Mike and Jaydene Laros
S ampler a t Ferguson House
Old Crow Medic ine Show a t Music Center
Earl y A r tist Leota Loop
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toHardTruthDistillery
Cover: Slats Klug ~by Jane Mitchell
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Contributors
Bob Gustin worked as a reporter, photographer, managing editor, and editor for daily newspapers in Colorado, Nebraska, and Indiana before retiring in 2011. He and his wife, Chris, operate Homestead Weaving Studio. She does the weaving while he gives studio tours, builds small looms, and expands his book and record collections.
Joe Lee is an illustrator and writer. He is the author of The History of Clowns for Beginners and Dante for Beginners and illustrator of six other titles, including Dada and Surealism for Beginners, and Music Theory 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.
Jeff Tryon is a former news editor of The Brown County Democrat, a former region reporter for The Republic, and a former bureau chief for The Huntsville Times. 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.
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.
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. She lives in Brown County, where she hikes in the woods, makes ceramic creatures, and writes books for IU Press and the Indiana Historical artists.
Paige Langenderfer is a freelance writer and communications consultant. She writes for numerous publications. 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.
Mark Blackwell no longer makes his home in Brown County where “the roadway is rough and the slopes are seamed with ravines and present a meatless, barren, backbone effect.” 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.
Julia Pearson wrote for a Franciscan magazine for ten years and served as its human interest editor. She and husband Bruce now reside 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.
Boris Ladwig is a Columbusbased journalist who has worked in print, online and TV media in Indiana and Kentucky and has won awards for features, news, business, non-deadline news, First Amendment/community affairs and investigative reporting.
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.
*Michele Wedel is a photographer and visual imaging artist in Nashville. She is the house photographer for the new Brown County Music Center. She finds inspiration for her art in the natural beauty of Brown County and in the variety of amazing people that live here. You can view more of her work on Facebook at Michele Wedel Photography.
Thanks, Mom, for making it happen!
Guess Photo
COMMON GROUNDS
COFFEE
Slats Klug A man who listened
~by Rachel Berenson Perry
As the holidays draw near, a lot of old timers in Brown County remember and miss the annual Christmas Show at the Brown County Inn, spearheaded by the late Slats Klug. The performance brought the community together in a way that seems idyllic and innocent in retrospect.
Beginning in 1998 and running for at least half a dozen years, Klug, along with his cadre of friends, captivated enthusiastic audiences with his keyboard, squeeze box, and harmonica virtuosity. Not to mention his sublimely rich, deep, and gentle voice. His “friends” included some of the area’s finest musicians—Robbie Bowden, Dave Gore, Doug Harden, John Franz, Kara Barnard, Lauren Robert, Jack Helsley, Bob Cheevers, Carolyn Dutton, and Gordon Lowry, to name a few.
Klug was an enigma. A strong presence on stage with his curated image of a cool dude wearing a fedora or cowboy hat, he was adored by all who saw
him. Off stage he was not a complete recluse, but he did not like to be the center of attention. People found him affable, unpretentious and somewhat inscrutable.
But on one point, everyone agreed. Slats Klug was an attentive listener, whether on stage or off. Perhaps he was best known by other musicians, who have nothing but praise for his talent and skills. Singer/songwriter Tim Moore called him “a rock-solid musician who always brought his A-game and always left his ego at the door.” Carolyn Dutton, jazz violinist, said, “Everything Slats did musically was honest and genuine. He had an ear for the real thing, not the wannabes and show boaters. If you spoke the truth with your instrument, he heard you.” Musician-friend Dan Withered avowed, “Being in the spotlight was not important to [Slats]; he was a leader by virtue of his playing, and quick to acknowledge and include others. Everyone who
photo by Jane Mitchell
played music with him learned by example about grace and style and working together.”
A seasoned musician when he relocated to Bloomington from New York with Lauren Robert in the mid-1980s, Klug had played with numerous bands, including Mojo Hand, George Jones Tribute Band, and the Kookamongas, among others. But his lasting claim to fame began with his creation of seven CDs about Brown County’s historical and contemporary characters. Originally inspired by storyteller Steve Miller, Klug took local lore and ran with it, crafting memorable legends with his clever lyrics and impeccable music.
Our Brown County historian Bill Weaver wrote, “Brown County has had plenty of willing historians— from Weston Goodspeed to Frank Hohenberger, Ray Mathis, Ernie Pyle, Dillon Bustin, Fred King, Dorothy Bailey and a dozen more. Yet none of these has celebrated the lore and legend of Brown County
quite the way that Slats Klug has with his series of CDs.” Originally from West Virginia, Klug related easily to the hill country and characters of Brown County, Indiana. “I like being near, but not from, Brown County,” he said. “By having a certain stranger’s point of view, I get the best of both worlds.” Klug not only embraced local characters but instinctively knew how they would be represented most authentically by different musicians’ voices.
It’s easy to think that he effortlessly chose the right words for every mood. But his talent and skill evolved with time. Slats began writing early in his life and never stopped. He always had a notebook close at hand to write observances and inspirations. His childhood friend, Bob Davis, remembered rooming with him one summer at Hobart College in Geneva, New York. “Our other roommate and I Continued on 20
Christmas show at the Brown County Inn in 2004. photo by Cindy Steele
Kip May photo
would come home late from working and Harry [Slats] would be at the desk writing. We constantly complained, asking him to turn out the light so we could get some sleep. So, he moved his desk into the only closet we had in the place and that was where we would find him most nights.”
Along with the continuous writing was perceptive listening—to syntax, accents, and content of the jumble of language and sounds that bombard us every day. Dan Withered remembers, “[Slats] listened carefully to music and words, analyzing what they meant, how they sounded, how they could be better. He could read a song lyric and
know instantly which lines were weak, or irrelevant, or could be improved.”
Slats Klug will be remembered for bringing to life stories from long ago. As WFHB “Brown County Hour” Dave Seastrom claimed, “Slats and his collaborators became the voice of Brown County.” With the death of Slats, we’ve lost not only a great song writer and musician but an empathetic and thoughtful listener. That we could all follow his example and be so attentive when others speak. CD’s by Slats Klug and Friends can be purchased Weed Patch Music Company in downtown Nashville and at the Brown County Antique Mall on State Road 46 between Nashville and Columbus.
SLATS KLUG continued from 17
The first show and CD with the Brown County gang, the Liars’ Bench in 1998. photo by Cindy Steele
Carol’s GIFTS
~story and photos by Boris
Ladwig
Indiana native Adam Egenolf went to the University of Southern Indiana to become a math teacher. An elective class in pottery changed his life.
Egenolf, who grew up on a farm on the Greene/Owen counties line, took to the craft immediately and learned the tools quickly. The craft’s science—glazes, chemicals, heat and experimentation—appealed to his analytical side.
“It took over my life,” he said.
He started selling products in school and thought that if his parents could make it as farmers, he could figure out how to live off pottery.
