Community Calendar

AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
The global economy often overlooks the contributions of African languages and literature, perpetuating a narrative that underrepresents Africa's influence on global culture. With your help, we will attempt to challenge these assumptions, demonstrating how African languages and literatures not only preserve cultural identity but also act as tools for economic empowerment and global integration.

The Place Speaks is an exploration of how sacred histories are presented through visual art in Appalachia. Artworks by the Rev. Jimmy Morrow center divine visions and East Tennessee folklore while thematically overlapping with other visual artists in Appalachia and the American South. Using Morrow’s works and significant artifacts in the permanent collection that are grounded in regional placeness, The Place Speaks honors and respects the fusion of deeply personal, regional, and universal philosophies and beliefs as they relate to Appalachian landscapes.

Join us Thursday, Oct. 16 from 4:30-7 p.m. for the exhibition reception. Programming will begin at 4:30 p.m. with live music by musician and visual artist Abe Partridge, followed by a panel of artists and scholars from 5:45 to 6:30 p.m. Panelists include Dr. Rick Cary, Dr. Jenna Gray-Hildenbrand, and Aaron McIntosh.

East Tennessee State University’s Reece Museum is hosting an exhibition that explores the intrigue of Blue Ridge Pottery in “Vintage Charm: The Collecting Legacy of Blue Ridge Pottery,” now on view and open through Dec. 12.

Southern Potteries’ process of hand-painting the bisque of produced dinnerware with distinct designs before it was glazed started around 1938 and came to be known as “Blue Ridge Pottery.” The pottery began operations in 1917 in Erwin, Tennessee, and became the largest producer of hand-painted pottery and china in the United States. By the middle of the 1940s, the company’s annual production was estimated at 17 million pieces. Southern Potteries produced some 5,000 different painted designs featuring flora, fauna, mountains, and people.

Due to foreign competition and the rise in popularity of plastic dinnerware, the Southern Potteries work force had dwindled to approximately 600 employees by 1956. A February 1957 article in the Johnson City Press stated: “Liquidation of the potteries was announced yesterday…Southern Potteries is reported to have one of the largest payrolls in Erwin, with an estimated 600 to 700 employees.” The liquidation of Southern Potteries greatly impacted Erwin’s economic development and population, as some former employees moved away to work in other potteries.

The Reece Museum received its first donation of one Blue Ridge Pottery piece in 1986. The museum has since continued to foster relationships with collectors, building trust within the collecting community as an institution that prioritizes the preservation of this beloved piece of East Tennessee history. Don and Susan Burkett generously loaned 21 pieces from their private collection to diversify the offerings in Vintage Charm, which features approximately 80 Blue Ridge Pottery pieces throughout the gallery.
The Reece Museum would like to acknowledge and thank volunteer Jo Harris for producing biographical research for this exhibition. Additionally, researchers interested in the history of Southern Potteries can view the company’s historic documents by making an appointment with the Archives of Appalachia, located on the fourth floor of the Sherrod Library on campus at ETSU.

The Reece Museum is a unit of the Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services, which is housed in the ETSU Department of Appalachian Studies. The Reece Museum is located on the campus of East Tennessee State University and is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Follow the Reece Museum on social media for more content and digital programming. For more information, please visit http://www.etsu.edu/reece or phone (423) 439-4392. ETSU is an EEO employer. For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346.

UPCOMING Northeast Tennessee MASTER GARDENER CLASS
We all want to share our love of gardening.

The Northeast Master Gardener Association (NETMGA) membership includes volunteers from Hawkins, Sullivan, Washington, Carter, Johnson, and Unicoi Counties. Their many activities include information booths at various home and farm shows, answering Ask-a-Master Gardener questions, teaching classes in the community, and organizing new Master Gardener classes. Their presence can be seen in many local historic site gardens, demonstration gardens and community vegetable gardens.

A new Master Gardener class will begin January 28, 2025, and go through April 29, 2025. Classes will be held on Tuesdays from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. Classes are available for the surrounding communities' participants and are held at the Sullivan County, Ron Ramsey Agricultural Center located at 140 Spurgeon Lane, Blountville, TN.

The cost for the class is $200 and applications are available online at the NETMGA website or UT website: https://www.netmga.net/ OR Call 423-574-1919 and press "0"

Join the Reece Museum Tuesday, October 28 from 2 to 4 pm for "Appalachian Animism: Plants, Religion, and Voice of the Mountains" a gallery talk presented by Dr. Amy Whitehead. This lecture is part of a series of events presented in conjunction with the current exhibition, "The Place Speaks." This event is free admission and open to the public.

This presentation combines an insider, scholarly perspective (based on lived, ancestral experience of upper East Tennessee) to offer the concept of ‘Appalachian animism’ as an appropriate conceptual, theoretical and methodological model for articulating the ways in which a diverse range of Appalachian religionists understand, relate to, know, and hear their place. Reflecting on aspects of "The Place Speaks" exhibition, the talk draws out some of the relationships that locals (to East Tennessee) have with their mountains, rivers, woodlands and plants. Bringing animism into conversation with scholarship in material religion, local folkways and cosmologies, environmental initiatives, revitalisation movements, mountain culture (including stories, tales, and yarns), and the living place itself, it asserts that the place not only speaks through human cultures but has a voice all its own.

