ahead, alderwoman Jessica Blalock, who heads up Parks and Recreation, said youth baseball signup would begin in January. Youth baseball is open to all young people ages 3 to 12.
Monteagle has retained the law firm Bible and Bible to represent the city and offer counsel in legal matters. The Jasper based firm also represents the city of Whitwell and the South Pittsburg Housing Authority. The principal, Jerry Bible, is joined by his daughter Sarah Bible.
The council will not meet in December.
Village Green Design Expands Village Vision
by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer
At the December Sewanee Village update meeting, project coordinator Frank Gladu presented the conceptual design for the village green and civic plaza proposed for the heart of the Sewanee Village.
Last month Scott Parker, principal for the South Carolina-based firm Design Works, spent several days in Sewanee. Parker met with community members, representatives from the Mountain Goat Trail Alliance and Sewanee Parks Committee, storm water consultants and others with a vested interest in the Sewanee Village initiative.
In designing the green planned for the current Sewanee Market lot, Design Works took into account “how the green interacts with everything around it,” Gladu said.
The approach resulted in an expanded vision that incorporates non-priority projects including a design for the civic plaza planned for the front lawn of Shenanigans and proposals for several other buildings.
Among these, Design Works envisioned a community center and theater complex on the west side of the green and an inn on the south side.
Design Works eliminated the road proposed for the west side of the green and replaced it with a bosquet as a transition to building fronts. The gravel, tree-lined border could accommodate movable furniture and vehicles during festivals and farmers markets.
Commenting on the proposed inn, Gladu said, “It makes sense with transient people coming and going.” Gladu also sees the inn as potentially attractive to investors as a revenue generator.
Asked who would pay for the community center and if it would include the senior center, Gladu replied, “This is so preliminary that level of detail hasn’t been determined. The proposed structures around the green are placeholders that could activate the green. The green design plan is a design of how the public space could work and the adjacencies anticipate what might be around it.”
As envisioned by the design, the Mountain Goat Trail will run along the north side parallel U.S. Hwy. 41A. A hedge on the north side will provide a safe border between the green and highway.
“The village and the University are Sewanee. They are not separate,” said Gladu citing Design Works’ guiding principles. “The design of public spaces should reflect and express both.”
The design incorporates storm water features, crosswalks and handicap access ramps. Shade trees frame the 70 feet by 125 feet lawn area on the east and west. Across the highway, a rock wall would buffer the plaza from the road and a small pavilion-style shade structure would offer shelter.
“Now that we have a design, we can begin to estimate the cost for the green and plaza,” Gladu said. “Those two projects will be dependent on philanthropy.” The University owns the sites proposed for the plaza and green.
Gladu anticipates having a final design in January. The final versions will correct some errors in street and building names.
Providing updates on other village projects, Gladu projected construction of the bookstore will be completed by early 2020.
Based on input from the housing focus group, BP Construction is rethinking use of the second-floor space in the market building, Gladu said. “Studio apartments didn’t resonate with the housing focus group,” he noted. Rather than apartments, BP Construction is considering condominiums or other possible use of the second-floor space. The building’s footprint is 7,500 square feet. The first floor will house retail, with a food market as the primary occupant.
Annual Holiday Studio Tour
Tennessee Craft-South invites the public to its annual Holiday Studio Tour on the Mountain at 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, and Sunday, Dec. 8, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Tennessee Craft-South is the regional branch of Tennessee Craft, the state-wide organization which supports and promotes all handmade crafts in Tennessee.
More than 24 local and regional artists will show their work during the weekend, ranging from textiles, sculpture, jewelry, pottery, and glass to paintings, paper art, cast bronze, metal work, and woodwork. Sewanee artist studios open to the public for the Tour include those of Bob Askew, Pippa Browne, Ben Potter, Claire Reishman and Merissa Tobler. Other Sewanee locations include the American Legion Hall, Locals Gallery, The Frame Gallery, and Local Artists at Clara’s Point. In Monteagle, open studios include those of Christi Teasley and The Gallery in the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly. Light refreshments will be offered at most locations.
There is a group exhibition of many artists’ work in the St. Andrew’s-Sewanee Art Gallery, located in the center of the Simmonds Building at SAS. While most sites host different individual artists showing work, the SAS Art Gallery presents a display from all members of the group, in addition to SAS faculty and students and other members of Tennessee Craft -South. Most works featured in the Studio Tour Exhibition are for sale.
There are six sponsors for the Holiday Studio Tour this year: The Blue Chair, The Lemon Fair, Locals, Mooney’s, Shenanigans, and the Sewanee Inn. Studio Tour brochures are available at each of these local businesses and at all participating studios.
Bright yellow signs mark the tour route, and maps are available at all locations on the tour as well as at all sponsors’ locations, on page 5 of this week’s issue, and on the Tennessee Craft website http://tennesseecraft.org/members/chapters/south/