Support for this program is provided by the Weldon F Osborne Foundation.

The Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.

On today's show will feature two non-profits dedicated to strengthening the arts in Chattanooga.

One is focused on the preservation and history of decorative glass.

The other serves as an exhibition space and community engagement venue.

Stay tuned to learn more.

Hi, I'm Barbara Marter.

Thank you for joining us.

We're pleased to have with us today Pam Reed, operations director of the Houston Museum of Decorative Arts.

Renowned by experts.

The museum showcases a portion of the 15,000 pieces of decorative art glass from the early 1900s, as well as Victorian era furniture.

These exquisite collectibles were gifted to the people of Chattanooga by Anna Safely Houston.

Pam, thank you so much for being here with us today.

I am so excited for our viewers to hear about Anna and how the Houston Museum came about.

Well, thanks for having me.

Anna moved to Chattanooga in 1904 and she had a big collection of glass, furniture and other antiques.

She was a real visionary, and she saw that this type of items were starting to die out as manufacturing changed.

And she, in her later years, decided to gift it, as you said, to the city of Chattanooga.

So where was the love of this collection coming from?

I mean, in the early years, what did she do that just gave her that love for, hey, you know, I need this.

I need to hoard this stuff.

I need to hang on to it.

That's a great question.

Yeah.

So one of her early jobs, she was actually a hair model.

She would travel around to the medicine shows and educate people on how to wash your hair when hygiene was becoming more of a hot topic.

She also worked as a buyer for Macy's in New York City and Marshall Field's in Chicago.

And I think that that's really where she got a taste for what people liked to buy.

And she was exposed to items that she maybe wouldn't have seen in her youth.

And she really got a had a strong liking for beautiful things.

She called them her pretties.

Her pretties.

I like that.

Yeah.

But it's my understanding she was not a well-educated woman, but yet she was a visionary, wasn't she?

Yes, she really was.

I think because she had a connection to these items and to the people that made them.

And she put together this really beautiful collection of glass, Tennessee furniture, music boxes with metal disks and just all type of things from the Victorian times that that you don't see anymore.

So where in the world did she store all of this?

So in the 1930s, she actually built a giant barn herself all by herself, single handedly pieced it together over a few years.

And that's where she kept all of her antiques.

Sometimes she would let people come in and look around and buy things, but she was pretty frugal.

And if she didn't get a good impression from you, she may not sell anything to you.

Now, it's interesting.

I know that when I've been out to the Houston Museum, it's just a small little house.

Yes.

But when you walk in, I mean, what a story.

Yes, it's full of treasures.

Yeah.

It's like you can spend hours and hours in just one room.

And what I think is fascinating, it's not just glassware or pictures or stemware or whatever like that.

There's so much more.

You mentioned the furniture and stuff like that.

Could you elaborate a little bit more on that?

Sure.

Yes.

We have a huge collection of Tennessee made furniture.

These are not pieces you would see in a castle in Europe.

These are pieces that in America that were used in your house cabinets, corner pieces of furniture, dining room tables, chairs.

We have an old teacher's desk.

We have a crate.

All that we would an older sibling would have rocked their younger siblings.

We have really unique things that are almost like a time capsule frozen in time just to, you know, educate the community on what life was like back in the day.

Yeah, I remember seeing the sugar chest and the story.

This it.

So what is the sugar chest and why did they have a lock on it?

Yeah.

So we actually we're lucky to have three sugar chests in our collection Tennessee made, and these are quite rare.

So the lady of the house would wear a key around her neck because sugar wasn't easy to come by.

And it actually used to come in a cone shape.

So there were scissors where you would cut it down because it wasn't granulated and it would be stored inside the sugar chest, along with other herbs and spices that weren't easy to come by.

And the lady of the house would wear the key around her neck to keep her husband and the kids and other people out of, you know, taking the sweets.

Oh, my gosh.

I think everything has a history to it attached to it and everything like that.

Yes, I know.

And then you had mentioned a few minutes ago the music boxes.

And I think you have like three that are operational and some that are being worked on.

Yes, we have seven in the collection.

We have two functioning music boxes in our collection now.

So if you come visit the museum, you can hear them play.

One operates with a penny and that music box would have been in a hotel lobby or in a department store for people to enjoy.

And our other music box has the metal disc.

We actually have 13 discs that are interchangeable, so you could hear different songs.

And it's from the late 1800s, early 1900s.

So these music boxes are over 100 years old and the acoustics sound like they're brand new.

And now when you play them for me and everything, it was it was like the clarity was there.

I couldn't believe something that old could.

You could listen to it and not have, you know, the cut outs and stuff like that.

It was.

Just beautiful.

Yes.

One of the things that you told me when I was was taking the tour and everything was she would hang pictures and things from this.