He changed his career plan, got a master’s in fine arts from East Carolina. It was 2008, and he had created pottery all winter, then went to 32 trade shows that year to sell his works.
Revenue has increased each year for about 15 years, he said.
He keeps customers interested by changing designs, colors, and products, from serving
Adam Egenolf
plates to vases, mugs and utensil holders, bowls and planters, as well as art that can be hung on walls. Last year, during the pandemic, Egenolf, 42, and his wife, Barbie, began making letters and Christmas ornaments that can be hung on trees or in windows.
The secret of his designs lies in the metals he uses in the glaze and the temperature sequences to which he exposes his pieces. The composition of the metals, the height of the temperatures, and the duration of the exposure can drastically change the look of the finished product. Copper makes a green color, iron a brown, cobalt a blue. Nickel in crystalline form is blue, but in glass it produces a tannish color. Erbium, one of the rare earth metals he uses, produces pink.
Egenolf has tweaked his glaze recipes over the years through experimentation, by exposing the glazes to different temperatures and temperature combinations. A couple of degrees difference can change everything, he said.
His six kilns, which cost about $4,000 each, can be programmed to change temperatures during the firing process. Some products get exposed to two dozen temperatures. The first firing process, at temperatures of 1,850 degrees, turns the clay into stone, the second, with temps of about 2,350, comes after he applies the glaze.
No two products are the same, Egenolf said.
Except for the clay, Egenolf buys every component raw. He has seen significant price increases, especially for rare earth metals. Lithium, for example, cost about $400 for a 50-pound bag about five years ago. Now it costs about $2,400.
Egenolf used to go to about 20 trade shows a year, but the pandemic has forced him to change his business model a bit. While shows still account for about 50% of revenue, sales through Etsy now make up 35%, with business through galleries, from Michigan to North Carolina, accounting for the rest.
Egenolf makes about 3,500 pieces per year. A typical week includes seven workdays.
In the lobby of the newly renovated Seasons Hotel.
“I can’t tell you what day of the week it is half the time,” he said.
However, he said, as independent business owners, the Egenolfs can take time off when they want. They might take a few days off for fall break, for example, to take their children Archer, 10, and Violet, 8, hunting and fishing.
And, he said, even after crafting thousands of items per year for more than a decade, sitting down on a stool, placing his foot on the pedal and his hands on a soft piece of clay still serves as a kind of therapy.
Prices for the works are based on size. Vases get a price based on height, trays on length, platters on diameter. A 19-inch platter, for example, goes for $225.
His customers include Hollywood and rock royalty, such as singer John Mellencamp, actress Meg Ryan, and former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. Some of his fans have bought his works for more than a decade.
“There’s people who own more of my work than I do,” he said.
One of his repeat customers is Bloomington-based interior designer Diana Paxton, who commissioned Egenolf to create a wall-hung sculpture for The Seasons Hotel in Nashville.
The piece consists of four rows of four squares depicting trees in each of the four seasons. Egenolf has created similar works, though usually consisting of just four squares,
Paxton, who conceived of the hotel’s new look, asked Egenolf and other local and regional artists to create pieces.
Paxton began collecting Egenolf’s work about a decade ago, a mug at a
Continued on 28
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time, and had him design a vessel sink for her home. When she began working on the hotel, she thought to contact him to contribute.
His piece was delivered in May, and it serves as one of the focal pieces in the entrance area.
“It exceeded expectations,” Paxton said.
She said she loves Egenolf’s crystalline glazes. The science that goes into Egenolf’s art is “just astounding,” Paxton said.
Egenolf and his family are keeping so busy that their 1,200-square-foot workshop at their home near Sweetwater Lake is getting too small. He said he’s adding another 1,500-square-foot building, with two additional kilns, though the new building will be used primarily for temperature-controlled storage. And it will give Egenolf more elbow room to create his works of art.
You can purchase some of Egenolf’s work at Spears Gallery next to the Nashville House in downtown Nashville.
EGENOLF continued from 25
Egenolf work at Spears Gallery .
Luminox Watches (used by Navy Seals)
Mike Laros says it was an “ah-ha” moment which led him and wife Jaydene to move to Brown County in 1995.
They were living in the Chicago suburb of Barrington, Illinois, wanting to stay close to Jaydene’s family in the Peoria area when Mike—who doesn’t like cold weather—realized they could move south of Peoria within a 200 mile radius and still accomplish their geographic goals.
Though they had spent little time in Indiana, they found a listing for a guest cabin and decided to check it out. They rented a cabin for a weekend in early May and arrived on a rainy Saturday. But the next morning
“I saw the land and saw an opportunity to have a change from being a suburbanite to something a little more down to earth.”
—Mike Laros
the sun came out and it was a beautiful Brown County day. Sitting outside to enjoy the weather, they discovered the whole place was for sale. A half-hour later, they owned it.
They set to work turning it into Fondulac Farm, a meticulously groomed setting for their home and two guest rental cabins with three stocked fishing ponds, a fire pit for marshmallow roasts or barbecues, and modern conveniences including fiber-based wireless internet and streaming television.
In addition to working on the real estate, the couple became heavily involved in the civic life of Brown County. Mike says it was a copier repairman
~by Bob Gustin
photo by Bob Gustin
Mike and Jaydene Laros and the Fondulac Farm
who suggested they check out the local Rotary Club, where they met lots of people with no ulterior motives.
“One thing leads to another,” Jaydene said, and she became involved in the Brown County Community Foundation board, Mother’s Cupboard, a church in Bloomington, and other activities. “When I see a need, I try to step in and help out.”
She also served as interim director of the Foundation.
Mike also joined the Community Foundation board, and has been active in Rotary, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Developmental Services in Columbus, Indiana Heritage Arts, the Taste of Art auction, and other organizations.
He was active in the first attempt to get highspeed internet in Brown County.
“I knew it would be important for growth and to build the tax base,” he said, as well as helping local schools. He credits Scott Rudd with the work in pulling together a task force and getting commitments from local electrical cooperatives to build and improve the network. And he mentions Del Newkirk as an inspiring figure who sets an example of community involvement and philanthropy.
Continued on 32
photo by Cindy Steele
Mike and Jaydene met on a blind date set up by college roommates in Chicago and were married in 1971.
Jaydene’s background is in nursing, an interest sparked by work as a “candy stripe” volunteer. She was raised in the Peoria area, attended Valparaiso University, and switched to the University of Illinois at the Medical Center in Chicago. She worked at the burn unit at Cook County Hospital, got her master’s degree in 1975, worked in staff development at a California hospital, taught nursing at Bradley University in Peoria, and was a nurse practitioner.
“She came home with blood on her outfit,” Mike said of Jaydene’s work in Chicago. “She was doing something much more meaningful than I was. I was doing something to make a living.”
Both decided to leave their jobs and careers in Chicago and do something different in a different part of the country. They applied to graduate schools in California and Jaydene got a master’s degree in nursing at San Francisco University while Mike studied at the University of California in Berkeley, getting a master’s in business administration. They later moved back to the Chicago area.
