that Rocks
Hoosier Ar tist Galler y
Ricky Skaggs Inter view
FIELD NOTES
MUSINGS
Blackberr ying
Brown Count y Ar tist
James Trac y
S alt Creek Trail
The best fresh fruit of summer, even better!
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We’ve been bringing great taste to you since 2012 from our inviting little shop in the heart of Brown County, Indiana.
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www.thewildolive.com | 37 W
| (812) 988-9453
Village Green Building
Brown County N
Jeff Tryon is a former news editor of The Brown County Democrat, and a former region reporter for The Republic. Born and raised in Brown County, he currently lives with his wife, Sue, in a log cabin on the edge of Brown County State Park. He is a Baptist minister.
Mark Blackwell no longer makes his home in Brown County where “the roadway is rough and the slopes are seamed with ravines” He now resides within sight of the sixth green of an undisclosed golf course. He was born in the middle of the last century and still spends considerable time there.
Cover: Tanner and Josie Gray at Copperhead Creek Mine and Brown County Rock Shop ~by Evan Markley
copyright 2022
Joe Lee is an illustrator and writer. He is the author of Forgiveness: The Eva Kor Story, The History of Clowns for Beginners, and Dante for Beginners. He is an editorial cartoonist for the Bloomington Herald Times, a graduate of Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Clown College, and a veteran circus performer. ourbrowncounty.com ourbrown@bluemarble.net Also online at issuu.com/ourbrowncounty OR search in the mobile app
and on
P.O. Box 157 Helmsburg, IN 47435 (812) 988-8807
Thanks, Mom, for making it happen!
Chrissy Alspaugh is a freelance writer and owner of Christina Alspaugh Photography. View her work at <ChristinaAlspaughPhotography. com>.She lives in Bartholomew County with her husband, Matt and three boys.
Jim Eagleman is a 40-year veteran naturalist with the IN DNR. In retirement, he is now a consultant. His program “Nature Ramblings” can be heard on WFHB radio, the Brown County Hour. He serves on the Sycamore Land Trust board. He enjoys reading, hiking, music, and birding. Jim and his wife Kay have lived here for more than 40 years.
Cindy Steele is the publisher and editor of this magazine. She sells and designs ads, sometimes writes, takes photos, and creates the layout. For fun, she likes to play the guitar or banjo and sing.
Evan Markley was raised in Brown County. He has been a zipline guide at eXplore Brown County and a lifeguard at area pools. He graduated from Indiana University in 2019. He ushers for Pacers Sports and Marketing at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. He enjoys hiking and following NBA basketball. He plans to start his own podcast.
Julia Pearson wrote for a Franciscan magazine for ten years and served as its human interest editor. She now resides in Lake Woebegone Country for life’s continuing adventures. Julia enjoys traveling and visiting museums of all types and sizes, with her children and grandchildren.
Paige Langenderfer is a freelance writer and consultant. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Indiana University and her Master’s degree in public relations management from IUPUI. Paige lives in Columbus with her husband and daughters.
Ryan Stacy and his wife recently moved to Pennsylvania and continues to stay connected with our Brown County. He appreciates good movies, good food, and enjoys cultural events. His other interests include reading, photography, and playing music.
Rachel Berenson Perry is fine arts curator emerita at the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites. She lives in Brown County, where she hikes in the woods, makes ceramic creatures, and writes books about Indiana artists.
*Mike Briner is a Columbus native that became interested in photography as a high school yearbook photographer. With a love of travel and the great outdoors and inspired by the natural beauty of nature, Mike’s photography quickly moved from the school to the out of doors. In 1998 he founded Mike Briner Photography and started his professional career as a travel and nature photographer. Mike now has well over 55,000 film as well as over 30,000 digital images in his library.
Thanks to Kara Barnard for the cartoon and Michele Pollock for the poem.
The Iris Garden Grays Family Business that Rocks
“Smack dab” in the heart of Nashville lies a not so hidden gem. Matt and Amy Gray are the proprietors of two businesses: Iris Garden Cottages & Suites, and the Brown County Rock Shop. Both are located next to each other on North Van Buren Street, in the middle of Nashville’s shopping district. Along with their offspring, Josie and Tanner Gray, Matt and Amy specialize in creating memorable experiences for guests visiting our one-of-akind town.
Evan Markley
Matt and Josie run the lodging accommodations, and Amy and Tanner run the rock shop. This is true for the most part, but everyone in the family is interchangeable. Together, with side-by-side encouragement, they go above and beyond for their guests.
After owning and operating several art galleries across the country, Matt and Amy Gray moved to Brown County with their kids in 2003. That is when they bought the complex and opened the Iris Garden Art Gallery. They also offered lodging on their property. As Nashville changed over the years, so did the Gray’s business. In 2007, they opened Copperhead Creek Gem Mine, and in 2008, they opened the Brown County Rock Shop to accompany it.
After managing art for more than a decade, the Gray’s closed down the gallery in 2016. They then transitioned the gallery into lodging and an office space for Iris Garden Cottages & Suites.
While Matt and Amy are still heavily involved in the businesses, Josie and Tanner are “paving the way” towards their parents’ retirement. The Grays have been in business here for almost twenty years and hope to see the legacy potentially last another twenty.
~story and photos by
Tanner and Josie Gray at the Iris Garden Complex.
With a little less responsibility, Matt has been able to improve the aesthetics and atmosphere of the property.
Growing up in this beautiful place, you either take it for granted, or you have an overwhelming appreciation for it. Josie, age 26, and Tanner, age 24, belong to the latter camp.
Tanner and Josie feel the best part of the job is getting to know their customers. They get travelers from all different walks of life and everyday is different. From repeats to new faces, the diversity of conversation keeps every day interesting.
Josie graduated from Brown County High School, and then Indiana Wesleyan University. After college, she worked in the corporate world, traveling out of state as a marketer for an RV dealership for several years, before returning home to help run the business.
She is knowledgeable about the area and her recommendations are golden. You can ask her about anything, and she can find an answer. Josie is reliable, relatable, and always smiling. Repeat customers remember her kindness and care, and she remembers them right back.
Josie is an avid traveler and when she’s not working, you can find her out on Sweetwater Lake, or kicking someone’s butt on the tennis courts.
Tanner also graduated from Brown County High School and went on to be a white-water rafting guide in Kentucky for several years. He has experience in the food service industry, and has worked in art studios in D.C. and Gatlinburg before returning to Brown County.
Tanner is laid back and outdoorsy. He has an extensive knowledge of geology and searches for geodes in local creeks. He is funny and is always striking up an interesting conversation. When Tanner is not in the shops, he can be found hiking, longboarding, or making jewelry. If you visit the shop at the right time, you might get to meet his dog, Guide.