Everything was like the walls, the ceiling there.

You actually have a room where you've replicated that with the pictures on the ceiling.

I think that's absolutely the story because when you walk in, you're looking around and then you look up and you're like, oh, wow, what's that up there?

You know?

And they're just I think it's just absolutely amazing all the stuff that you have.

And then you have a basement that's climate controlled.

Yes.

With more inventory, we're working on a huge archiving project right now.

And like you said, we want our museum to feel immersive.

So when the visitor comes in, they feel like like I said, they're in a time capsule.

So we tried our best to replicate how it felt in Anna's barn.

So when you come in, it may feel a bit overwhelming, like there's a lot of stuff in here.

But that's how she lived and that's how she kept her pieces.

So we want to really have her spirit in the museum, and that's why we chose to display the things the way that they are.

Mm hmm.

So there are a lot of educational opportunities, and I think you're expanding those as the operations director in the direction you're going to go.

Could you kind of tell me what you're looking at?

Yeah, we're working with Hamilton County schools where the schools will either come into the museum for a tour where they can see the items up close and personal and how it relates to the curriculum that they're studying.

We're also working with the local universities, and we're also doing some adult programing as well.

Mm hmm.

Now, with the universities and everything, what are you kind of focusing on in that area?

So that's an opportunity where I will go and speak to a class and talk to them about manufacturing techniques or mass making or furniture and woodworking.

And we're also working with the universities to obtain interns to help us with our archiving, our inventory digitizing, and also just to come to be inspired, especially students studying art.

Our sculpture, painting the museum is just full of inspiration.

Whether you're a history major or an art major or you're studying women's studies because Anna was a woman in a time where it wasn't necessarily easy to be a woman most of her life, she didn't even have the right to vote.

So she was able to amass this collection in a time where, you know, it just was she was a really unique woman with a strong vision.

And her pretties, as she called it.

Yeah, I love that.

Yeah.

So I know that you have a a gift store.

Yes.

What is your vision for that gift store?

Yeah.

So we're always looking for volunteers in the community to give tours, work in our gift shop.

Like I said, help with our archiving and inventory.

And in the gift shop, we're working to showcase local artists here in Chattanooga, as well as all over Tennessee and just in the South in general.

So that when our visitors come from different cities or even different countries, we get visitors from all over the world.

Truthfully, they can take a piece of the South home with them, and we want to give an opportunity for local artists to be able to sell their things.

And not just local artists, but you're looking at the whole southeast area.

Can't you be an artist?

Could be someone who writes books, literature.

It could be painting, it could be sculptures.

Glassmaking, potters, and really trying to have anything that relates back to the museum and the techniques and the materials that we use.

I would like to have represented in our shop.

Oh, I think that's fascinating.

I love that day.

I think I still love Anna's story.

I think that she is such I think the Houston Museum is such a well-kept secret.

I mean, we actually have this this gem.

Yes.

In town.

I think I had mentioned early to you, I moved here in 1968 and you said that's when the museum opened.

That's true.

Yes.

And I did really know.

I mean, I've driven by it.

Sure.

Going out there in that area.

But in thought, oh, it's a cute little house with glasses in the in the window and everything and never really walked through the doors.

Sure.

Just to see and you're walking into a different era.

It's like a different world in there.

And every piece has a story.

And you had mentioned that some of the volunteers, anybody that is really good at what it what is it you were looking for?

Every piece has a number to it.

And you correct.

You have a story that goes with it and you're trying to archive all of that.

Yeah.

So we're working on a database system where we are literally archiving and inventorying every single item.

We are photographing it, making sure it has an article number, and we're going through our past records because like you said, the museum was started really in 1961 and it moved into the house that it's in now in 1968.

So they have done a really good job of, you know, making sure that everything is accounted for.

So we're going back through it with a fine tooth comb and making sure that everything has an article number and a record so that we can just continue preserving the collection and educating the community and making sure that, you know, everything has a place and, you know, so we can continue.

We'll continue.

On her legacy, her her love for that.

But, you know, a lot of it was art deco, but a lot of it is furniture from the 1800s and the history like the sugar boxes or the music boxes or whatever, like that and things that they used every day.

And the furniture.

Was Tennessee made, you know, who knew that all of that stuff was here?

Local.

Yeah.

And it was things that were used every day by the, every, every, you know, normal person is like the wife is in the house and she's cooking and she's cleaning.

But that stuff is in pristine condition.

And that's what decorative arts is.

It's, it's functional pieces that would be in the household that are just very beautiful.

So that's why we're called the Houston Museum of Decorative Arts, because it's maybe just pantry, but it's a really beautiful pantry made by hand, a really great craft.

Some of our pieces even have the original buttermilk paint inside or the slots for the spoon.