Mike grew up in the Bridgeport, Connecticut, area and graduated in 1969 from Clarkson College in New York, studying chemical engineering. He took a job with the heating and air conditioning
manufacturer Trane, which took him to Chicago. Later, he worked as an engineering and construction consultant, specializing in utility projects, including oil pipelines and power plants, and started his own consulting business before retiring in 2011.
Mike and Jaydene have two adopted children, Sarah and Christopher, and three grandchildren.
A bonus for the Brown County property was that Christopher loves to fish, and Sarah likes horses. Ponds and stables provide plenty of opportunities for both. The property now offers one long-term rental cabin and one short-term rental.
Fondulac Farm includes seven buildings, but the Laros home is a remodeled 1860s cabin with added wings. Improvements to the house, cabins and outbuildings include new roofs, plumbing, electrical systems and more.
“I saw the land and saw an opportunity to have a change from being a suburbanite to something a little more down to earth,” Mike said.
They like Brown County for its slower pace, and praise the opportunities presented by the local school system.
“We don’t suffer from lack of anything you can get in a bigger city in terms of resources,” Mike said.
As for the future of Brown County, “I hope it stays a lot like it is, rural in nature,” Mike said. “I hope we have a diverse population and the schools remain strong. I hope the internet opens the door for more millennials to be able to live here.”
for a good place to eat?
about the dining scene?
The Holidays
~by Mark Blackwell
Ican remember celebrating the holidays all the way back in the 1950s. Now, I’m hearing that just about anything from that time is referred to as “mid-century modern.” The 1950s were nothing if not modern.
It was a time when our culture was racing as fast as it could into the future, so as to put as much distance between the sorrows of World War II and the Great Depression and the “Now.” The era of the 1950s and ’60s started out being the Jet Age, overlaid with the Atom Age, and then quickly morphed into the Space Age.
My own personal nuclear family (that’s a little nod to the Atom Age) was somewhat more traditional than modern. In fact, our house was 100% furnished in the “Early American” style. We even had pots and pans in the
kitchen labeled “Revere Ware.” We had “Ethan Allen” furniture. Paul Revere and Ethan Allen would have felt right at home there.
When Christmas came around we had to have a real tree—the bigger the better with Early American decorations. But I do remember an Uncle and Aunt had jumped on the rocket to modernity. They were the first people, I knew, who invested in a shiny aluminum tree with monochrome baubles and a tri-color projector which, with the room lights turned off, produced an early version of a psychedelic experience.
As time passed, I went to the University where I majored in having a good time and protesting the war de jour and consequently I flunked out. Having flunked out, I lost my college deferment and wound up being sent to the afore mentioned war. Well, I didn’t kill anybody and they didn’t kill me. I came home but home wasn’t the same.
Or, maybe I wasn’t the same. I wanted life, the universe, and everything in it to start having a little more substance and meaning. I figured that the only way that would happen is if I gave it more meaning. It was hard to know where to start.
It wasn’t too long before I got married and then it wasn’t too long before we had a set of young’uns. Having kids has a way of concentrating a person’s attention. As a new parent I began to think in terms of traditions.
I was more and more convinced that doing things and making things was the secret to having more meaning and substance in life. Holidays sort of amplified those feelings. I mean, a turkey TV dinner was not gonna cut it when it came to holiday feasting.
When Thanksgiving rolls around, there is no substitute for a house full of family and friends for a traditional feast. My memories are built around the smells and tastes of slow-cooked, home canned green beans with onions, pickled beets, mashed potatoes, persimmon pudding made with wild gathered ’simmons—and, of course, the king of the table, the turkey.
I diverted from the traditional feast in that I never harvested my own wild turkey. I did look into it. I realized that by the time I procured a shotgun, a Ghillie suit, turkey call, and hunting permit, the turkey would come in at about $56 dollars a pound. That is if I got a turkey. So I learned to accept and celebrate Mr. Butterball.
There is meaning in sitting at a table of old folks that you have grown up with and young people who are growing up with you, telling and listening to the old stories of a shared history. I think that is what the holidays are for.
Sharing traditional foods with the people around us while sharing our stories fixes those stories so they can live on in our communities.
Then Christmas rolls around and we get to have another feast and get together.
I liked to go out to our part of the woods or a neighbor’s Christmas tree farm and find the right tree to cut and bring home. I would trim some of the branches to give it some semblance of symmetry and then set it up in the cabin. We would then decorate it with heirloom baubles and handcrafted decorations made by friends and local crafts people. We would use some of the branches that were cut off the tree to decorate the place.
Then it was time to have a party.
For me, the party was the thing that that made it possible to get through the deeps of winter to come. We would invite our friends and there would be a cheery fire in the wood stove. There would be cider and all manner of adult beverages and happy socializing.
Then guitars, banjos, fiddles, basses, and jugs would appear. Music would happen. It always seemed that just when midnight rolled around folks would take their leave amid hugs and kisses and wishes for a Merry Christmas. The fire in the stove would die down and the quiet of the woods would descend. There was meaning in all of that.
Well, Brown County is not just a geographical place but it is also a place in the imagination. It is a place where tradition thrives. It is a place where people created and still create meaning in their crafts and gardens, their art and music. And that makes Brown County a perfect place to put meaning in the holidays.
Jack and Jill Nut Shop
~story
and photos by Paige Langenderfer
As her father began the day’s chores, the smell of warm, roasting nuts instantly took Kamady Lewis back to her childhood and the countless memories she made in the back room of her family’s business, the Jack and Jill Nut Shop.
“I basically grew up back there,” said Lewis, 35. “I had a bean bag chair, a VHS player, and all of my art supplies. What else does a girl need?”
Kamady’s dad and store owner, Marc Rudd, also warmly recalls those memories. He even still displays several of Kamady’s works of art on the store walls.
“She made a new masterpiece just about every day,” Marc said. “She walked around town like she owned the place.”
Leslie Rudd, Marc’s dad, opened Jack and Jill Nut Shop in 1967 to offer roasted nuts, fudge, and candy to tourists visiting Nashville. The store has been at the same location, at 78 South Van Buren Street, for 54 years.
“Grandpa had worked in a nut factory for many years, and that is what sparked the idea,” Kamady said.
“Everyone always asks us who Jack and Jill are, but the name actually came from a store my grandma worked at when she was young. She always liked the name and asked grandpa if he would name the store Jack and Jill Nut Shop.”
In 1986, Leslie suffered a stroke and was not able to continue managing the store. Marc had worked alongside his dad in the store and had always hoped to take over the business one day, but the stroke moved up the timeline without warning.
“It was very sudden and I hadn’t learned as much as I would have liked about running the business, but I learned,” Marc said. “In all these years, the only thing I have changed was adding a few new types of candy.”
This past summer, Kamady and her husband Ronnie Lewis decided to keep the business in the family and joined Marc as co-owners. While she is extremely excited about the future, Kamady said the little girl who played in the back of the store never imagined she would ever take over the nut shop.