Iris Garden Cottages & Suites offers accommodations for visitors wanting to be as close to heart of Nashville as possible. All the shops, restaurants, and art galleries are within walking distance, allowing travelers the chance to ditch their cars for their entire stay. If lodgers do wish to do a little driving, Brown County State Park, the Brown
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Brown County Antique Mall
JULY 23 –AUGUST 21
Exhibit of Works by Contemporary Printmakers from across Indiana
NEW LEAF
48 S. Van Buren Street Nashville, IN 47448
812 988-6185
BrownCountyArtGuild.org
photo by
Wedel
County Music Center, and Bill Monroe’s Music Park are short drives away. Guests can expect clean, cozy rooms, and kind, caring staff.
The Gray’s own eight different lodging locations, all within their complex’s vicinity. Prices are dynamic and seasonal, but generally range from $99-160 a night. Most of them can house two to five people, but one sleeps up to seven. Twenty-six people is max capacity for their lodging.
More information can be found at <irisgardenlodging.com>. You can contact them anytime at 812-988-2422. The best way to book is directly through them.
I had the pleasure of staying in the “Chipmunk Junction” cottage with my significant other for our “first date” anniversary, and it was one of the best getaways I have experienced.
The Brown County Rock Shop sells a variety of rocks, fossils, and gemstones. Matt and Amy have been hand picking minerals from venders across the world for over a decade. This has allowed them to build up one of the most unique inventories of rocks and minerals in all of Indiana. Pieces range from large, rare, expensive
gemstones, to cool rocks kids can spend their allowance on. Everything in the shop is fun to look at and you’ll want to come back again to see it all.
Along with all the beautiful items for sale, the Brown County Rock Shop also sells mining bags. Visitors can pan for gems and fossils themselves with these bags at the Copperhead Creek Gem Mine located right outside the shop. There’s a process to mining for gems: place only a handful from the bag at a time in the pan, then dunk the pan in the water and wash the sand away, and lastly pick out the gems that are left.
Families have a blast in the summer panning away in the cool water, finding surprises along the way. Bags range from $9–$50 depending on the size and contents of the bag. The most popular is the “Motherload” bag at $30, but no matter the bag, the gems inside collectively will be worth more than the purchase price of the bag. You can find more information on the rock shop at <browncountyrockshop.com>.
Guests keep coming back year after year to the Iris Garden complex because of the family that runs the place. You can follow the Grays on social media on Instagram and Facebook through their business names. They sometimes offer giveaways and announce sales.
THE GRAYS continued from 17
ChamberFest Brown County
~by Chrissy Alspaugh
Some of the highest-quality musicians from around the world will gather in Nashville from August 14 to 22, 2022, for the second annual ChamberFest Brown County.
“No other music festival in Indiana will surpass the talent that we are bringing to Nashville this summer,” said Annie Hawk, president of the ChamberFest board of directors. “We want to be a destination event for music lovers in Indiana and beyond.”
As a way to encourage all attendees, the majority of concerts will be held with the option to attend free of charge.
This year’s ChamberFest will feature the Lincoln String Quartet, comprised of members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, including its principal cellist, John Sharp; baroque violinist and Avery Fisher Career Grant winner Rachell Wong; and esteemed IU Jacobs School of Music professors Mark Kaplan, violin, and Peter Stumpf, cello.
The festival will feature interdisciplinary events highlighting contrasting styles of music and artistic
Lincoln String Quartet. courtesy photo
experience. Performances will be held at various Nashville locations and showcase:
Fry Street Quartet, hailed as “a triumph of ensemble playing” by The New York Times; Classical guitar soloist and chamber musician Jordan Dodson, called “one of the top young guitarists of his generation” by Performance Today;
Pianist Andreas Ioannides, who has received enthusiastic reviews by the Boston Globe and whose performances have been broadcast on television and radio across three continents; Catherine Bowman, whose poems have appeared in several editions of Best American Poetry and editor of Word of Mouth: Poems Featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered”; Aleksey Artemyev, award-winning piano soloist and chamber musician throughout his native Uzbekistan and the U.S.;
David Belkovski, international competition winner for his artistry on historical and modern keyboards;
American violinist Madalyn Parnas Möller, an active soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and educator who has been enthusiastically endorsed by The New York Times;
On the final night of the festival, the Lincoln String Quartet will be joined by members of IU’s professional quartet-in-residence, Pacifica, a Grammy Award-winning group that over the past 26 years has achieved international recognition as one of the finest performing chamber ensembles.
Other performers throughout ChamberFest will include internationally-known pianist Elisabeth Pridonoff, opera soprano Catherine Compton, adjunct associate clarinet professor Andrea Levine, 24-year-old internationallyacclaimed cellist Gabriel Martins, Japanese pianist and recording musician Futaba Niekawa, baritone Bruno Sandes, award winning classical guitar artist John Marcel Williams, the Volante
Continued on 25
COX
MILL CREEK
Unique Metal Art Studio
Iron Gate home of by
Brad Cox and his wife Stephanie invite you to discover their studio and mill located along the banks of S alt Creek, just 10 minutes from Nashville.
4705 Annie Smith Rd. Nashville
theirongatebybradcox@yahoo.com
Hours vary. Call ahead.
92 w franklin st • nashville, in • 812.988.0336
sunday 12-4, tuesday—saturday 11-5, Tuesday evening 6:30-8:30
come see us in antique alley, next to brown county pottery online store: claypurl.com
Winds Quintet that has performed in competitions and festivals throughout the world, and music theory lecturer Roman Ivanovitch.
For reserve seats or a full schedule of events and locations, visit <ChamberFestBrownCounty.com>.
Admission is free for performances at the Nashville United Methodist Church, the Brown County Presbyterian Fellowship, and the St. Agnes Catholic Church. Donations are much appreciated. If you wish to ensure your seat you, may reserve it for a fee of $20.
Tickets for the August 20 Lincoln String Quartet performance are available for purchase through the Brown County Playhouse website <BrownCountyPlayhouse.org>.
“I heard a comment at a recent concert we held in Nashville, that they had always imagined chamber music would be stuffy and boring, but what they had heard was anything but,” said Lisa Thompson, festival board secretary. “That summarizes our goal at ChamberFest—to bring the enjoyment of world-class music to all.”
The
Brad Cox
The Salt Creek Trail
T~by Julia Pearson
he Salt Creek Trail is a pedestrian pathway for everyone wishing to exercise their legs and imaginations. It is the perfect saunter for walking meditation, catching photographs of birds and small critters, or soothing a child to sleep in a stroller, with ample room for power walkers to get by. The first paved trail in Brown County, it is available to everyone from dawn till dusk and most folks say it is an easy trek “out and back” of less than an hour.
The Salt Creek Trail was first opened on November 8, 2013 and was three quarters of a mile long, with two trail heads located at the southeast corner of the Nashville CVS or south of the YMCA parking lot.
