- [Narrator] Support for this program is provided by the Weldon F. Osborne Foundation, the Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

- On this episode of "Chattanooga: Stronger Together", we'll learn about an innovative art-based program that cultivates essential life skills and foster civic engagement with marginalized populations here in Chattanooga.

We'll also explore 33 acres filled with world-class art.

The largest sculpture park in the Southeast.

We're stronger together, Chattanooga.

So, stay tuned to learn more.

(upbeat lively music) Welcome to "Chattanooga: Stronger Together."

I'm Barbara Marter.

In 2009, mark-making was founded by Frances McDonald, an artist who had an aha!

moment after creating a block long mural in Downtown Chattanooga.

She and her team recruited young people to help with future projects, extending artistic opportunities to marginalized populations in our community.

I'm pleased to have Frances McDonald here today to talk about the mark-making mission.

Welcome Frances.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

And I actually remember in 2009, sitting down with you and talking to you about this vision that you had for mark-making.

So, here we are 12 years later.

- Here we are - And so tell me, what have you accomplished?

What was your mission?

What was your vision?

And did you make it a reality?

- Well, we're working on the reality part.

But first off, I just wanted to thank you for having me here.

This is a real honor and just a great opportunity to talk about my favorite subject, mark-making.

So in 2009, we started.

You were there.

Awesome moment.

And we decided to call it mark-making, because that was directly tied to the mission.

It's about making your mark.

It's about offering underserved populations the opportunities to make their mark on society.

So, we've worked with probably 3000 individuals since our inception.

That's kids, adults with mental developmental disorders, incarcerated people, homeless people.

And all of these people, a lot them don't vote.

They don't have a lot of say so.

Some of them don't even get to choose what they eat, what they wear, but working with us, they're able to make a real difference in the community.

We facilitate murals, as you said.

Murals, sculptures, art installations.

And those are really the people that create it.

We sort of make the sandbox and they're the ones that do it.

So, they're able to impact what we see every day.

And there are a lot of professional artists that can't say that.

So, we have a lot of fun.

It's very empowering for us to offer these opportunities and it's just a whole lot of fun.

But it's really about making their mark, making an impact, which of course impacts them.

It empowers them to be able to do that.

And along the way, we throw in problem-solving skills and all that kind of thing.

- So, what kind of mediums do you use in mark-making in your projects?

- We've done a lot of murals, but we've also done sculpture.

We're working on one right now.

We've done installation work like the traffic cabinets and also the Kings and Queens of East Chattanooga.

And that's really it.

Murals, sculptures installations, yeah.

So, - We have branched in to the performing arts.

- Aah.

- But that's a whole another, (laughs) hat's for another segment.

- Okay.

I have seen those traffic raps.

I think you call them life energy.

- [Frances] Yes.

- And so who created those?

- (chuckles) We went to five different schools and we collected drawings and we had instructions, and it was all about how to solve a problem because, right?

And we're trying to get from A to B.

So, of course that's a metaphor for how the traffic works.

You get to an intersection, a choice, and you decide to turn right, left, go straight based on where you're going.

So, each individual has, "I wanna make better grades.

Well, how do I get there?"

So, we mapped out what were their issues and solutions for themselves or for their community, and we abstractly made these maps.

We had competitions to see who would get to put their maps on the traffic boxes and we did six of them and we're gonna do more.

So, we went to five or six, yeah we went to six local schools.

- [Barbara] And were those?

- [Frances] They're all in East Chattanooga.

- And so, let's talk about the 3D.

The Kings and the Queens?

Where was that at?

- Oh, that was so exciting.

That's on our building in North Chattanooga.

We have two buildings.

One's rented, it's our revenue stream.

But I was upset.

The 3D thing was starting out.

We all went to a thing at the library.

Everybody there was white.

And I was just struck by the fact that these kids were learning about 3D printing and the impact that that would make on our future world.

And there were a whole lot of people not there.

So, we decided to do workshops out in East Chattanooga.

Got all their kids to come in and we scanned their faces, printed them out, and then later they came back, we printed them out life-size and a half.

And we studied Egypt and Benin sculpture and long story short, they turned into these images, these 3D images in headdresses that we lined the roof line of our building with.

So, nobody's ever done that.

It was very cool.

And they learned a lot.

- Well, when you go to your website, you can actually see and read- - Correct.

Oh yeah.

- More about that.

And I thought that was absolutely fascinating that you use these young people, their faces, to create this 3D mural of Kings and Queens.