“It just wasn’t something I really ever thought about,” Kamady said. “I had always dreamt of covering
Marc, Kamady, Ronnie and Reagan at the shop.
“All of my best memories are in this town and I wanted Reagan to have a childhood like mine.”
—Kamady Rudd Lewis
sports on TV, so I just assumed that is what I would do my whole life.”
Those dreams did come true for Kamady. After graduating from Indiana University with a degree in journalism and sports communication, Kamady moved to Las Vegas for her first “real job.”
“I covered baseball for radio, but I didn’t make much money,” she said.
She moved to San Diego and then to a small town in Iowa to pursue jobs in TV. Her next move to Shreveport, Louisiana was a life changing experience.
“I got to anchor TV sports. I even got to freelance for ESPN and numerous college conferences,” Kamady said. “I got to cover Dennis Rodman and several college athletes who are now in the pros. I have talked to all of the Mannings, except Peyton.”
She also met her husband, Ronnie Lewis, while in Louisiana.
“I honestly never thought I would get married because my career was so crazy,” she said. “But after I met him I started to see things differently. My priorities changed. I was tired of working so much and missing holidays with my family.”
In an effort to move closer to her family, Kamady accepted a morning TV news job in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2019, after four years as an anchor in Michigan, Kamady and Ronnie’s son Reagan was born.
“After having my son, I knew I wanted to find something different,” Kamady said. “I was still five hours from my parents and I wanted Reagan to grow up around family.”
She took one final TV job in Cleveland, Ohio, for a year before deciding that she was ready to move back to Nashville to help run the nut shop.
“I just felt drawn back,” Kamady said. “All of my best memories are in this town and I wanted Reagan to have a childhood like mine.”
Since moving to Nashville, Kamady said she has flashbacks every time she sees 2-year-old Reagan toddling through the shop.
“He was immediately comfortable here,” she said. “He’s a bit of a tornado, but it is so nice that he gets to see my parents every day now and he can be a part of the shop.”
As for the future, Kamady said she does not plan to make many changes to the business. She has, however, added the store to social media and created a website that allows customers to order online.
All of the nuts will continue to be freshly roasted in the store every day.
“This is dad’s baby and obviously it has worked so we’re not trying to change anything,” Kamady said. “The customers always ask for him. I’m glad he’s going to stick around to teach us and to just spend time with us.”
Learn more at www.jackandjillnutshop.com call 812- 988-7480, or find Jack and Jill Nut Shop on Facebook.
photos by Michele Wedel
Calendar
Brown County Playhouse
Nov. 5 Simply the Best
Tina Turner Tribute
Nov. 6 The Best of 1Pulse
Nov. 7 Rainwater Studios
Best of Strea 4:00-6:00
Nov. 12-14, 19-21
2020: COVID the musical
Nov. 26-28 It’s a Wonderful Live Radio Theatre Production
Dec. 3-5, 10-12, 17-19 Believe The Magic of Christmas 2021
Dec. 9 The Addict’s Wake Film Screening (free)
Dec. 16 Sister’s Christmas Catechism
Mystery of the Magi’s Gold
70 S. Van Buren St. 812-988-6555 www.browncountyplayhouse.org
Brown County Music Center
Nov. 2 Kevin Costner & Modern West
Nov. 5 Craig Morgan
Nov. 6 Three Dog Night
Nov. 9 Jason Bonham’s
Led Zeppelin Evening
Nov. 11 John Hiatt & The Jerry Douglas Band
Nov. 13 Old Crow Medicine Show
Nov. 30 Carrot Top
Dec. 4 Warrant & Hero Jr.
Dec. 5 Kenny G
Dec. 6 Lindsey Stirling: Christmas Program
Dec. 8 Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live: Time Bubble
Dec. 9 38 Special & The Dane Clark Band
Dec. 11 Bloomington Symphony Orchestra - Holiday show
Dec. 14 LeAnn RimesHome for the Holidays
Dec. 19 The Beach BoysHoliday Harmonies
Dec. 22 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Dec. 31 The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band New Year’s Eve 812-988-5323 www.browncountymusiccenter.com
The schedule can change. Please check before making a trip.
Country Heritage Winery
Nov 5 Gene Gillham
Nov. 6 Gary Applegate & Joe Rock
Nov. 12 Coner Berry
Nov. 13 Bob Palindrome
Nov. 19 Open Mic
Nov. 20 Live Music
Nov. 26 Ross Benson
Nov. 27 Isaac & Haymond
Dec. 3 Robbie Bowden & Friends
Dec. 4 Gene Gillham
Dec. 10 Steve Fulton
Dec. 11 Speed City Spoilers
Dec. 17 Open Mic
Dec. 18 Live Music
Dec. 24 Live Music
Dec. 31 Live Music
Music 6:00-9:00 Fri. & Sat.
225 Van Buren St. 812-988-8500 www.countryheritagewinery.com
Big Woods Pizza
Music Tue. & Fri. 5:00-8:00
Nov. 2 Wayne Pennington
Nov. 5 Scooter Hanes
Nov. 9 Rich Hardesty
Nov. 12 Coot Crabtree
Nov. 16 Charlie Jesseph
Nov. 19 Clint Zimmerman
Nov. 23 Coot Crabtree
Nov. 26 Justyn Underwood
Nov. 30 Jon Shoulders
Dec. 3 Shane Scarazzini
Dec. 7 Richardesty
Dec. 10 Carter New
Dec. 14 Coot Crabtree
Dec. 17 Justyn Underwood
Dec. 31 New Year’s Eve Party 21+ years of age time TBD 44 N. Van Buren Street 812-988-6004 www.bigwoodsrestaurants.com
Nashville House Music Series
Live Music Fri., Sat., Sun. Times vary 15 S. Van Buren St. 812-988-4554 www.nashvillehousebc.com
Hard Truth Hills
MUSIC 6:00 to 9:00
Nov. 4 Apollo Selene
Nov. 5 Will Scott
Nov. 12 John Shoulders
Nov. 13 Bill Bloomer
Nov. 19 Jan Bell
Nov. 20 Wayward Blues & Co.