The Salt Creek Trail provides a taste of the wilderness that continues to draw visitors to Brown County. Along North Fork Salt Creek, the trail ambles through the woods with oak trees, tulip poplar, hickory, and basswood, and conveniently connects to Van Buren/State Route 135 in downtown Nashville. The internet website, Tripadvisor, has multiple reviews citing how safe and clean the Salt Creek Trail is.
A real treat for those staying at the Comfort Inn and Brown County Inn, there is also a small playground near the YMCA and picnic tables. Families will especially like the Story Walk, a partnership project of the Brown County Public Library and the Brown County Parks and Recreation that had its grand
photos by Cindy Steele
opening on April 2. Early literacy elements and movement activities are featured on 18 panels on posts. The Story Walks are selfguided, with a total of three books highlighted this year.
From the beginning, maintenance of the trail has been provided by Brown County Parks and Recreation. Mark Shields, a native son of neighboring Monroe County and who studied Outdoor Recreation, Resource Management and Park Administration at Indiana University (Bloomington), has been director of Parks and Recreation for 13 years
Shields also notes that a second phase of the trail will be paved later this fall. It runs from the Brown County State Park to the Red Barn Jamboree property.
A detail that will interest history buffs is that an iron bridge was split into two sections for use on the next phase of the trail. The Indiana Department of Transportation retires bridges of significant age and/or design to a “bone yard” when structures need to be replaced for upgrading safety and current traffic needs. This single iron bridge from Clay County, now two pieces, services where the Salt Creek crosses the trail. It was installed by INDOT and painted a bright red. Brown County will assume responsibility for repainting the bridges every 25 years and make sure they are inspected.
A similar arrangement brought the “double barrel” bridge at the north entrance of
the Brown County State Park. It was built in the late 1830s from hand-hewn timbers for around $300 at the time, carrying the old New AlbanyLafayette turnpike across Ramp Creek in Putnam County, one of Indiana’s oldest spans. It was moved from Fincastle in 1932, after the Indiana Department of Conservation had it taken down. Each timber was numbered so that it could be reconstructed across Salt Creek in its current Brown County location.
Some more interesting history notes: Salt springs located along the creek banks in the western part of Washington Township gave Salt Creek its name. Long before settlers made Brown County home, deer were known to come to the “licks” for their salt. Old-timers told how after a “well was sunk,” there would be flowing brine. It was boiled down in iron kettles until a hard cake of salt remained. The salt cakes were pulverized and sold to settlers who traveled as far as 50 miles to purchase the salt.
And looking at the timeline for paved roadways in Brown County: though the first cars appeared in 1913, county roads were gradually improved. State Road 135 from Nashville to Morgantown was built and hard-surfaced by 1935. State Road 46 between Nashville and Bloomington was considered one of the best roads in Indiana when it was paved.
Hoosier Buddy Liquors
Cold Beer, Fine Wines & Select Spirits
Cold Beer:
Hoosier Buddy o ers more than 150 di erent beers, including more than 80 craft, micro, and impor ts. We proudly o er a wide variety of beers from Indiana’s nest brewers
Fine Wines:
Hoosier Buddy is a wine -lovers type of store With more than 200 wines to choose from, we’ve got something for ever yone. Check out our “A ordable Impor ts” and “90+ Point” selections.
Select Spirits:
Hoosier Buddy o ers an ever expanding array of top -notch spirits. Our whiskey categor y alone includes more than 75 di erent choices. Whether you’re look ing for a Single Barrel Bourbon or a Single Malt from Islay— we stock them.
Van Buren •
IN (next to Subway) 812-988-2267
&Co.
JULY 25 | 7:30pm
UPCOMING EVENTS
One Pulse: Wastin’ Away in Margaritaville
JULY 8 at 7:30pm
One Pulse: The King: A Tribute to Elvis Presley
JULY 9 at 7:30pm
Rainwater Studios Summer Showcase
JULY 16 at 7:30pm
Letters From Home
Patriotic tap dance and music
JULY 29 at 7:30pm
Fingerstyle Guitar Competition
JULY 30 at 11:00am
Fingerstyle Guitar Evening Concert
JULY 30 at 7:30pm
Casablanca: Live Retro Radio Show
AUGUST 5 & 6 at 7:30pm
ChamberFest Presents The Lincoln String Quartet
AUGUST 20 at 7:00pm
Ricky Skaggs
Coming to Brown County
~by Ryan Stacy
To call Ricky Skaggs an icon would be accurate, but a little misleading. Icons—in cathedrals and on desktops—are stationary and fixed. They’re powerful, but they just sit there. Ricky Skaggs, however, is anything but unmoving. He’s a picking, fiddling force of nature who changes every musical landscape he touches.
By the time he was old enough to hold a mandolin, Ricky was playing with the greats. He joined Bill Monroe onstage at age six; he was on TV with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs by seven. By 1980, he’d played with Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, and J.D. Crowe & the New South. Then he launched a solo career that’s now spanned over four decades and three musical genres.
Fans and critics responded, and to date Ricky’s taken home more than a dozen Grammys and
eight CMAs, and he’s been inducted into the Country Music, Bluegrass, Gospel, Musicians, and National Fiddler Halls of Fame. Then in 2020, his genre-defining, chart-topping, industry-sweeping musical career was recognized with a National Medal of Arts.
Fun fact: Ricky Skaggs may admire Brown County as much as Brown County admires him. As a kid, he’d listen to Bill Monroe on the Grand Ole Opry’s radio show on Saturday nights. “I remember Mr. Monroe talking about his bluegrass festival in Bean Blossom, Indiana, and he was so excited about it,” Ricky says. “It made me want to go.” He did eventually go—in 1971, as a member of bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley’s band. “Man, that was such an eye
Continued on 34
courtesy photo
Farmhouse Cafe
opener, seeing all these musicians that I’d grown up listening to,” he recalls. The Bean Blossom Festival (now the Bill Monroe Memorial Festival) was where he finally met Monroe, and it’s where his wife-to-be Sharon, of the bluegrass group the Whites, first saw Ricky perform.
He’s been back several times since then, and even besides the Bill Monroe connection to southern Indiana, Ricky feels a connection here to his original home in Kentucky. “The [Ohio] River’s about the only difference, the people are much the same,” he relates. “People have farms, raise their families, go to church. Just reallife America. We love playing Indiana because there’s lots of like-minded people that come out to see us, and that love bluegrass, and gospel, and country.”
Now Ricky’s playing for us again, this time at the Brown County Music Center on August 26. This tour features Kentucky Thunder, whom Ricky’s played with for over twenty years. Although their lineup’s changed over time, he promises that this iteration of the band is the best one yet. “They’re just really unbelievable,” he says. “Just the highest quality players that I’ve been around. I don’t know anybody that’s their equal. I’m just so thankful.” (If you’ve ever seen Ricky Skaggs play the mandolin, that kind of praise should cause your heart to skip a beat.)