And it was just seeing how the headdresses and how you had used everything.

- Well, they did all that.

- See?

That was their imagination.

- I mean, we printed and stuffed the back of it.

(clears throat) Created the cases.

But it was really interesting.

I didn't realize, but when we got it up it was, they would be in the neighborhood and of course, they are looking at themselves.

So, there was kind of a built-in accountability like that.

And of course, when they're scanning, they're very still.

So, they're very stately.

Thus, the Kings and Queens, We didn't know we're gonna call it that until they were printed out.

Wow, they're so stately.

- [Barbara] Yeah.

- But they decided on the colors and what the face would look like and then created what was on their head.

It was crowns and headdresses and things like that.

- So, tell me about the Birds of Freedom.

I love that the birds with the shadows behind them and everything.

- Oh.

I know I love that too.

- Who created those?

- [Frances] And it's on a billboard.

It's off the ground, so the question was, and the question that we pose to the inmates who were doing this mural, we've been in the Hamilton County Jail until COVID.

For about 10 years, we've done two murals while we'd been in there.

So, the question was, "Here's the site.

What do you wanna do?"

So, they came up with, they wanted to paint each one their own bird (clears throat) and that would be a metaphor of what they would do on their release from the system.

That they would fly away.

But we started with just structure.

How to draw a bird.

Here's a circle, here's a triangle.

And over time we developed birds in flight, and then we added texture and all the texture was personalized.

Then like all mark-making murals, we take home the drawing, we project them on parachute cloth, we glue that into a bigger composition and that will go on the billboard.

But they painted them all.

We dragged paint and parachute cloth back and forth to the jail for months.

It was crazy, but they loved it.

But once again, they're in jail, but they're able to put their art in our community.

So, people can see, these guys aren't just who we think they are.

They are capable of impacting us from the outside.

I think I said that backwards, but I think you get the point.

- Right, that's true.

And I love the way that you're not secular into one area.

You are reaching and touching the lives of so many different people.

No matter if they're in jail or if they have mental issues or if they're young people.

It's a way to express themselves and I love that.

And people don't realize that the art part and that function of your brain needs to be stimulated.

It really does.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

And it's not just the therapeutic value of it.

It's really, it's about the impact and it's about the problem-solving skills that you run into when you're making art.

Do I use red, blue, green?

How do I fill my canvas?

There's lots and lots of many decisions that go into life skills.

What am I gonna study?

Do I want red, blue?

How do I be responsible for what I'm creating?

There's a lot of translation, a lot of crossover, and we emphasize that in class.

- Yeah.

Well, when we talk about, you had mentioned the mental health.

Don't you have a mental health class that you?

- Yes, yes.

We have a mental health court class.

A class with mental health court participants.

They are justice-related individuals with a history of sexual trauma.

So, we get together Friday evenings and we do all kinds of work.

It's super interesting.

I love our participants.

We have a good time and we, sometimes we're dancing, sometimes we're singing, best are when we're making art, but we have a very good time there.

And they'll also be participating on our upcoming sculpture project.

- That's what I want you to talk about, is what is that all about?

- Oh, it's so exciting.

I have a close affiliation with the AIM Center.

I started as a member.

Now, I'm what they call a serial board member.

And Bonnie Currey-Stamps passed away about a year ago in February.

And she was one of the founders and long-term Executive Director there and she passed away.

And we wanted to find a way to honor her.

And I proposed that we do a sculpture for the front lawn.

So Judy Mogul, who's also the art teacher over there designed the rec booth, fabricated it and the mark-making part.

In other words, how are we going to empower or offer these opportunities for empowerment to that community which included mental health court and the members of the AIM Center.

And in this case, the family and friends of Bonnie Currey-Stamps herself, this will be a large 12-foot high mosaic sculpture, and it will be composed of different elements of mosaic.

So, it's a composition with sky and trees and grass.

And the people participating will be creating birds and stars and butterflies and all elements of mosaic, which will be embedded into a bigger hole.

And typically, everything we do is some kind of collage with the participant's input into a bigger hole.

So we're doing that now.

- [Barbara] Yeah.

- [Frances] And it's very, very exciting.

It's really difficult too.

We've never done mosaic.

We're thrilled to be doing mosaic.

- [Barbara] Yeah.

- It's tricky stuff.

- [Barbara] As we're wrapping up Frances, why don't you share with us how our viewers could either learn more about mark-making or do some volunteer or participate in some of the projects that you're working on?