Nov. 26 Scooter Hanes
Nov. 27 Blackjack Davey and the Rhythm Kings
Dec. 3 Coner Barry
Dec. 4 Steve Hickman
Dec. 10 Strangebirds
Dec. 11 Clint Zimmerman
Dec. 17 Charlie Jesseph
Dec. 18 Scott Gould
INSTRUCTION
Nov. 11 Arts & Crafts Painting 21+ 6:00
Nov. 12 Fall Cocktails Mixology 4 & 6
Nov. 13 Fall Cocktails Mixology 4 & 6
Nov. 19 Fall Cocktails Mixology 4 & 6
Nov. 20 Fall Cocktails Mixology 4 & 6
Nov. 26 Fall Cocktails Mixology 4 & 6
Nov. 27 Fall Cocktails Mixology 4 & 6
Dec. 3 Fresh Wreath Making-times vary Holiday Punches Mixology 4 & 6
Dec. 4 Holiday Cocktails Mixology 4 & 6
Dec. 10 Holiday Punches Mixology 4 & 6
Dec. 11 Gingerbread House Making -times vary
Dec. 16 Arts & Crafts Painting 21+ 6:00
Dec. 17 Holiday Cocktails Mixology 4 & 6
Dec. 18 Holiday Punches Mixology 4 & 6 418 Old State Road 46 812-720-4840 www.hardtruthhills.com
St. Agnes Church
Christmas Bazaar
Nov. 5 & Nov. 6
Christmas ornaments and decor, gift items, and handmade items (knitted, crocheted, sewn, pottery and other crafts). Free admission and free parking.
St. Agnes Catholic Church, 1008 McLary Road
Murder Mystery Dinner
Nov. 13, 6:30-8:30
Artists Colony Inn restaurant 105 S. Van Buren St. 812-988-0600 www.artistscolonyinn.com
The Abe Martin Bazaar
Nov. 13, 10:00-4:00
Brown County History Center 90 East Gould Street north of the courthouse. Local craftsman and artisans displaying their work.
Annual Chocolate Walk
Nov. 13, Downtown Nashville 10:00-5:00 Sample yummy chocolate treats while strolling through the village of Nashville. Proceeds go to Brown Co. Humane Society. 812-988-7362 bchumane.org
Brown County Hilly Half Marathon
Nov. 20, 8:00 am-2:00 pm
Brought to you by Brown Co YMCA Brown County State Park
Thanksgiving Dinner at Story Inn
Nov. 25 seating starting 11:00 am 6404 SR 135 S. 812-988-2273 www.storyinn.com
Tree Lighting Ceremony with Santa
Nov. 26, Starting at 5:30 at the Brown County History Center Santa 5:30-7:00 | 70 Gould Street
Holiday Art & Craft Show
Nov. 26 & 27, Seasons Conference Center Fri. 10:00-5:00, Sat. 10:00-4:00 Juried show featuring arts and crafts made by area artisans.
Children’s Fund
Benefit Auction
Dec. 3, 6:00 New Location
Brown County Inn - Proceeds for Brown County children in need.
Friendly Forest Winter Wonderland
Dec. 3, 6:00-8:00 Jackson Twp Fire Dept. Wonderland full of bright lights and Christmas music before Santa arrives 4831 Helmsburg Road in Helmsburg
Santa Train
Dec. 3, around 8:30 p.m. in Helmsburg
Santa arrives by train on the Indiana Railroad. Children and adults are invited to board the train and visit with Santa. Also, many other Christmas and cartoon characters. Fun for the whole family.
ChristKindl Market
Downtown Nashville Coachlight Square
Dec. 3 & 4 Holiday Market
One-of-a-kind gifts, family-friendly entertainment and Christmas spirit. Fri., Dec. 3 Opening Ceremonies
6:00-8:00 Polka-motion Sat., Dec. 4
12:00 The Hammer & The Hatchet
1:00 Indianapolis Liederkranz
2:00 Nathan Dillion Duo
3:00 Jenn Cristy Band
4:00 Five Hungry Guys
5:00 FCR Trio
6:00 Break for light parade
7:00 Kara & the Carolers
Stuff a Stocking
Dec. 4, 11:00-5:00
Children receive a stocking and collect treats from Nashville merchants.
Reindeer Romp
Dec. 4, 1:00 8K run or a 5K run/walk Brown Co State Park Nature Center
Uplands Winter
Wine Market
Holiday Light Parade and Toy Drive
Dec. 4, 6:00 Floats travel through the Village of Nashville. Bring a new unwrapped toy to donate to the local Salvation Army.
Holiday Artists Open House at Sleepy Cat Studio
December 11, 11:00 am-3:00 pm
Artists Monique Cagle, Rosey Bolte, Dixie Ferrer, Amy Greely and Michele Pollock join together to host an array of unique, handcrafted fine arts.
Sleepy Cat Studio, 4687 Yellowwood Road
Dec. 4, 12:00-5:00 Brown Co. Art Gallery Holiday winery experience featuring Indiana Upland wineries. Taste wine and food.
ChristKindl Market A new Brown County Tradition
December 3 & 4
The inaugural Brown County Christkindl Market will kick off Friday, December 3 with festive booths on Coachlight Square, live music, a tree lighting ceremony, tasty treats, and hot drinks.
Lisa Hall, a member of the event’s steering committee, hopes the inaugural event will extend the tourist season and lift the community’s spirits.
The event will center on Coachlight Square, but organizers expect vendors throughout the community to offer specials from hot chocolate, roasted nuts, and freeze-dried candy to jewelry, ornaments, candles, pottery, quilts, sculptures, paintings, and pumpkin spice soap.
Musical acts, decorations, the schedule, and recipes have been finalized.
Festivities will conclude on Saturday with the Light Parade starting at 6 p.m. and Brown County’s Kara Barnard leading people in caroling at 7:15 p.m.
Hall conceived of the event and garnered the support of Gregory Fox and Mark Schmidt, who own the Nashville Spice Company. Schmidt has completed work on 16 7-foot-tall nutcrackers that will be displayed around town.
An angel will walk through Coachlight Square, and Santa and Mrs. Claus will welcome guests outside the Brown County Visitors Center.
Organizers have said the event will complement other Brown County holiday activities and will provide additional opportunities for local businesses. Schmidt and Fox, for example, will sell a special blend of spices to be mixed into a locally produced wine to be heated as a traditional German Glühwein, or mulled wine.
The C4 Columbus Area Career Connection Culinary Arts Program will provide holiday treats including cakes ranging from carrot and cheese to peppermint and Black Forest. Upland Brewing will sell its ales and lagers, but proceeds will benefit the Christkindl Market.
More information, including details on participating vendors and an entertainment schedule are available at www.browncounty.com.
Brown County Children’s Fund Benefit Auction
December 3 NEW LOCATION
Brown County Children’s Fund LIVE Auction is Friday, December 3, 6:00 p.m. at The Brown County Inn.
44 years ago a group of Brown County locals gathered on the liar’s bench in downtown Nashville and discussed ways to ensure that all kids in Brown County have warm clothes for winter. They came up with the idea to gather goods from local merchants to be auctioned off for the kids. This group called themselves the “No-Name Committee” and each year since that time the auction has been held on the first Friday in December.
The annual auctions have provided more than $640,000 in clothing and helped many Brown County children.
This year’s auction will be held live on Friday, December 3, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Brown County Inn in downtown Nashville. The location was changed to provide more space for social distancing. Masks are required.
The auction features donated art, crafts, antiques, items from local merchants, gift certificates for local restaurants, hotels, and many outside organizations including Holiday World and the Cincinnati Reds. Locals donate home-baked cookies and prize-winning brownies. There is something for everyone to bid on and always some surprises.