The BCMC show promises to be as good a showcase of Ricky’s music as ever—which should surprise no one. All the songs on this tour, which incorporate bluegrass, gospel, and country, are performed acoustically, with no amplifiers on stage. “I let the band play a lot, because I came up out of a bluegrass band, where people took solos,” explains Ricky. Those familiar with his past work with Kentucky Thunder will recognize some of their bestknown instrumental numbers. “But,” he teases, “we also have quite a few new ones that we haven’t recorded yet.” New songs or old, though, “People are not gonna go away disappointed, I guarantee it,” he says.
For more information on Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder at the Brown County Music Center, please contact the box office at 812-9885323 or visit <browncountymusiccenter.com>.
Blossom
Brown County Visitors Center. 211 South Van Buren Street. Downtown Nashville.
Musings
~by Mark Blackwell
Bad Dream, Daydreaming
Iam not prone to outlandish dreams, but I recently had a real doozy of a dream that veered into the path of an on-coming nightmare. I can’t say for sure what brought it on, but I am suspicious of the salami and onion on rye with Dijon mustard sandwich I had for a bedtime snack.
Whatever the engine was, I’m reasonably sure the inspiration for it was a quote I read from Kin Hubbard (you know, that “Abe Martin” guy). Kin was quoting one of his Brown County characters, Tipton Bud, who said, “It is only a question o’ few years till… great chains o’ stores o’ one sort or another are managed by one head, an’ it is only a question o’ time till there’ll be an automatic chain store manager invented.”
Well, that certainly is a thought to ponder, but not before bed, and not after a
salami sandwich. My thoughts that evening reminded me of an idea that arises in Brown County from time to time. That is the idea of coaxing one of those big box stores to put down roots outside of Nashville.
That quote got me to thinking about how even littler stores have been competing, not so much with pricing, but with convenience. You know you can’t go down to the grocery store for a gallon of milk without seeing a rack with socks and small appliances and patio furniture. And you can’t go to a drugstore without seeing racks of snacks, and beach balls, and other assorted “seasonal items.”
Seems like every kind of retail establishment is trying to stock whatever they think customers will want any time any time they want it. Of course, the big box stores just about took over everything: clothes, auto supplies, prescriptions, and groceries. Wal-E-World or Cost-Lots or Big Bullseye probably has it. If they don’t, now you can get it online and have it delivered from the “cloud.”
Back to my dream. I was all over the place. I was in a town council meeting, and a county council meeting. I was out where there was surveying going on and at a meeting of Nashville shop owners and artists. There were folks giving speeches everywhere. Groups were being formed. Tension permeated the village.
I was at a meeting where the local merchants were trying come up with ideas for out-competing the proposed Wal-E-World store. There was much discussion, some gnashing of teeth, and one or two cases of champingat-the-bit. In my dream, the chairman of the outfit started rapping a gavel made of beautiful walnut burl, hand turned on an antique treadle lathe by a local craftsperson. He announced that there was a motion on the floor and a feller stood up to launch his idea for putting a big roof or a dome of some kind over the whole village and re-naming it “Nash-Mart.”
That was when I woke up. I have been in a relationship with Brown County for more than 50 years and the idea of a Nash-Mart chills me to my marrow. I know in my heart that that can’t happen, because Brown County in general, and Nashville in specific, knows what it is and why and that’s why people love to come here.
I think Brown County has about everything a body could wish for. If you can’t get everything you need at the I.G.A., Bear Hardware, and Hoosier Buddy; and then what you want everywhere else in town, then you might want to seriously re-think your priorities.
But I would like to see an addition to our little county. The kind of store I’m daydreaming about is the kind that sells moon pies and pickled bologna. The kind that might have a couple of gas pumps outside and a step or two
up to a covered porch. There might be one or two screen doors with push bars made from enameled steel that said, “Bunny Bread.” Flanking the entryway would be a pop machine stocked with five different flavors of Nehi soda and there would be a secondhand church pew to sit on. And somewhere, on an outside wall would hang a thermometer, probably advertising RC cola.
I can easily imagine myself sitting on that church pew on a warm summer afternoon with an ice-cold grape soda. I would watch the needle on the old RC thermometer creeping up with the heat of the day and listen to the grasshoppers, and katydids, and mourning doves.
A few of our stores remind me of those times, namely Nashville General Store and Bakery, Helmsburg General Store, and the Gatesville Country Store.
Even without my imagined country store trip back in time, Brown County is still a great place to slow down, sit on a bench with an ice cream cone, and remember.
photos by Mike Briner
Brown County Playhouse
July 8 Wastin’ Away in Margaritaville
July 9 Tribute to Elvis Presley
July 16 Rainwater Summer Showcase
July 29 Letters from Home
July 30 Fingerstyle Guitar Competition
11:00, Concert at 7:30
Aug. 5, 6 Casablanca: Live Radio Show
Aug. 20 ChamberFest - Lincoln Quartet
70 S. Van Buren Street 812-988-6555 www.browncountyplayhouse.org
Brown County Music Center
July 2 Killer Queen
July 23 Little Feat
July 30 Gladys Knight
July 31 Blackberry Smoke with Elizabeth Cook
Aug. 26 Rick Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder 812-988-5323 www.browncountymusiccenter.com
Brown County Inn
Open Mic Nights Wed. 6:00-9:00
Hill Folk Series Thurs. 7:00-9:00
Fri. & Sat. Live Music 8:00-11:00
Acoustic Brunch Sat. Noon-3:00
July 1 Steve Fulton
July 2 Roger Banister & Denise Kocur -Noon
Jack Whittle Trio - 8:00
July 8 Sean Lamb & Janet Miller
July 9 Stant & Moore with Carolyn Dutton - Noon Amanda Webb Band 8:00
July 15 Will Scott & Chuck Wills with guest Carolyn Dutton
July 16 Wayne Pennington - Noon
Piney Woods & The Strip Mall Wonder Band - 8:00
July 22 Kade Puckett
July 23 Zion Crossroads - Noon
J.C. Clements Band - 8:00
July 29 TBD
July 30 LeAnn Stutler - Noon
The 1-4-5’s - 8:00
Aug. 5 Steve Fulton
Aug. 6 Ciara Haskett - Noon
The Acre Brothers - 8:00
County
The schedule can change. Please check before making a trip.