- Well, we are happy to welcome you to our website, www.markmaking.org, M-A-R-K-M-A-K-I-N-G. We're also on Facebook.

Mark-Making in Chattanooga.

So, please come visit us, check out our website.

Thank you, Barbara.

- Well, thank you, Frances for coming in today and talking with us and also for making this a more beautiful community.

You really are making a mark in our society.

And thank you for helping all of our young people, whether they're young, mental issues, older people, homeless people.

You really are covering a huge group.

So, thank you so much.

So up next, we're gonna talk to Jay Heavilon from Sculpture Fields.

So, stay with us.

We wanna know how you serve your community.

Send us photos or videos of you or your family volunteering.

And we may feature it on a future episode.

Email stronger@wtcitv.org or use the hashtag #StrongerWTCI on social media.

Welcome back.

In 2016, a new park opened right here in Chattanooga offering visitors an opportunity to enjoy world-class artwork.

In fact, Sculpture Fields at Montague Park is the largest sculpture park in the Southeast.

And I'm pleased to have Jay Heavilon with us today to tell us all about it.

Welcome, Jay.

And thank you so much for coming in.

So, tell me a little bit about this sculpture park.

- Sculpture Fields at Montague Park was envisioned by John and Pamela Henry around 2006.

And they saw that over the years the city had used the park as a dump and it was a brown field and they wanted to reclaim it and make something beautiful out of it and were able to obtain a lease from the City of Chattanooga to create a sculpture park.

So, it took a few years to raise funds, move in thousands of yards of dirt, put a cap on it, create the landscape textures and so forth.

Work with environmental engineers, TDEC, the city and so forth to open the park in 2016.

- So, how many sculptures do you have out there?

- We presently have 43 sculptures.

- And where do you get these sculptures?

- We get these sculptures, some we acquire, but mostly they're loaned to us by the artist.

They give them to us on loan for a couple of years so that we can display the work and based on, really the relationship with John and Pamela Henry, we're able to get local work, well-known national work as well as well-known international work in the park.

- So, it's kind of like, previously when we were kind of talking, you had mentioned sculpture park, the Sculpture Fields is more well-known overseas than it is in the US, basically due to John Henry.

And I thought that was absolutely fascinating.

- It is fascinating.

We have an awareness issue in Chattanooga aside from the local immediate residents, that outside of the education community and the art community in town, general population is really not aware of Sculpture Fields.

So, that's something we need to work on, but nationally and internationally, because of John Henry's international reputation, we are well known in the art world as one of the largest sculpture parks in the Southeast, as well as what makes us unique is we're an urban park.

We're within the city limits of Chattanooga.

And most sculpture parks are not.

They're in suburban areas with open land, rural areas with large open land, and they're not easily accessible.

So, we are easily accessible right in the city of Chattanooga.

It makes it so wonderful for everybody here.

- Well, being in the heart of the city, is that more advantageous for you to get artwork?

Because then the artist will say, "All right, having in this location, we'll have more people come to see it, view it and appreciate it."

- I would say, no.

- Okay.

- Not necessarily, but because of John and Pamela's reputation in the art world, we're able to get a Mark di Suvero, an Albert Paley.

Some really well known pieces in the park that other sculpture parks call us and say, "How did you get a di Suvero?

How did you get a Paley?"

(chuckles) And they wanna know.

So, that gives us a certain amount of panache in the art community that other sculptors do want to have their pieces exhibited with these well-known artists.

We also work with the Mid-South Sculpture Alliance which is also a nonprofit working with students.

So, there's an educational component to the park that benefits the Southeast Regional Art Education programs at higher institutions.

- And it's my understanding that this is free to the community?

- It is absolutely for you.

We are a 501c3 nonprofit.

We're dependent entirely upon donations, but we lease the land from the city for 40 years.

And we're under the auspices of the city of Chattanooga as a public park.

Therefore, any resident in the area, any citizen of Chattanooga is free to use the park 365 days a year from the time the sun comes up until the time the sun goes down every day.

- [Barbara] That's true.

- [Jay] We're also very dog-friendly.

So, bring your dogs as long as you're on a leash.

- Oh, perfect.

- [Jay] Please bring your dog and walk the park, there's two and a half, three miles of trails through the park.

It's a magic experience within the city.

- Wow.

That's amazing.

Do you do anything with schools or anything like that?

Where they could bring maybe their art class over and then really go through and learn about what each artist was trying to, the story they were trying to tell?

Or maybe that student's interpretation of what that sculpture says to them?

- Absolutely.

We do a lot of this.

