IONA Line-Up Showcases Local Talent

The Autumn Assembly of Authors at IONA: Art Sanctuary welcomes the community at 7 p.m., today (Friday), Oct. 2, and at 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 4. 

The photographs of Allston McCrady and art from the McCrady family collection will be on display all weekend. Readers on Friday will be Waring McCrady, who will read excerpts from the McCrady family history, Sara Katchelman, C’17, and April Berends. Kachelman is an English major at Sewanee, where she leads the student Poet Society. Sara’s writings have been published in Cactus Heart, Limininoid Magazine, and Hobart. She is from Florence, Ala. April Berends is an Episcopal priest who lives in Sewanee. She writes about the spirituality of parenthood and the particularities of grief. 

On Sunday the readers will be Yolande and Robin Gottfried, Robie Jackson and Jeannie Babb.

Yolande Gottfried is a contributor to Nature Notes in the Messenger and has been a volunteer at the Sewanee Herbarium since 1996. She studied botany and plant ecology at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill as a graduate student. Robin Gottfried retired from the economics department to direct the University’s Center for Religion and Environment. 

Robie Jackson is the performing arts coordinator for St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School; she recently completed an MFA at Sewanee in creative nonfiction. 

Jeannie Babb is a poet who performs across the region. She is a graduate of the School of Theology. Her photography has been published by Gastronomica and Garden & Gun. 

On Friday, Oct. 9 and Sunday, Oct. 11, Addison Willis will display his paintings and drawings in the IONA gallery. Readings on Oct. 9 will be given by novelist Leslie Lytle, and by mother-son duo Kiki Beavers and John Beavers. St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School theatre students will perform. On Oct. 11, readings will be offered by Luann Landon, Kevin Cummings, and Noah Huber-Feely. Bill Yelverton will play classical guitar.

Art and readings are also scheduled for Oct. 16–17, and on Nov. 13.

IONA: Art Sanctuary is located at 630 Garnertown Rd., Sewanee. The public is welcome, all events are free, and parking is available. 

This season’s program at IONA is dedicated to Clementine Gray Carlos, granddaughter of Sarah and Ed Carlos.

IONA Opens New Season of Readings & Art

The Autumn Assembly of Authors at IONA: Art Sanctuary opens this month with a full slate of readings and art exhibits. The public is welcome, all events are free, and parking is available.

At 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 18, there will be an exhibition of photographs by Sewanee native Elizabeth Core. Readers will be Lynn Cimino-Hurt, Chris McDonough and Laura Willis. Cimino-Hurt is a local writer and artist; she will read poetry. McDonough is a professor of classics at Sewanee who blogs regularly at <www.uncomelyandbroken.wordpress.com>.

At 2 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 20, there will be a tribute to Fulford Hall. Leslie Richardson will offer an introduction to poetry by David Landon and Richard Tillinghast. Billy Terrell will provide music. Core’s photography will also be on display.

On Friday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m., there will be readings of poetry and verse by Virginia Craighill and Camila Hwang-Carlos. Bill Yelverton will accompany on guitar. 

At 2 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 27, Eugene Ham will talk about Fayetteville history; there will be readings by Alric McDermott, Jennifer Michael and Stephen Feeley.

On Oct. 2 and Oct. 4, Rachel Malde will have an exhibit of her photography; Alston McCrady will also exhibit photographs. Readers will include April Berends, Yolande and Robin Gottfried, Robie Jackson and Waring McCrady.

On Oct. 9 and Oct. 11, there will be a painting exhibit by Addison Willis. Readers will include Kiki Beavers and John Beavers, Kevin Cummings, Noah Feeley, Luann Landon, Leslie Lytle and Bran Potter. The theatre students of St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School will also perform at IONA that weekend.

IONA: Art Sanctuary, founded by Sewanee artist Ed Carlos, exists “to offer a place for writers and artists to share their creative work with each other and the community, and our emphasis is the source: creativity and spirituality.”

Refreshments are served after each program. These events are free and open to the public. Additional dates and readers will be announced throughout the fall. IONA: Art Sanctuary is located at 630 Garnertown Rd., Sewanee.

So Many Ways to Enjoy the Mountain!

There are a multitude of activities on the Mountain this weekend: Family Weekend at the College, Taizé (see p. 4), readings at IONA: Art Sanctuary (p. 15), art exhibits in Carlos Gallery in the Nabit Art Building and in the University Gallery, the Fannie Moffitt Stomp (p. 14), the Sewanee Arts and Crafts Fair (p. 12), as well as an abundance of athletic contests. 

Here are two great ways to see the Domain offered by the Sewanee Herbarium.

Walk Through Abbo’s Alley—A Family Weekend tradition. Meet Mary Priestley at 7:45 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 12, at the Quadrangle for this easy one-hour walk in the Abbott Cotten Martin Ravine Garden. There are a surprising number of things to see and learn on this familiar trail.

Tour Sewanee’s newly-designated arboretum—Meet Margaret Woods at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 13, at the arboretum map kiosk at the corner of University and Georgia avenues, near Convocation Hall. 

Woods, a George Washington University-trained landscape designer whose practice focuses on the use of native plants and the importance of environmental stewardship, will lead a leisurely and informative stroll around campus.

Wear appropriate shoes on all of these walks. Picking flowers and digging plants are prohibited.

For more information about Herbarium events call 598-3346. 

For a full calendar of events across the Plateau, as well as information about restaurants, services and shopping, go to <www.TheMountainNow.com>.

IONA Readings and Art Continue

The Autumn Assembly of Authors at IONA: Art Sanctuary continues with a full slate of readings and art exhibits. The public is welcome, all events are free, parking is available, and refreshments are served.