Aug. 12 Sean Lamb & Janet Miller
Aug. 13 Frank Jones - Noon
Thee Vatos Supreme - 8:00
Aug. 19 Jan Bell & Opal Fly
Aug. 20 John Whitcomb - Noon
Homemade Jam - 8:00
Aug. 26 Kade Puckett
Aug. 27 Ruben Guthrie - Noon
Andra Faye & Scott Ballantine 8:00
51 State Road 46 East 812-988-2291 www.browncountyinn.com
Country Heritage Winery
Music Fri. & Sat. 6:00-9:00
July 1 Clearwater Band
July 2 Live Music
July 8 Live Music
July 9 Will Certain
July 15 Open Mic Night
July 16 Bakersfield Bound
July 22 Tony Hopkins
July 23 Ryan Paul Wilson
July 29 Steve Hickman
July 30 Kit Haymond
Aug. 5 Homemade Jam
Aug. 6 Gary Applegate & Joe Rock
Aug. 12 Paul Bertsch Band
Aug. 13 Damon Mitchell
Coner Berry Band
Aug. 19 Open Mic Night
Aug. 20 Jerrod Bolt
Aug. 26 Steve Fulton
Aug. 27 Dan Kirk Band
225 S. Van Buren Street 812-988-8500 www.countryheritagewinery.com
Nashville House
Music Fri. & Sat. 6:00-9:00, Sun. 1:00-4:00
July 1 Kit Haymond
July 2 Ciara Haskett
July 3 Steve Plessinger
July 8 Jan Bell
July 9 Jess Jones
July 10 Matt Lundquist
July 15 Buck Knawe
July 16 The Blankenships
July 17 Edward Fry
July 22 Dave Sisson
July 23 The Hammer & The Hatchet
July 24 Ivory Carnival
July 29 Malachi Jaggers
July 30 Steve Smith
July 31 Travers Marks
Aug. 5 The Hammer & The Hatchet
Aug. 6 Will Scott
Aug. 7 Dakota Muckey
Aug. 12 Gene Gillham
Aug. 13 Cody Nelson Williams
Aug. 14 Kit Haymond
Aug. 19 Wayne Pennington
Aug. 20 Austin James
Aug. 21 Wayne Pennington
Aug. 26 Coot Crabtree
Aug. 27 Will Scott
Aug. 28 Buck Knawe
15 S. Van Buren Street 812-988-4554 www.nashvillehousebc.com
Ferguson House Beer Garden
Music Fri. & Sat. 6:00-9:00, Sun. 1:00-4:00
July 1 Live Music
July 2 Travers Marks
July 3 Austin James
July 8 Lexi Lynn
July 9 Coot Crabtree
July 10 Wayne Pennington
July 15 The Hammer & The Hatchet
July 16 Frank Jones
July 17 Robert Federson
July 22 Live Music
July 23 Laura Cannallon
July 24 The Hammer & The Hatchet
July 29 Live Music
July 30 Will Scott
July 31 Ruben Guthrie
Aug. 5 Dave Sisson
Aug. 6 The Hammer & The Hatchet
Aug. 7 Jess Jones
Aug. 12 Steve Hickman
Aug. 13 Buck Knawe
Aug. 14 Tabitha White
Aug. 19 The Blankenships
Aug. 20 Common Ground
Aug. 21 Frank Jones
Aug. 26 Richard Groner
Aug. 27 Edward Fry
Aug. 28 Robert Federson
78 Franklin Street 812-988-4042
Big Woods Pizza
Music Tue. & Fri. 5:00-8:00
July 1 Wayne Pennington
July 5 Rich Hardesty
July 8 Tyler Poe
July 15 Coot Crabtree
July 19 Justyn Underwood
July 22 Scott Gould
July 26 Roger Osburn
July 29 Kit Haymond
Aug. 2 RichHardesty
Aug. 5 Shane Scarazzini
Aug. 9 Breanna Faith
Aug. 12 Scotter Hanes
Aug. 16 Justyn Underwood
Aug. 19 Coot Crabtree
Aug. 23 Nick Ivanovich
Aug. 26 Scott Coner
Aug. 30 Mark Sweetman 44 N. Van Buren Street www.bigwoodsrestaurants.com
Hard Truth Hills
July 1 Jack Whittle Trio 7-10
July 2 David Ackerman Duo 11-2
Gary Applegate & Joe Rock 3-6
She Loves Horses 7-10
July 3 Gabe Sigler 11-2
Current Entertainment 2-5
Kickitlester 6-9
July 4 Scrapper and Blackwell 11-2
July 8 Moonshine Mary 7-10
July 9 Frank Bradford 11-2
The Lost Highway 3-6
Vinyl Escape Band 7-10
July 10 Scott Gould 12-3
July 15 Mikey Goode & the Junkyard Dogs 7-10
July 16 Kara Cole 11-2
Fake ID 3-6
90s Night XGeneration 7-10
July 17 Gina and Joel Duo 12-3
July 22 Lisa Frank, Trapper Keepers 7-10
July 23 Coot Crabtree 11-2
Paul Bertsch Band 3-6
Rough Draft 7-10
July 24 Mark Sweetman 12-3
July 29 Strawbury Jam Band 7-10
July 30 Juan Douglas Trio 3-6
Jayne Bond, Pink Martinis 7-10
July 31 Tracy Thompson 12-3
Aug. 5 OCD Band
Aug. 6 Toasted Coconut Rum Luau 4-10
Aug. 7 Keith Scott Blues 12-3
Aug. 12 Doug Henthorn and the LLC
Aug. 13 Mark Sweetman 11-2
The Friends Band 3-6
Karma 6-9
Aug. 14 Gina and Joel Duo 12-3
Aug. 19 Poor Man’s Version 6-9
Aug. 20 Scooter Hanes 11-2
Acoustic Edge 3-6
Vinyl Escape Band 6-9
Aug. 21 Shane Scarazzini 12-3
Aug. 26 Paradigm
Aug. 27 Kit Haymond 11-2
John Ryan Music 3-6
Bonita 6-9
Aug. 28 Tracy Thompson 12-3
418 Old State Road 46 812-720-4840 www.hardtruthhills.com
19th Hole Sports Bar
Music 8:00-11:00 | Karaoke nights till 12
July 2 Karaoke
July 9 Past Tense
July 16 Clint Zimmerman
July 23 South of 44
July 30 Two for the Show
Aug. 6 Karaoke
Aug. 13 Ruben Guthrie
Aug. 20 Mitch Ellis
Aug. 27 Bev Bay Roberts Karaoke 2359 East State Road 46 812-988-4323 www.saltcreekgolf.com
Line Dancing with Billy
Mon. 6:30, Mike’s Music & Dance Barn 2277 State Road 46 812-988-8636
Village Art Walk
Fourth Fridays, 4:00-7:00 April-October Free self-guided tour of Nashville art galleries. Free Concert at Playhouse 6:30
Nashville Farmer’s Market
Sundays 11:00-2:00, Brown Co. Inn parking lot at State Road 135 & 46 intersection
Fireworks
July 3 | Brown Co. High School 10:00 Brown Co. Lions Club
Brown Co. 4-H Fair
July 25-30 | Brown Co. Fairgrounds
802 Memorial Drive
Hippy Hill Festival
July 28-30 | Bill Monroe’s Music Park
Music, food, vendors 5163 N. SR 135 812-988-6422
https://billmonroemusicpark.com/
Fingerstyle Guitar Festival
July 29-30 | Fri. Party at BCI 7:00
Sat. Competition starts 11:00 am
Concert 7:30 at Brown Co. Playhouse www.indianastringfest.com www.browncountyplayhouse.org
Humane Society Barn Sale
Aug. 11-13 | 8-4 | BC Humane Soc. Fundraiser
Away A Day RV Campground in Gnaw Bone 5515 State Road 46, Nashville
ChamberFest Brown Co.