Donations are being collected in Nashville and can be dropped off at Out of The Ordinary on South Van Buren Street. Cash donations can be made at PNC Bank on West Main Street. If you would like to have items picked up, or if you have questions, please call 812- 320-2601.
This is a very special event and you can complete your Christmas shopping in just one evening. Come to the Brown County Inn and help ensure that all children in Brown County have a very Merry Christmas. All proceeds are used to purchase clothing for local children in need.
Old Crow Medicine Show appearing at Brown County Music Center
~by Ryan Stacy
Here in the age of instant access, it’s easy to forget that music wasn’t always so easy to come by. Back in the day, the sounds of America’s folk traditions—country, bluegrass, blues—were heard over radio waves, played on the phonograph, or performed live, and that was about it. But that scarcity also made music a big deal: Families gathered around their radios to hear popular songs. People packed barn dances, juke joints, and honky-tonks on Saturday nights to listen and dance. Church choirs and instrumental accompaniment were the highlight of Sunday mornings.
“Every town in America had a legion of musicians,” explains Ketch Secor, frontman for Old Crow Medicine Show. “People always thought of musicians as local entertainers. Music was a reason to get together and celebrate.”
“It’s about fun, and music connecting us to where we are. We’re homespun music, bottled at the source,”
—Ketch Secor
It’s this spirit of music Ketch wants to keep alive, and it comes through in Old Crow’s lively, whiskey-soaked blend of country, folk, and bluegrass, often served with a side of rock-n-roll attitude. Based out of the “other” Nashville a few hours south of here, the band has stomped and shouted its way to gigs at the Grand Ole Opry, a Grammy, and a platinum record, sharing the stage
Continued on 50
photo by Kit Wood
along the way with the biggest names in country, bluegrass, folk, and rock.
Ketch promises a good time on November 13, when Old Crow takes the stage at Brown County Music Center. “It’s about fun, and music connecting us to where we are. We’re homespun music, bottled at the source,” he says. “We love getting back to the roots, striving to be that hometown show in any town. When you play traditional American music like we do, with the fiddle and the harmonica and a lot of harmony singing, that’s the kind of music that grew out of Southern Indiana.”
And like any Medicine Show worth its snake oil, Old Crow makes it a point to tailor its performances to the towns on its tours. “We might razz the mayor, we might poke fun at rival towns and fallen stars,” he admits. “By the time I get to Nashville, I’ll know the name of the creek behind the Music Center, and the highway that runs through there, and the high school mascot.”
Though it’s true that Old Crow tends to tip its hat at life on the wayward side of the tracks, Ketch insists there’s an element of the divine in there too. “I think of the work that we do as a little bit of tent revival, a little bit camp meeting. We’re pretty secular in our performance, and even a little raunchy, but there’s something about folk music that always branches into the sacred,” he says. “Just by virtue of the fact that there’s that many strings reverberating, you enter into a sonic realm where the spirit is moving.”
A helping hand from above may be what it takes to get back to normal for the band. “There’s been a COVID scare every four months for the past eighteen months,” he notes. “Connecting with audiences is the thing we’ve missed most. For twenty-three years now, our band has prided ourselves on getting close and intimate with people at our shows, but those settings were the hardest to do [during the pandemic].” Now that the Old Crow is finally back on the road, he says, “It’s just so great to get close to people again. Those moments when you know you’re providing relief to somebody who’s experienced loss. We’re really grateful.”
Then there’s the cultural division that seems to be getting only more entrenched. “I’m in the business of bringing people together, and there’s a lot of reasons that people need to come together in song right now. I haven’t seen this sort of discord at any other point in my life.”
Ketch says he sees Old Crow as a way to bridge some of the gaps between us, though. “The usual stuff that divides people, none of that matters to me when I’m singing. It’s for everybody. There’s a place for you in an Old Crow audience. Music is an equalizer, an equal opportunity party.” Then I can almost hear him wink over the phone. “And I’ll remind your readers that this show is gonna be BYOD—bring your own dulcimer.”
For more information about the Old Crow Medicine show visit www.browncountymusiccenter.com or call 812- 988-5323.
Brown County Music Center
Nov. 2
Nov. 5
Kevin Costner & Modern West
Craig Morgan
Nov. 6 Three Dog Night
Nov. 9
Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening
Nov. 11 John Hiatt & The Jerr y Douglas Band
Nov. 13 Old Crow Medicine Show
Nov. 30 Carrot Top
Dec. 4 Warrant & Hero Jr.
Dec. 5 Kenny G
Dec. 8
Myster y Science Theater 3000 Live: Time Bubble
Dec. 9 38 Special & The Dane Clark Band
Dec. 11 Bloomington Symphony Orchestra - Holiday show
Dec. 14 LeAnn RimesHome for the Holidays
Dec. 19 The Beach BoysHoliday Harmonies
Dec. 22 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Dec. 6 Lindsey Stirling: Christmas Program
Dec. 31 The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band New Year's Eve For
Field Notes: The Sparrows
“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.” —Aristotle
~by Jim Eagleman
Sparrows collectively aren’t the most unusual birds. Since they are common, present in all seasons, and mostly drab in color, they escape attention. A few stand out like the white-throated fox sparrow, and white-crowned. We take an extra minute with binoculars, check the field guide, and look for field marks to make a proper ID. It’s an easy thing to lump all sparrows together; similarity may breed commonness, maybe even boredom with some birders. I think the white-throated are among the prettiest.
Of the nearly thirty-three native sparrows across the US, none will win a contest for outstanding plumage. But even on the most drab winter days I believe any sparrow is still worth our time and attention. “LGB” is shouted out while out birding with friends. I might spend more time watching than they do. Little Gray Bird usually means a sparrow of some kind—field, song, or tree—depending on the habitat. It still presents a challenge. That’s the fun of it and why we go out. Well-suited for the weather, primed to stand, move and watch, we prepare for the worst like any winter outdoor activity. You can’t enjoy any winter outing if the cold sets in.
The English sparrow, or known by many as the house sparrow, was introduced by a misguided bird enthusiast. In the 1850s, New York City’s trees were being ravaged by the larvae of the linden moth. Faced with this harmful pest, the city imported the house sparrow from Europe to devour them. The scheme worked but the sparrow’s numbers grew and propagated, spreading across the US to become the ubiquitous pest we now have. English sparrows aggressively compete with native birds for nesting sites and food. Ever since, the American ecosystem has been engaged in an on-going battle against an enemy numbering some 540 million strong. While one of the most successful and adaptable birds in the world, along with the starling, it does not receive federal protection.
However, sparrow numbers may help us learn more about birds in general. Since they can be found in all kinds of habitats they serve the bird researcher well. We
know wild birds face two competing risks every day: starvation and predation. They must eat without being eaten and they have to find enough food every day to last through the long, cold night. Sparrows have been frequently researched with their attempts at finding food, often in the open. Eating adds weight that slows down any songbird. They constantly assess risks and benefits of a potential food source. Experiments have shown that when birds know that predators are around, they delay feeding until later in the day. That way, they stay light and agile through the afternoon and put on weight just before they sleep.