Originally from the mountains of Northeast Tennessee, Dr. Amy Whitehead is a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology and Programme Coordinator for Museum Studies at Massey University in Aotearoa New Zealand. As an anthropologist of religion/scholar in the study of religions, her research and publications are primarily concerned with the material and performance cultures (or material religions) of Indigenous religions, Afro-Caribbean and Catholic traditions, New Religious Movements, and Earth Traditions. Geographical focuses include the UK, Spain, Cuba, and New Zealand. Amy has also developed new methodological and theoretical approaches to animism, within which sits at the heart of her latest research about the rich and varied social, ritual, and healing lives of plants in Appalachian and other religious cultures.

Founded in 1946 in Johnson City, Rich-R-Tone was a pioneering bluegrass and country label. The first record company based in East Tennessee, it released the earliest recordings by the Stanley Brothers and documented many other pioneering bluegrass acts. Through Bear Family Records, the complete output of Rich-R-Tone and its subsidiary label Folk Star Records has now been remastered for the digital age as a 12-CD, 317-track deluxe box set.

ETSU's Dr. Ted Olson, who with Matteo Ringressi wrote the box set's 148-page hardcover book that is filled with rare photographs, artist biographies, full discographies, and essays, will discuss the label's significance and provide a guided listening experience for select songs.

Join us as we celebrate the release of what is certain to become a definitive tribute to the pioneering work of Johnson City's James Hobart Stanton, Rich-R-Tone Records, and the artists who helped shape postwar American country and bluegrass music.

Light refreshments will be available.

The Toe River Chamber Ensemble invites you to its much-anticipated Fall Annual Concert on Tuesday, October 28 at 7:30 pm for an evening of stirring classical and contemporary music. The program features selections from Beethoven’s iconic Symphony No. 5, Mussorgsky’s dramatic “Night on Bald Mountain,” and a lively medley from the hit Broadway musical Wicked. The program will be held at the First Baptist Church on Burnsville Square, NC.

Led by conductor R. Kevin Paul, the Toe River Chamber Ensemble is a vibrant community group composed of 25 to 30 dedicated volunteers. Members range from professional musicians to doctors, farmers, teachers, and others who share a deep passion for music. Rehearsing weekly throughout the year, they come together to celebrate the joy of performance and the power of collaboration.

Concerts are always free to the public, with donations warmly welcomed to help sustain the ensemble’s mission. To learn more about the Toe River Chamber Ensemble and its musicians, visit www.toeriverchamberensemble.com.

AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
The global economy often overlooks the contributions of African languages and literature, perpetuating a narrative that underrepresents Africa's influence on global culture. With your help, we will attempt to challenge these assumptions, demonstrating how African languages and literatures not only preserve cultural identity but also act as tools for economic empowerment and global integration.

The Place Speaks is an exploration of how sacred histories are presented through visual art in Appalachia. Artworks by the Rev. Jimmy Morrow center divine visions and East Tennessee folklore while thematically overlapping with other visual artists in Appalachia and the American South. Using Morrow’s works and significant artifacts in the permanent collection that are grounded in regional placeness, The Place Speaks honors and respects the fusion of deeply personal, regional, and universal philosophies and beliefs as they relate to Appalachian landscapes.

Join us Thursday, Oct. 16 from 4:30-7 p.m. for the exhibition reception. Programming will begin at 4:30 p.m. with live music by musician and visual artist Abe Partridge, followed by a panel of artists and scholars from 5:45 to 6:30 p.m. Panelists include Dr. Rick Cary, Dr. Jenna Gray-Hildenbrand, and Aaron McIntosh.

East Tennessee State University’s Reece Museum is hosting an exhibition that explores the intrigue of Blue Ridge Pottery in “Vintage Charm: The Collecting Legacy of Blue Ridge Pottery,” now on view and open through Dec. 12.

Southern Potteries’ process of hand-painting the bisque of produced dinnerware with distinct designs before it was glazed started around 1938 and came to be known as “Blue Ridge Pottery.” The pottery began operations in 1917 in Erwin, Tennessee, and became the largest producer of hand-painted pottery and china in the United States. By the middle of the 1940s, the company’s annual production was estimated at 17 million pieces. Southern Potteries produced some 5,000 different painted designs featuring flora, fauna, mountains, and people.

Due to foreign competition and the rise in popularity of plastic dinnerware, the Southern Potteries work force had dwindled to approximately 600 employees by 1956. A February 1957 article in the Johnson City Press stated: “Liquidation of the potteries was announced yesterday…Southern Potteries is reported to have one of the largest payrolls in Erwin, with an estimated 600 to 700 employees.” The liquidation of Southern Potteries greatly impacted Erwin’s economic development and population, as some former employees moved away to work in other potteries.

The Reece Museum received its first donation of one Blue Ridge Pottery piece in 1986. The museum has since continued to foster relationships with collectors, building trust within the collecting community as an institution that prioritizes the preservation of this beloved piece of East Tennessee history. Don and Susan Burkett generously loaned 21 pieces from their private collection to diversify the offerings in Vintage Charm, which features approximately 80 Blue Ridge Pottery pieces throughout the gallery.
The Reece Museum would like to acknowledge and thank volunteer Jo Harris for producing biographical research for this exhibition. Additionally, researchers interested in the history of Southern Potteries can view the company’s historic documents by making an appointment with the Archives of Appalachia, located on the fourth floor of the Sherrod Library on campus at ETSU.

The Reece Museum is a unit of the Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services, which is housed in the ETSU Department of Appalachian Studies. The Reece Museum is located on the campus of East Tennessee State University and is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Follow the Reece Museum on social media for more content and digital programming. For more information, please visit http://www.etsu.edu/reece or phone (423) 439-4392. ETSU is an EEO employer. For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346.