Part of the original mission from John and Pamela and the Board that founded the park was to be an education, to have an educational benefit for all age ranges.

So, we will do guided tours for any public school in Hamilton County or the region that wants to bring students there.

And we run online education programs for COVID.

We received an Arts Bill grant.

So, we were able to produce online art materials that can be downloaded and used.

We created a video series where we discuss the pieces with the artist.

There are small clips that has been very popular with homeschools and they're able to use that for their education.

And the regional Fine Arts programs that are more at the college in the Master's level also come to the park and we'll give their students tours and classes and discuss the finer parts of the different works so that they can also receive an education.

- Down off of, and I can't remember if it was main street or what?

Aren't there some commissioned small art pieces in front of businesses and things like that?

- There are, and in order to expand the footprint of the park into the neighborhood, we have offered all the local businesses and residential communities, some condo projects and things like that, an opportunity at the neighborhood art program.

And how that works is they agree to pay a stipend to the artist and a small donation to the park.

We will install a piece of art in front of their building for up to a year or two years or five years, whatever they desire.

And so, some of the smaller works that we get, we're trying to expand the art out into the whole neighborhood.

- Is that the neighborhood sculpture project?

- It is.

- Okay.

- It is.

- Okay.

So, do you have any new sculptures that are coming in?

- There's a gentleman in South America who has created for us a really spectacular stainless steel piece that is just unbelievable having seen it.

And he just needs to ship it up here and come and install it.

And we'll have a big grand party around that.

- [Barbara] Wow.

- We look forward to that.

- I can imagine.

I can imagine.

So, do you have events there?

I mean, can people use part of the park for an event?

Or do you prefer that they just come and see it and enjoy it for themselves?

- Well, on a day-to-day basis for any resident, come and enjoy it.

It's a green, tranquil space within a concrete jungle, which is just amazing.

We do for our benefit, we will do a series of events during the year as fundraisers within the park.

We do the kites in the park.

We have an annual sculpture burn as our birthday celebration, and where we have bands and food trucks, and it's all very family kid-friendly and we use that as fundraisers.

Recently, we have been approached and are starting to hold events in the park for weddings.

- [Barbara] Okay.

- Because of COVID, some churches have approached us for specific services because they can socially distance out and there's plenty of room and there's plenty of parking.

So, we've been able to raise some funds that way.

And so, we're open to more events in the future.

- Oh.

That's perfect.

So, if people wanted to not only come out and enjoy the park and enjoy art and its many different forms and everything, are there volunteer opportunities?

- We have many volunteer opportunities throughout the year.

First of all, there's always maintenance in the park that needs to be done, and we could use some help with that.

So, if you're mechanically or (laughs) industrially inclined and have some time, please give us a call.

During we have our events, most of our events are staffed with volunteers and it's a huge benefit for us just to have more people in the park.

We're recently creating a docent program.

And so, we would like to educate those who are interested in becoming docents and giving tours of the park.

We'll absolutely walk them through the entire park and educate them so that they're knowledgeable.

And we get a lot of requests for docent visits and educational visits in the park.

And so, we could use some docents.

We very much appreciate this.

People can call our office number or visit our website.

We're at sculpturefields.org and you can contact our staff office there on Polk Street and make an inquiry and they'd be happy to give you some information.

- So, how long have you been with sculpture?

- I've known John Henry for years, and I have been on the board now at Sculpture Fields for four years.

- Evidently, you love what you're doing.

- I do.

I really enjoy it.

It has sparked within me something that prior to being involved with Sculpture Fields, I really wasn't aware of.

I visited sculpture parks all over the US.

My wife and I have visited sculpture parks in other countries.

Anywhere we go, if we hear there's a sculpture park, we go see it.

It gives us great ideas.

And I think really, we're the biggest underappreciated asset in this city right now.

And so, somehow we need to fix that because what we really are, we're very much a socially and economically uplifting place right in the heart of Chattanooga, disguised as an outdoor museum.

- [Barbara] Right.

Jay, thank you so much for coming in and sharing with us about the sculpture park.

And thank you for spending some time with us.

We hope that "Chattanooga: Stronger Together" could be a resource for viewers like you who are looking for ways to make an impact in our community.

So, let us know what you think.

Email us at stronger@wtcitv.org, or use the hashtag #StrongerWTCI on social media.

I'm Barbara Marter.

We'll see you next time.

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Support for this program is provided by the Weldon F. Osborne Foundation, the Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation and viewers like you.

Thank you.