Aug. 14-20 at various locations
Aug. 14 Guitar Duo 7:00
Brown Co. Presbyterian Fellowship
Aug. 15 Early Music Duo 7:00
St. Agnes Catholic Church
Aug. 16 Open Mic Poetry 7:00
Country Heritage Winery
Aug. 17 Clarinet, Piano, Voice, Strings 7:00
Aug. 18 Piano and Strings 7:00
Aug. 19 Piano Trio 7:00 Nashville United Methodist Church
Aug. 20 Lincoln String Quartet Concert Brown Co. Playhouse www.chamberfestbrowncounty.com
Southern Indiana Blues Fest
Aug. 25-27 | Bill Monroe’s Music Park Music, food, vendors 5163 N. SR 135 812-988-6422 https://billmonroemusicpark.com/
Firetower 15.3 Duathlon & 5k
Aug. 28 | Brown Co. State Park, at Firetower field. Presented by Brown Co. YMCA, 5k road run, 10 mile road bike ride, 2.2 mile trail run
“It’s always been nature, with me,” artist James Tracy responds to a question about his inspiration. And it’s no wonder. A native Brown Countian, he spent his formative years roaming in the woods during all seasons, from spring’s blooming redbuds, to fall forest tapestries of saturated color.
Growing up in the 1950s, his timing was conducive to learning about painting from seasoned landscape painters—the last of Brown County’s original art colony. “From my earliest
Brown County Artist
James Tracy
Americana to Contemporary Serigraphs
memories I was captivated by the natural beauty of this place,” Tracy said. “This love of nature and my exposure to art and artists led to an awakening of whatever natural ability I may have had. I had a sense I was part of something unique, very special….I knew from an early age [that] art was my calling.”
Starting with individual instruction from artist Kaye Pool at age eight, Tracy went on to study printmaking and photography at the University of New Mexico, followed by classes in drawing, painting, printmaking, and art history at Indiana University Southeast as well as Indiana University. After working various graphic design jobs in New Mexico and Los Angeles, Tracy returned to his hometown roots in the early 1990s. “I wanted to spend whatever time I have left in the county. It is home to me,” he stated.
James Tracy has studied and admired painters in every genre from surrealist and abstract to Pop Art and photorealists. One of his current preferred artists is John Fabian Carlson (1875–1945). A Swedish-born American who specialized in winter scenes and became a leader of the Woodstock School of Landscape Painting, he was also a teacher of the late Brown County artist Fred Rigley. Tracy also expressed appreciation for the recent Brown County Art Gallery exhibition of paintings created in the State Park by Tim Greatbatch. “I admire his ambition and focus,” Tracy said. “If you want to do something well, you need to do it every day.”
Despite his comfort and familiarity in his old stomping grounds, Tracy carries a torch for the landscape, culture, and people in northern New Mexico. When the ubiquitous summer green of
~story and photo by Rachel Berenson Perry
Rural
Indiana becomes tedious, he often returns to the visual relief of big skies and desert mesas near Taos. “As soon as summer comes, I want to be in New Mexico,” he remarked. “These guys out west doing cowboy realist art are doing phenomenal work—they are killer landscape painters.”
As a professional fine artist for more than three decades, James Tracy has won accolades and awards from juried exhibits including the National Exhibition
of Painting and Sculpture at the Salmagundi Club in New York City, the annual Hoosier Salon (including “Best Traditional Painting in any Medium” in 1997) and Indiana Heritage Arts, where he received three merit awards in an early 2000s exhibition.
Tracy is equally at home with oils, woodblock and linocut printmaking, and illustration using a combination of hand-rendering and technology. His mastery of accurate drawing skills, particularly wildlife, sets him apart from many landscape artists. For his latest work he’s been experimenting with a laser engraver as well as large format serigraphs, or silkscreens, on heavy paper.
The latter process involves several steps and requires an assistant when handling sizeable prints. Tracy’s recent pieces use stylized images of ravens and owls, sometimes repeated, in flat bright colors with contrasting backgrounds. Resulting artwork is bold and contemporary.
“I still love painting,” he said, “but I want them to be more unique, my own voice.” Unlike the neoimpressionistic style popular with current plein air (on location) artists, Tracy tends to apply many thin layers of paint to create his desired effect. His landscapes, which he calls “Rural Americana,” often include closely rendered farmhouses and outbuildings using nuanced lighting. Conveying the
Continued on 44
“Approaching Storm,” oil on panel.
TRACY continued from 43
effect of quiet solitude, they harken back to depression-era American scenes “to create a hopeful view of life amidst economic turmoil” encouraged by Works Progress Administration programs like the Federal Art Project to sustain working artists.
A long-time bachelor, Tracy married Debbie Kent in 2020 and they have settled into a wooded homestead in eastern Brown County. A major project to build a new studio/ barn is consuming much of his time and energy, not the least of which includes employment as a graphic artist once again. The studio building began last spring and he estimated that finishing the interior will take another month. Earning money to pay off the new construction, Tracy is focused on his goals for the future.
“By fall everything should be set up. Who knows how much time is left?” he asked. “I feel fortunate to be here. I want to devote the rest of my life to painting.”
The artwork of James Tracy can be found at the Brown County Art Gallery or on his website <jamestracyarts.com>.
“Moonlit Cabin,” oil on panel.
“Farm Truck,” oil on panel.
July 29 and 30, 2022
This July guitarists will converge on Nashville, Indiana for the 11th Annual Indiana State Fingerstyle Guitar Festival. The only event of its kind in the Midwest, it will bring together 30 of the finest fingerstyle guitar players from around the world.
The musicians will compete for prize guitars from Thomas Roeger Guitars, SDC Guitars, and Sweetwater Music, as well as the opportunity to play during an evening concert that will feature International Championship winner Christie Lenée, Kade Puckett, Adam Cantor, and Bill Russell.
The competition and concert will be live streamed on Facebook Live, thanks to sponsorship from Nashville Spice Company.