Some of our furniture you can see where maybe a candle was burning and left a mark.

So these are pieces that really, you know, have lived their own lives.

Yeah.

So if people are interested in volunteering or learning more about it, they can go to your website.

Thank you so much for coming in.

Thank you, Barbara.

This has been I love going and taking the tour, but I love sitting here and chatting with you and learning even more details about Anna and about the museum.

So thank you so much.

Thanks so much for having me.

Thank you.

We'll be back in a moment with Charlotte Caldwell from Stove Works.

So stay tuned.

We want to 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 at WTC TV dot org or use the hashtag stronger WTC on social media.

Welcome back.

Charlotte Caldwell is here.

She's the executive director of Stove Works.

The organization seeks to promote the advancement of art in Chattanooga, providing residency and exhibition opportunities to local, national and international artists.

Welcome, Charlotte.

I'm so glad to have you here today.

So tell me what is Stove Works and your vision for it?

Yeah.

Stove Works is a gallery and exhibition space, an artist residency program that intends to really highlight the practices of contemporary art.

What was the vision?

The vision was highlighting these artists and what they bring to the table.

And I love the residency program.

They can come and stay for one month.

Is it one month or three months?

1 to 3 months?

1 to 3 months.

Okay.

And the selection criteria is you can get up to there's like a vetting that you have to do and then they can come in, but you pay for everything and they live there.

Rent-free.

You give them the exhibition hall downstairs.

Oh, I.

Okay.

Yeah.

So it's three almost distinct programs that sort of like sort of do sort of bleed into the other.

The residency program is a standalone program.

I like to say that there are well, there are about 500 residency programs across the country that are listed with the Alliance of Artist Communities.

And I like to say that every residency program is kind of like a person.

They're all different.

They all sort of different things, all of them sort of.

The four core tenants of any residency programs are providing time, space, resources and community to artists.

We like to add a fifth one called Play.

What do you mean by play?

A little bit?

Just experience the experimentation.

Yeah, you know, and our our residency is very, very much centered around relationship building.

So what I love to see, for me, the more rewarding aspects of running a residency is sort of what happens after it.

So seeing where the artists after building these relationships, where and how they carry each other in their lives moving forward, whether or not it's a collaboration or like putting each other in exhibitions.

But you're you're expanding.

You're building a group of people that, you know personally but also professionally.

This gives them a safe place to think outside the box to to hone their skills or or vision, whatever is up here to actually take it and put it on paper and visualize it for others, but not an every artist is different.

I think you had told me that before.

Every artist is different.

But what I think is fascinating is the individual who's viewing the art, their interpretation of it.

Well, the.

Residency is really fun because of the Open Studios Day, which I do hope you guys come to that we have at the end of every month where it's an invitation for the public to actually enter in to the artist studio.

So it's the only day of the month where the public is actually allowed to go upstairs and meet and speak with all of the artists.

And it's an opportunity for the public to talk with the artist about their practice and really see that it's a messy process.

Like, you know, most of the times when we when we experience art, it's on a pedestal, it's hanging on a gallery wall.

It's a precious object.

Don't touch it, you know?

But the process of making art is really messy and it's riddled with air sometimes.

And it's and those are the elements about running the residency that I really love is, is allowing the space for an artist to process and develop their practice.

Because some out of out of the messiness or out of these mistakes can be beautiful pieces of of art, not only to the artists, but those that are viewing it in that seeing it, too.

So I love the fact that you're giving them this play space, as you call it.

I love that.

And everything is beautiful upstairs.

I love that, too.

But then the exhibition hall downstairs.

How is that used?

So the exhibition hall kind of kind of like the residency program.

We launch an open call for curatorial submissions, and those submissions come from all over the country, from a variety of individuals, of different backgrounds.

We even had a couple of international applicants in the last open call, and then after going through a review panel, we select three guest curators, then to curate the next three shows in the main gallery space.

Mm hmm.

And what's exciting about that is you really get fresh perspectives on on the sort of the larger and the small sort of issues that we wade through every day as people write, some of them are more sort of challenging and can have a political edge.

A lot of them deal with injustices and complex ideas.

Mm hmm.

What you're doing is very unique for Chattanooga.

I don't know of anything else in Chattanooga or round here locally that gives artist a platform a vote, gives them a place for their voice to be heard.

And the voice is not necessarily the voice here.

It is their ideas coming on paper, on stonework, on woodwork or whatever.

Well, so let me go back to the exhibition hall.

So you've had three.

How long does an exhibition last for an artist?

Is it a week?

Is it three days?

Is it three months?

I mean, what's the time frame and what what do they do?

It's typically around three months.

Oh, wow.

We try to show the other facet of organizations, the public programing component.