When I was a kid on the farm many different kinds of sparrows frequented the
fox sparrow
song sparrow
white-throated sparrow
barn, loft, and manure pile. Not knowing their differences, or much caring, we called them “spebbies.” Where this term comes from, I don’t know, but they made great moving targets for our bb guns, winging over the barnyard. This might have been my first encounter with a group of birds I now have come to respect and admire. Seemingly insignificant, the mundane sparrows continue to reveal secrets and inspire while surviving mankind’s ever-changing environment.
I have become a fan of sparrows and I study their size, colors, streaking, and wing bars. A bonus is to listen for their calls. Some calls and songs from a flock at the feeder may be heard on winter days. The song of the white-throated sparrow resembles “old-Sam Peabody, peabody, peabody,” sometimes all on the same note. Old Sam sports a white beard, or in this case, the white throat. Listen for the repetitive “machine gun” call of the chipping sparrow. The field sparrow’s call is like a ping-pong ball bouncing slowly at first, then faster and faster.
You can spot the white-throated sparrow, a songbird that breeds as far north as northern Wisconsin and migrates through the southern part of the Midwest. A few birds remain here through winter. Their migration is triggered by decreasing day lengths. Actual migratory movement is correlated with local weather conditions. Because they are ground-feeders, most birds leave their breeding range in time to avoid permanent snow cover. White-throated sparrows take off at dusk like most small songbirds and migrate at night. This behavior has been verified for us through research at several avian research centers. This nocturnal trip occurs usually after passage of a cold front accompanied with falling temps and north winds. They will forage on the ground during daylight hours, often in loose flocks. This could be the time we catch a glimpse of the white-throated at our feeders. More than a casual look is needed to see white under the lower bill and a small patch of yellow in front of each eye.
Look for the white-throated and other sparrows at your feeders in the coming winter months. Their variety, song, and resilience can be reason enough to appreciate these often ignored and maligned birds.
Fresh In-Store Donuts
Broasted Chicken
chipping sparrow
Sampler at Ferguson House Bistro
Everything about the new Ferguson House Bistro is fresh, bright, modern, and new.
Despite its landmark Nashville location, laden with antique memories and a bona fide Brown County pedigree, the new bistro at 78 West Franklin Street breathes fresh air into the local dining scene.
The old house has been completely renovated inside and out—actually elevated to a high fine polish it has probably never known. The floors, the fixtures, the delicious paint job; it’s all very bright, modern, and upscale.
The roofed front porch provides very comfortable seating, ideal in fine weather for people watching and enjoying a meal al fresco.
The menu is slim but satisfying, with an Italian bent.
Mrs. Sampler and I began with the Spanakopita dip made with spinach, sweet Vidalia and green onions, Feta, Ricotta, and shredded mozzarella and provolone. This deliciously gooey hot creamy dip is served with smoked paprika pita chips. There was also an alluring “Charcuterie Board for Two” on the appetizer menu, but I left it for another day.
The salads looked strong—spinach salad with mushrooms, egg, feta cheese, roasted pine nuts, and pickled onion and “The Fall Salad” with a cornucopia of ingredients ranging from roasted butternut squash and Granny Smith apples to grape tomatoes, red onion, and candied pecans.
I passed over “Our Signature French Onion Soup” and instead had the soup of the day—a creamy mushroom, potato, and carrot concoction that satisfied the palate and soothed the soul.
The remainder of the menu divided neatly between flatbreads and paninis, masterfully made and expertly arranged.
Mrs. Sampler opted for the vegetable flatbread smeared with basil pesto and topped with a medley of roasted red peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, Roma tomatoes, Vidalia onion, and garlic, then slathered with shredded mozzarella and provolone, sprinkled with fresh basil, and drizzled with a balsamic glaze.
The flatbread was cracker thin and the whole concoction entirely tasty.
Also on offer: the “Three Meat Flatbread” with salami, prosciutto, capicola, shredded cheeses, tomato, pepperoncini, and basil; and the “Fall Flatbread,” featuring house-made onion jam, pears poached in white wine, bacon, red onion, and arugula with goat cheese crumbles.
I love a good panini (Italian for small bread), a pressed sandwich made with grilled Italian bread and stuffed with deli meats, and cheese.
I could have chosen the “Italian Melt” layered with Capicola, Genoa salami, shaved ham, and provolone cheese. It was seasoned with pickled red onions, Roma tomatoes, and pepperoncini.
Instead, I ordered the turkey melt—a French roll topped with basil pesto, mayo, and layered with baby spinach Roma tomatoes, and oven roasted turkey with Munster cheese. It was wonderfully warm, cheesy, and gooey, but tough and chewy in all the right places. Kind of like a romantic comedy.
The veggie panini had squash and the other aforementioned veggies on board and the “Our Fall Panini” featured house made fig jam, caramelized onion, mushroom and spinach, and a grilled chicken breast topped with Gouda cheese.
Since the menu was headlined “Fall Menu,” I expect that other delectable offerings will arrive as the seasons change.
The table service was excellent, and the ambience was charming. As I contentedly munched my sandwich, I studied an abstract painting of a school of fish, and admired the sharp new style of the Ferguson House.
The walls of the two small dining rooms are graced with Brown County art—Fred Rigley and Patricia Rhoden, among others. In the saloon, large black and white photos by Frank Hohenberger echo the Ferguson House’s key role in Brown County history.
The Victorian-style building was built as a private home in 1873. Allie Ferguson ran a boarding house there in the 1920s and 30s, when the artists who often stayed there were making Brown County into an object of national attention and interest.
Hohenberger lived there for some time and later took his meals there where he undoubtedly gleaned from Ferguson
much of the town’s gossip for his Indianapolis Star column “Down In the Hills of Brown.”
After serving as a boarding house the building housed a memorable antique shop, crammed to the gunnels—upstairs and down—with an astonishing variety of interesting items.
Now, it has been completely transformed. Some of the building’s original windows and the trim along the front porch have been preserved, but nearly everything else about the building has undergone a major modernization.
There’s a cozy, well-appointed little pocket bar in there that deserves closer attention on some lazy afternoon—perhaps another day. There were desserts, of course—crème brulee and a bread pudding—but I was completely satisfied and had left no room for the sweet tooth.
The new eatery also serves breakfast in the morning, and alluringly offer “Biscuits and Gravy All Day.”
It appears the Ferguson House is just getting underway, like a newborn colt finding it legs, and it seems likely that we shall see many more changes, improvements, and experiments as time goes on. Based on my first visit, an expansion of the menu and into the dinner hour would be most welcome.
Early Artist
Leota Loop
~by Julia Pearson
Within the vault of the permanent collection of the Brown County Art Gallery and Museum located at One Artist Drive are ten pieces by Leota Loop, who is perhaps Peaceful Valley’s best-known art teacher. Loop is admired among local art lovers who always visit her paintings when they are on exhibit. She is especially beloved by those whose lifespans overlap hers.