Friday, July 29 will feature the Friday Night Party at Brown County Inn, from 7–11 p.m. Nationally-ranked guitarists will perform, including previous winners of the competition. This event is free to the public thanks to the WFHB Community Radio sponsorship.
The Fingerstyle Competition begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 30 at the Brown County Playhouse. Top winners will be announced at 2 p.m. and the evening concert begins at 7:30 p.m.
The Indiana State Fingerstyle Competition is one of only eight competitions worldwide to be accredited by the Walnut Valley Festival, which has been honoring acoustic musicians for the past 50 years during its national competition.
Tickets are available online at <indianastringfest. com> or <browncountyplayhouse.org> and at the Brown County Playhouse, 812-988-6555.
Blackberrying
~by Jeff Tryon
Here in beautiful Brown County, we are blessed not only with the majestic procession of seasons—each glorious in its own aspect—but also certain micro-seasons within the grand pattern.
Weather seems to be scrambled up like a walking taco these days, but when I was a kid, there were two very specific cold snaps in the spring and early summer.
The first, arriving in late April or early May, was called “Dogwood Winter,” and somehow figured in to help the dogwood trees bloom at the right time. Dad would pull up his coat collar and say, “Dogwood Winter.”
Then, early in May, when things were really starting to warm up, there would be another short cold snap Dad called “Blackberry Winter” which also, theoretically,
had something to do with helping the blackberries multiply.
After they cut down a massive amount of Brown County trees in the early settler days, bushes and shrubberies of every kind took over the landscape. Some were not at all helpful, but others, like huge thickets of blackberry vines, had their uses.
There would come a time, “long about knee deep in June” as James Whitcomb Riley said, when we would rise early, dress carefully, and go blackberrying.
It was important to cover as much bare skin as possible, because the overburdened blackberry vines were also loaded with briars—big, sharp stickers that would gouge you and draw blood if you weren’t careful.
This usually meant wearing long sleeved flannel shirts and bib overalls—even though temperatures would climb swiftly as the morning wore on. Mom would put rubber bands around the pant legs and cuffs to keep the insect hordes from getting in there and devouring us alive.
Chiggers belong to the same class of insects as scorpions and ticks. They cause most of the itchy, summertime bites that occur after walking outdoors through grassy or brushy areas. They grab onto shoes or clothing and typically explore a host for several hours before choosing a place to feed. Bites are most common at sites around sock lines on the ankles, around the waist, and near the groin. Bites also may occur in other areas, including behind the knee, and under the armpit.
When I was a small boy, I seemed to be the ideal host for armies of these annoying pests. They found
me perfectly delectable. After these blackberrying outings I would be covered in every private area by tons of bites.
Between the bees, the mosquitoes, the ticks, and the rest, I was pretty much an insect banquet for most of the summer. We were children of nature. The woods were our wonderland and constant companion.
After bath time, Dad would dab calamine lotion on all the little itchy red spots and he would recite a little poem:
“If a chigger were bigger, say as big as a cow, “And his digger were bigger, as big as a plow, “Oh where oh where would Jeffrey be now?”
Not far from our house on Hornettown Road was a huge overgrown brushy brake, at the edge of the woods, by a field. It was full of blackberry briars, huge canes of luscious, plump fruit defended only by the sharp prehistoric claws of the blackberry briars.
With the patience of age, adults usually did pretty well at getting the fruit without getting hurt. But greedy, overeager boys often paid in blood for the luscious prize.
We collected the berries in big two-and-a-half gallon galvanized pails. Between my parents and brothers and I, we picked a lot of berries. Of course, we boys were probably eating as many as we were putting in the pail. That was our rule.
Standing in the blackberry thicket as a summer morning quickly warmed to summer day, we
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encountered a seemingly inexhaustible supply of big, fat, ripe blackberries—buckets and buckets of them— free for the taking.
The tangible reward for the adversities of wild berry gathering was considerable: Mom’s blackberry cobbler.
I guess most people think their mother was the best cook ever, but I have to tell you, my mother was a real wonder in the kitchen.
A few years back on the family thread, someone posted a query, “How did grandma make her cobbler?”
This seemingly simple question exploded into a long, involved debate with many theories, including internet searches on just what exactly constitutes a cobbler.
Nobody could ever exactly duplicate that fabulous blackberry cobbler, not even me, the greatest known expert on Mom’s cooking. Unlike her peach cobbler, it had layers of strips of pastry within the cobbler. She would dish it hot into a bowl and dribble just a bit of milk over the top.
And so, the blackberry cobbler remains, hanging in our memories; the perfect product of an earthy encounter with nature.
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From fedoras and stingy brims to ivy caps and hiking hats —we’ve got you covered Also comfort footwear from Minnetonka and Acorn including slippers for the entire family onka andAcorn
Selling gently used items to bene t Brown County. Accepting clothing and household item donations. Women’s boutique, kids and teen clothing, men’s clothing, and household items
Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:00 to 5:00 Fridays 9:00 to 2:00
Buren in Nashville (near stoplight, behind Subway) (812) 988-6003
Field Notes
~by Jim Eagleman
It wasn’t long after I was hired as a seasonal employee at Brown County State Park in the mid-70s, that I heard of a research project. Some workers told me it was in a remote location, so I went searching. I learned it was conducted by a professor and some students from an Indiana university.
When I arrived, they stumbled out of university cars, sleepy, stretching, and complaining. They were carrying trash bags full of large cans—the kind used in a commercial kitchen— and disappeared in the woods.
I must have appeared official in my uniform and was greeted suspiciously. The professor admitted later that he had not applied for a DNR collecting permit allowing him to collect in the protected state park. He quickly had the students go about their work and got busy himself. I was more interested in learning what they were doing than if they had the proper permit.
“Shrews,” the professor finally said. “We’re looking for different shrews.”
Many pitfall traps, the cans, were buried at ground level to capture the small mammals. The students came back several times to monitor what
Pygmy Shrew
was caught and record their findings. Trap lines were installed along moisture gradients, starting at the top of a dry ridge, and descending into moist ravines.
I knew shrews were insect eaters, and unlike mice and other rodents, lived a nervous life scurrying through the forest herbal layer, looking for beetles and worms. But I didn’t know different shrews had a preference for where they lived, or that there were several different species.
A few years later, and now as the park’s full-time naturalist, I was soon entrenched in the property’s most controversial and pressing issue: an over-sized deer herd. Historically, Indiana state parks had been established as nature preserves since their conception in 1916. No management of plants or animals had been conducted since those early days, nor had it been necessary. With no hunting of the property’s chief herbivore and protected within its boundaries, deer numbers at Brown County had grown over time to huge levels, with the forest’s understory badly damaged. Wildflowers and grasses, flowering shrubs, and young trees—colorful each spring and attractive and food to many insects—had virtually disappeared, eaten to near oblivion by hungry deer.