At 7 p.m., today (Friday), Sept. 27, there will be an exhibition of paintings by Sewanee artist Bob Askew. Readers will be Caroline McGee and John Shackelford. IONA founder Edward Carlos will offer a tribute to Scott Bates by reading from Bates’ book “Poems of War Resistance.” McGee is a retired physician who lives in Cowan. She is the author of “Monteagle Mountain Murder.” Shackelford is the Sewanee men’s tennis coach and a longtime Messenger columnist.

IONA will be open 1–3 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28, for a viewing of Askew’s paintings and other art in the gallery.

At 2 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 29, there will be readings by Peter Trenchi, Luann Landon and Sally Hubbard. Trenchi, an attorney, will read from his Messenger column, “The Village Idiot,” as well as some new humor writing. 

Landon is a longtime Sewanee resident and author of a memoir-cookbook, “Dinner at Miss Lady’s.” She has poems in the current issue of the poetry journal Mezzo Cammin. She will read some recent haiku.

Hubbard describes herself as “the opposite of a fair-weather poet” because her muse speaks during the hardest times. Hubbard will read from her “Caregiver Poems,” written during her husband’s final illness between January and August of 2012.

On Friday, Oct. 4, Mary Priestley will offer an exhibit of her nature art in watercolors. At 7 p.m., the readings will begin with Priestley reading from her botany writings. Laura Lapins Willis will read from her book, “Finding God in a Bag of Groceries.” Virginia Craighill will read poetry and from her nonfiction writing.

Priestley’s nature art will continue on exhibit 1–3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 5.

At 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 6, Kate Murray Brown will read from her children’s book, “Sassafras Tales.” Jeannie Babb will read some of her poetry and short stories. Kevin Cummings will read his poetry.

On Friday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m., there will be an exhibit with works by Sewanee art professor Jessica Wohl and her drawing and painting students.Sewanee student and Dakin scholar Leah Terry will read from her creative writing. Chris McDonough will read from his blog, “Uncomely and Broken.”

At 2 pm., Sunday, Oct. 13, David Bowman will read from his book, “Sewanee Stone Buildings” and the Rev. Francis Walter will read from his novel. 

Readings and art will continue on Friday, Oct. 18; Sunday, Oct. 20; Friday, Oct. 25; and Sunday, Oct. 27. 

IONA: Art Sanctuary exists “to offer a place for writers and artists to share their creative work with each other and the community, and our emphasis is the source: creativity and spirituality,” according to Carlos. It is located at 630 Garnertown Rd. in Sewanee.

Sewanee Arts Festival Begins Wednesday; Events Through Sept. 21

The University of the South is hosting a Sewanee Arts Festival, beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 11, and continuing through Saturday, Sept. 21. (Some exhibits will be open before and after these dates, but most talks and special events are scheduled during the festival period.) 

Events will include dance performances, photography exhibits, plays and readings and music—including a concert by the Blind Boys of Alabama. All events, except the Blind Boys of Alabama concert, are free of charge. 

The University Art Gallery opens the 2013–14 exhibition season with Pradip Malde’s “The Third Heaven, Photographs from Haiti, 2006-2012,” on view through Oct. 18. Malde will offer an artist’s talk in Convocation Hall at 4:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 13, followed by a light reception. 

Monica Bill Barnes & Company, a contemporary American dance company, will perform at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 11 and 12, at the Tennessee Williams Center. This event is part of the Performing Arts Series. Admission is free, but reservations are encouraged; send an email to <mcook@sewanee.edu>.

An exhibition of 16 photographs by William Eggleston will be on view from Thursday, Sept. 12, to Friday, Dec. 20, in the University Archives and Special Collections. Photos are from the collection of university regent Chris Hehmeyer. The exhibition is open 1–5 p.m. weekdays.

An exhibition of Charley Watkins’ paintings and photography, with special performances and readings, at IONA Art Sanctuary, Friday–Sunday, Sept. 13–15. Founded by Sewanee artist Ed Carlos to offer a place for writers and artists to share their creative work with each other and the community, IONA is located at 630 Garnertown Rd., Sewanee (off Hwy. 56-S from 41-A). Kiki Beavers and Kevin Cummings will read at 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 13. Linda Heck will offer music and readings. On Saturday, Sept. 14, at 2 p.m., there will be readings by Pat Wiser, David Landon and College students who study theatre with Landon. 

Laura Lapins Willis will read from “Finding God in a Bag of Groceries” at 7 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 15, at Rivendell Writers’ Colony. A reception will follow. Free admission, but reservations are requested by calling 598-5555.

There will be a reading by a cast of College students of “Requiem for August Moon,” a new play by Tennessee Williams Playwright Elyzabeth Wilder, at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the Tennessee Williams Center.

Rodney Jones and Maurice Manning will have a poetry reading at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 18, in Gailor Auditorium, as part of the Sewanee Writers’ Conference Reading Series. 

The third annual Sewanee Angel Festival will be 7–11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, in downtown Sewanee. Music will be by Towson Engsberg and Friends and the Stagger Moon Band. 

Saturday, Sept. 21, an exhibition by Watkins Art Institute students and St. Andrew’s-Sewanee graduates Ian Corvette and Kellen Mayfield will be on view at IONA Art Sanctuary from 1 to 3 p.m. 

A gallery walk and receptions on Saturday, Sept. 21, on the University of the South campus will feature three exhibitions of contemporary photography with a distinct food and drink pairing in each gallery: the Carlos Gallery at 4:30 p.m., Archives and Special Collections at 5:15 p.m. and the University Art Gallery at 6:15 p.m.

The Performing Arts Series presents the Blind Boys of Alabama, legends of gospel music whose collaborations have included Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, k.d. lang, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel and Asleep at the Wheel, at  7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, in Guerry Auditorium. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for non-Sewanee students.