Art makes our lives better. Art entertains us. Art heightens our self-awareness and our awareness of others. It helps us perceive complexity as pleasure and possibility not as irritating and uncertainty. Art records history and exemplifies past civilizations. Art has also been known to become a vice you can't let go of. I discovered this vice as a child and re-discovered it about 20-years ago doing decorative painting with acrylic paints and then falling in love with oil paints. Since then, I have been blessed to study with some of the finest artist in the United States. Starting with a blank white canvas and ending up with a three-dimensional picture is a great satisfaction.

Art comes in many forms both visual and performing. Union County has a rich history in raising successful people in the performing arts with entertainers such as Kenny Chesney, Roy Acuff, Carl Smith, Lois Johnson, and many others. The county is also rich with visual artist as was clearly shown when the Union County Arts Cooperative was on Main Street. Over 30 Union County visual artists exhibited and sold their work there. And on any given day you might have dropped in on a jam session where you would hear country, gospel, blue grass, blues, or rock-a-billy music being played. I sure miss that place. Thank you, Susan, for the years you made it happen.

Today, let’s talk about Art and History (my two favorite subjects), specifically the history of our county. In 2008, I was honored to do a painting depicting the old Union County Courthouse (circa 1935) that was in the very same spot as today's courthouse. It was two story and Victorian in style and had potbellied stoves for heat in the winter and open windows for air-conditioning in the summer. I used historic pictures from the Tennessee State Archives, what I remembered, and what other people remembered about the building as references for the painting. Past Sheriff Swan Kitts gave me some very good information about the colors of the building. Many a Judge dropped his gavel in the second story court room including Sheriff Kitts' father, but that's another subject for a later time. The Union County Heritage Festival had 200, signed and numbered, collectible prints made from my painting. They sold those prints to help raise funds to support having the Festival. Every year since, I have done a painting to depict Union County history and signed and numbered 200 prints from it for the Festival. One hundred percent of the sale proceeds go to the Festival. Several of these prints have sold out. Folks seem to really like them. As far as I know, there is only one of the old court house prints left and it is currently for sale at the Union County Vendor Mall, 155A Durham Dr., Maynardville. Other prints are also available at the Vendor Mall and at The Winery at Seven Springs Farm, 1474 Highway 61 E, Maynardville.

This year, 2018, will mark the 11th collectible print for the Union County Heritage Festival which will be held Saturday, October 6th. It will be titled "Fiddling Around" which is the theme of this year's Festival. Keep an eye out for this print to be unveiled soon. Look for it here on Historic Union County, at the Vendor Mall and at the Winery.