A biologist friend called me one day and asked if I had heard of a study that might help me with the deer debate. “You’re the public relations guy, aren’t you? You might like to read it,” he said. “It deals with shrews, and they can be considered an indicator species.”
The ecologic upset of species with which deer coexist would Continued on 55
be an appropriate and important message to use, he reasoned. And as an educator, I had hoped to show the public, and some doubting legislators, an example of how deer can impact other species. The professor’s earlier research project needed an update. So my staff and I set out to replicate the investigation.
The initial base-line data showed five species of shrews existed in the 1970s: the smokey, southeastern, short-tailed, masked, and pygmy. Our research conducted during the peak of high deer numbers, on the same trap lines with the same number of traps, revealed only two species, the short-tailed and southeastern. Total number of all shrews sampled had declined significantly. It wasn’t difficult to see that if the herbal layer where insects live was nearly gone, the shrews that depend on them would disappear. And that’s what happened.
As is sometimes the case, research can reveal more than anticipated outcomes. The park study we conducted allowed us an up-close inspection of the trapped shrews. The one most unusual to us was the pygmy. The second smallest shrew in the world, it had been living in the moist ravines of Brown County State Park’s young forest.
While the world’s smallest mammal is the bumble bee bat, by mass, the smallest shrew next in line is the Etruscan shrew. It lives in Eurasia. The next smallest, the pygmy shrew, inhabits these Brown County woods.
Seemingly insignificant and unnoticed as we enjoy this natural place, small and less dynamic relationships exist, and plants and animals go about their jobs, in their niche. Ecological relationships are so interconnected and dependent on one another we often don’t realize it until something is missing.
A “keystone specie,” the white-tailed deer can exert tremendous impact, influencing forest ecosystems. A miniature pygmy shrew, so small we may not see it on the forest floor, is akin to other insect-eating, burying, scurrying shrews, and lives its quiet life in the hills. It’s certainly a part of this living system. And among this tiny claim to fame, it simply comes in second.
The green leaves of trees quiver. Swallowtail follows the air toward the lakeshore –buttonbush flowers on water’s edge.
I think this afternoon is a poem. In this line, the hummingbirds fight at the feeder, in this one, the cat dozes under the rocking chair.
These lines don’t quite rhyme, but then another swallowtail, another – a jet stream of butterflies over the house and down the hill.
I am just sitting here, inside this poem, inside this shady late summer afternoon.
I tend to prefer late afternoons to mornings, cannot wake up
for any kind of sunrise. Not even a poem as beautiful as a river of butterflies will lure me from my dreams.
—Michele Pollock
Reading Poetry In The Shade
Hoosier Artist
More than a decade ago Anabel Hopkins had a dream of creating an artist-owned art gallery in downtown Nashville. With her dream in hand, Anabel attended an Art Alliance meeting and pitched the idea to longtime friend Ruth Wert.
“We passed the word around and before long we had our founding eight member/owners,” Ruth said. “With eight members, we knew we could afford the lease, so we signed on our first location and opened the gallery.”
The first location of the Hoosier Artist Gallery in Nashville, which opened in 2007, was cramped and didn’t have a bathroom or a closet— but Ruth and Anabel were delighted to have made their dreams a reality.
“Several artists came to us and wanted to join, but the space wasn’t big enough,” Anabel said. “Before very long at all we knew we were going to need to find a bigger space.”
In 2009, the gallery moved to its current location, 45 South Jefferson Street.
“The space is wonderful. We can feature more than 20 artist/members,” said Anabel, a painter who specializes in landscapes as well as abstract and expressionism.
To become a member of the cooperative gallery, an artist must be juried in. They must bring in the work they would like to sell and must answer questions from current members. The current members then vote on whether they will accept the potential member.
Ruth Wert, Beth Parrock, and Anabel Hopkins.
~story and photos by Paige Langenderfer
“We are looking for artists whose work does not duplicate current member art,” Anabel said. “We want to represent as many mediums of art as we can.”
As a member, each artist must work a full day in the gallery at least once a month. They must also join a committee.
“One of the really nice things about a cooperative gallery is that every time you visit you will meet one of the artists,” said Beth Parrock, who became a member in 2009. “It’s also nice as an artist because we share the responsibility of running the business.”
Beth, who makes bead- and wire-weaving jewelry, said one of her favorite things about joining the gallery has been learning from other artists.
“We all have to learn about each other’s work so that when a customer comes in we can explain each item,” said Beth, who also works with precious metal clay and glass fusing. “A lot of our customers are artists as well, and I enjoy talking to them and learning from them.”
Offering art at prices everyone can afford is very important to Anabel.
“We always want to have something for everyone’s tastes and price range,” she said. “We have gift options like jewelry and small paintings and sculptures, but we also have pieces that cost thousands of dollars.”
One of the most unique displays in the gallery features sculptures made from stone shipped from Africa.
“The artist, Peter Rujuwa, is originally from Zimbabwe and came here as a political refugee,” Beth said. “He and his family had to flee from Africa. His work is extraordinary.”
Anabel said she is proud to be a founding member of the gallery.
“Our quality has definitely improved over the years,” she said. “But more than anything, these artists are my friends. I’ve always wanted a place I could go when I’m downtown. The gallery is like my headquarters.”
Ruth Wert, also a founding member, said people often miss the gallery because it is not on
Continued on 66
ARTIST continued from 65
the main street. Ruth uses antique pieces to create natural stone jewelry. She also works with dyed silk, and glass, and makes Nantucket baskets.
“The advice I would give anyone visiting Nashville is that local art is often off of the main street,” she said.
Even so, Ruth said she has seen many repeat customers, and customers from all over the world.
“We have the same people coming back every year and it is fun to talk with them,” she said. “I think it is really neat to know that art from our gallery has gone to places as far away as Tibet and Switzerland.”
Each month, the gallery features member artists. The July featured artists are Tom Lowe and Tom Duffy. Lowe designs intricate wooden art, pendants, puzzles, and more. Duffy is a fine art and documentary
photographer. The August featured artists are Don Wood and Della Wood.
Don builds beautifully crafted wooden furniture and woodworking artistry. Della is a sculptor, who breathes life into her one-of-a-kind art pieces. These artists are featured on the Gallery’s website <HoosierArtist.com>.
Hoosier Artist also participates in the monthly Village Art Walks, a self-guided tour of many downtown Nashville art galleries featuring original local and regional art and crafts, plus complimentary refreshments, entertainment, and specials at participating restaurants.
On July 22, Sandy Vanover will lead a painting class and on August 26 Beth Parrock will lead a jewelry making class.
HOOSIER
Indiana Seamless GUTTERING