A native Hoosier daughter, Leota Williams was born on October 26, 1893 in Fountain City, and grew up in Elwood. She was the youngest of five siblings.
When she was ten years old, she sold her first sketch. With the inventiveness of childhood, she used materials at hand to create her art—grocers’ wrapping paper for canvas, chicken feathers for brushes,
and bottles of ink for paint. As a teenager she painted flowers on women’s dresses for extra money. Her sketches won first place ribbons in the Madison County Fair.
She studied art at the Fairmont Academy with Olive Rush, who became well-known in the Southwest art world. Loop received further instruction and guidance from William Forsyth at the John Herron Art Institute; T.C. Steele, founder of the Hoosier Group; and Will Vawter; as well as Edward Stitzman in Morgan County and Randolph LaSalle Coats.
Landscapes were her primary subject until around 1927, when she needed to be near her sick father. Then she turned to painting florals using fresh bouquets from her own garden. She returned to landscapes after her father’s death and she could again visit southern Indiana between the seasons of blooming dogwood trees through the end of the colors of autumn foliage.
Continued on 66
“Yellow Roses,” courtesy Brown County Art Gallery.
VINTAGE
DECOR
Moon Ac res Cand les An
Holidays are coming
make great gifts
Loop was a well-known artist in Kokomo, where she resided for 30 years. In 1930 she was one of 15 charter members of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO Chapter R), that helps women pursue higher education. She organized many junior art clubs throughout the state and was a member of the Indiana Artists Club, the Artists League, and the Brown County Art Gallery Association. She divided her time between Kokomo and studios in Morgan and Brown Counties.
From 1925 to 1958 she exhibited in the Hoosier Salon, where she won three prizes; and also the Artists League of Northern Indiana. She had her work displayed in the Mary A. Burnt galleries of the Women’s Department club in the Indiana Artist Club exhibit at L.S. Ayres, and in the Lieber’s and Lyman’s galleries in Indianapolis.
The Loop family—Leota, husband Glenn, and son Max—made Brown County their permanent home around 1930, joining T.C. Steele, Adolph Shulz, Charles Dahlgreen, Lucie Hartrath, L.O. Griffith, C. Curry Bohm, Ada Walter Shulz, Carl Graf, V.J. Cariani, Gustav Baumann, and Dale Bessire.
Loop was state art chairman of the Tri Kappa sorority, offering her Nashville home as headquarters. Governor Townsend purchased her still life painting “Iris and Peonies” for the governor’s mansion in 1937.
In Lyn Letsinger-Miller’s book, The Artists of
Brown County, Loop’s career as an art teacher is described. It began when a minister’s wife asked her for painting lessons. This led to the realization of Loop’s dream to build a home and art school in 1941. Financed by the sale of her own paintings, the building would provide her with living quarters and a studio, plus accommodations for students. The project came to a halt mid-way when she ran out of money. Refusing her husband’s offer to fund the rest of the building, Leota had the carpenters dismissed. With a carload of her own paintings, she drove to Kokomo and returned after selling them all. Her building crew was rehired and the building completed. Each new expansion over the years was possible with the exchange of Loop’s paintings for money, work, and materials.
A stroke in the 1950s took the sight from one of her eyes, but did not take her dedication to her art. She continued to paint and give lessons. From her personal collection, she presented an oil painting of peonies to the state of Indiana in recognition of the adoption of the peony as the state flower.
Glenn Loop died in 1949 and a second husband, Charles W. Jewell, died in February of 1957. The last addition to her home was completed shortly before Loop’s final illness. She entered St. Vincent’s Hospital in Indianapolis on July 26, 1961 after suffering a paralyzing stroke. Holding onto life for several weeks, she died at 68 years of age.
LEOTA LOOP continued from 62
New Mountain Bike Trail at the State Park
Anewdocumentary from WTIU Public Television explores one of the most celebrated American Impressionists from Indiana. Singing Winds: The Life and Works of T.C. Steele premieres Sunday, November 28 at 8 p.m. on WTIU and simultaneously streams on Facebook .
Premieres November 28 at 8pm
Also on
wtiu.org/tcsteele
The program looks at the Hoosier artist’s life—from his youth, to his journey through some of the major art centers of Europe, to his return to his native Indiana, where he captured the subtle beauty of the Midwestern landscapes.
T.C Steele was born on a farm in Gosport, Indiana, and his father died when he was a young teen—which during the Civil War era meant for most a life of hard labor on the farm helping to support families. The documentary reveals that Steele’s journey was an unusual one—from early art and music classes that his mother insisted he take to a surprising opportunity to travel to some of the world’s top art schools in Europe.
The program follows Steele’s eventual return to Indiana and the start of his remarkable career in portrait painting, and his rise as one of the nation’s premier landscape painters at a time when the genre was only just beginning to take root across the United States. The program shows that at the pinnacle of his career, Steele was celebrated as one of the leading plein air artists in America.
Two-time Grammy Award winner Sylvia McNair narrates the documentary. McNair is an opera soprano, classical recitalist, and recording artist with more than 70 albums to her name.
You can learn more about Singing Winds: The Life and Works of T.C. Steele at <wtiu.org/tcsteele>. Following the premiere on WTIU and Facebook Live, the program will be available to watch on this website.
This program is made possible with support from Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations and the WFIU/ WTIU Documentary Programs Fund.
TheDNR and the Hoosier Mountain Bike Association (HMBA) held a celebratory ribbon cutting on October 8 to mark the opening of Limekiln East, a newly completed 1.6-mile beginnerlevel mountain bike trail in Brown County State Park.
Limekiln East is the second of three mountain bike trails to be completed in the state park as part of a $200,000 NLT grant to HMBA to develop 7.5 miles of new mountain bike trail. The first, Weed Patch Trail, a 2.4-mile intermediate-level trail, opened in November 2019. The three new NLT-funded trails will connect with existing trails as well as other park amenities. Once completed, the three new trails will bring the total mileage of mountain bike trails within the state park to 43.5.
The park’s existing Limekiln West Trail connects the campground to the Hoosier’s Nest, fire tower, and park office. Before the Limekiln East Trail opened, beginner mountain bike riders (and hikers and runners) used Limekiln West as an out-and-back. The addition of Limekiln East transforms the former out-and-back into a 3.7-mile beginner directional loop for the park’s daytime visitors. Limekiln East not only adds miles for both new and experienced riders, it also reduces congestion on the popular trail.
“Brown County State Park is premier destination for mountain biking in the Midwest and the new Limekiln East Trail only cements that reputation,” said DNR Director Dan Bortner.
Mountain bike trails in Brown County State Park are multi-use and are open to hiking and trail running as well as bicycling. Riders should obtain a $5 daily or $20 annual off-road cycling pass before using park mountain bike trails.