And so when we have these large installations, these exhibitions, we like to pepper it with by folding in like outside professionals, not necessarily artists that really help deepen and and enrich the experience of the audience.

So because the work that we're showing is intended to drive conversation.

Yeah, we don't.

Yeah.

We don't sell work.

It's not about the the commodification of art.

It's about it's about art as a vehicle for it to communicate a thing.

Right.

Right.

And and that thing could be anything.

But it's also our responsibilities as the stewards of the work and the concept of the curator.

Mm hmm.

As a stewards of the show, it's our responsibility to help the participants and the audience and the greater and greater Chattanooga to understand more fully what that what that conversation is.

Well, it's sometimes we need to come out of our comfort zone to be able to see what's the perception of someone else and to see their viewpoint.

And I think it just in enlarges our understanding and our space that we're in.

We're not a person on an island or anything.

There's lots of other people here with lots of other perspectives.

And I think creating that dialog through art, while it could be stressful, but I think it's also a neutral zone where I see this over here and I get this impression, but you see it and you get another impression.

But why can't we talk about that?

Why can't we share that?

Because now I. I have a more valuable knowledge of what you saw, and then you see it from my perspective of.

So, you know, we're we're a little bit smarter than we were before.

I mean, that really.

If if I may.

Yeah.

Everything that you've said so far really ties in to sort of our organizational philosophy.

Okay.

Which is something we hold a little bit more dear given than our mission.

And our organizational philosophy is sort of shaped around an essay that this arts writer, Anthony Huberman wrote called Take Care.

And it's about approaching art differently, right where we were as an institution.

Well, I mean, gosh, I even hesitate to call it an institution.

Like we're just an organization that's trying to do the best we can.

But, you know, our role is as a stewards of of of this work is not to approach anything as if we're the export experts imparting something really we want it to be a conversation.

And this essay talks about folding in people who know one thing and people who know something else.

And so it's coming from not a position of.

I know, but I care.

Right.

And part of that.

Mm hmm.

You got it.

NEA yes.

Award.

We did.

I did.

We received.

We received the NEA, ARP funding that came out.

It was announced in January or we were recommended in January.

We received the funding this summer.

That takes a while.

Oh, well, you're in the right.

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

Great.

Thanks.

You know.

Yeah.

Just sitting there hoping and waiting.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was actually quite an incredible honor.

It was national funding for operating expenses, so it covers our staff salaries, which is really wonderful because those are the people who do the work that bring it to everybody.

Yeah.

And so we were one of 567 organizations across the country that were selected for this funding.

We were only one of nine in Tennessee, and we were the only visual arts organization in the state of Tennessee to receive it.

Wow.

So it's a huge, huge honor.

When we're very humbled by it as well, too.

Well, it's not only that, but it's an acknowledgment of what of the work that you're doing and how you are giving all these artists locally, you know, nationally a place to work, play, exhibit.

And because a lot of them have full time jobs and they're trying to supplement their hobby or their I got to work to be able to do what I absolutely love in the new giving them anywhere from 1 to 3 months is is amazing.

The last thing I want to talk about, too, is that outside the courtyard you have.

Yes, it's fun.

And the structure of that that's out there is sort of like a house with a roof or something stuck in the ground.

Yeah.

Somebody.

One of your artists built that.

It was it was a commissioned piece by an artist named Heather Hart, and she's out of Boston and sort of and spent some time in Brooklyn.

But she's a phenomenal artist.

We're so thrilled to have that and our career in our courtyard.

And for her, it's really about liminal space and like sort of the sort of the the way we can project our voices by standing on the rooftop and sort of shouting into the wind or shouting out to the world or standing inside the roof structure and having a moment for reflection.

So it's about the like the multiple ways we can be in the multiple ways we can share ourselves.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So.

So, do you get a lot of international students wanting to come in, or is it more of a of a national focus?

It's more I would say, more national applicants.

It is increasing.

And our first open call, which was last year, we received 200 applicants for the residency program.

This year we received 330 and we only allowed 50.

And this year we had a couple of deferrals because of the pandemic that we accommodated in the next season.

But yeah, it's a huge applicant pool and it's, but it's, it's one of the most exciting parts of the job is reviewing all of the applicants and seeing like the incredible sort of breadth of practice out there and just wishing we could take every single artist that applies.

But unfortunately, we have were limited by space.

Charlotte, thank you so much for actually having and providing an opportunity for artists to come in and to play.

I love that.

So and thank you for joining us today.

We hope Chattanooga Stronger Together provides a new perspective for viewers like you who are looking to make a difference in our community.

So let us know what you think.

Email us at stronger at WTCITV dot org or use the hashtag #strongerWTCI on social media.

I'm Barbara Marter.

We'll see you next time.

Get access to even more of the shows you love with WTCI passport.

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

Thank you.