Clarksville-Montgomery County Arts and Heritage Development presents Lifetime Achievement Awards to Dan Hanley, Mark Holleman
August 24, 2021
Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville-Montgomery County Arts and Heritage Development Council (AHDC) presented lifetime achievement awards to two Clarksvillians who have made outstanding contributions to the community’s artistic and historic heritage.
During Saturday’s Flying High celebration for Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, AHDC presented the lifetime achievement in art award posthumously to Dan Hanley and the lifetime achievement in heritage award to Mark Holleman. Jodi Hanley received the award for her husband, who had been notified earlier of the honor.
Dan Hanley’s Artistic Achievements
Dan Hanley steadily applied his creative abilities over many years as a designer and builder of homes and residential communities. In recent years, he turned his full attention to his life-long interest in painting—an interest he had kept alive and active for some 40 years since he graduated college with a degree in art & business administration.
Hanley’s work is represented in many private and corporate collections. His paintings and home designs have received a number of professional awards. His original artworks have brought prices in excess of $20,000.
Hanley served on Clarksville’s Public Arts Commission and worked regularly in support of the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center. Following the devastating 1999 tornado that struck Clarksville, he served on the Mayor’s Recovery Task Force, chairing the Design Review Board and the Design Standards Development Committee.
His community contributions continued his family heritage, going back to his great grandfather’s emigration from Ireland to Clarksville in the late 1860s. His great grandfather, grandfather, father, and Dan Hanley himself have all left their mark on many of Clarksville’s architectural treasures.
Hanley lived what he called a “Tom Sawyer” boyhood in his parent’s home near the Cumberland River. He often drew from this background for his subjects, describing his paintings as representations of “… a neighborhood of ordinary folks, unaware that they were living extraordinary lives, in extraordinary times—unwittingly heroic in their struggles to provide for families and build a community, making themselves matter.”
Mark Holleman’s Heritage Contributions
While Hanley’s family was influential in shaping Clarksville’s architectural landscape, Mark Holleman has been busy preserving and enhancing it. It is evident that Holleman loves Clarksville’s heritage. And he has used this love to keep the city’s history alive in a number of creative ways.
He has used public art to bring our history into the present. Holleman worked with Main Street Clarksville to spearhead the creation and installation of a statue of “John Montgomery,” who, in 1784, purchased land at the confluence of the Cumberland and Red rivers and is credited with founding Clarksville. That group, along with the Leaf-Chronicle, commissioned the “Morning After” sculpture to remember the devastating tornado that swept through downtown in 1999.
Holleman has made sure we will remember the streetcar days of Clarksville when he purchased a trolley car to take folks around town. He even preserved some of the streetcar track that was being removed from Franklin Street and installed it in his Riverside office.
Holleman and his wife Ricki have preserved one of the lovely homes that date from the 1920s and ’30s and line Madison Street. He takes photos to mark Clarksville’s current history and shares them with many folks around town. Visitors to the St. Bethlehem Coldwell Bankers office can see many of his photos along with artifacts from the Courthouse, Arlington Hotel, the Roxy, and Baker and Dowdy Barbershop.
Come Out, Explore Clarksville Tennessee
March 1, 2021
Clarksville, TN – Planning spring and summer travel that’s a little closer to home is the aim for many Americans in 2021. Maybe you’re searching for a smaller destination that’s less crowded than a beach or theme park.
Murals, Sculptures, Fountains and Flames Fill Clarksville’s Public Art Trail
February 20, 2018
Clarksville, TN – Clarksville unveiled its 21st public art piece this month. Twelve of the pieces – at least – are in a proximity that’s easily walkable within the city’s downtown core.
Murals, sculptures, fountains, and flames are among the art pieces you’ll see showcased along city streets, urban trails, buildings and throughout the campus of Austin Peay State University, which is adjacent to downtown. Many of the works were designed or created by Clarksville artists.
Clarksville Historic Urban Trails Brought to Life
February 13, 2018
Montgomery County, TN – Local historian Carolyn Ferrell and Montgomery County IT ArcGIS Specialist Bryce Hester teamed up to bring three historic urban trails to life in Clarksville.
An urban trail is not a built path through natural scenery but a virtual trail that uses existing sidewalks and crosswalks to lead walkers through a route of interesting urban sights.
The trails Ferrell laid out entices walkers with open-air history lessons packed with interesting historical tidbits about Clarksville’s past.
Clarksville dedicates Frank Sutton statue
May 3, 2017
Actor, soldier, humanitarian honored in hometown
Clarksville, TN – On Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017, a statue of actor Frank “Sgt. Carter” Sutton, who was born and raised in Clarksville, was dedicated on Franklin Street in Downtown Clarksville.
A crowd of more than 150 people — including a large group of third-grade students from Clarksville Academy and a busload of Coldwell Banker Realtors — gathered to watch Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan, statue project leader Mark Holleman, and sculptor Scott Wise pull the shroud from the bronze image.
City of Clarksville to dedicate Frank Sutton statue Saturday
April 20, 2017
Clarksville, TN – A statue of actor Frank “Sergeant Carter” Sutton, who was born and raised in Clarksville, will be dedicated at 1:30pm Saturday on Franklin Street in Downtown Clarksville.
Mark Holleman, civic leader and broker/owner of Coldwell Banker Conroy, Marable & Holleman working with the City of Clarksville, led the drive to place the statue — created by local sculptor Scott Wise — near the Roxy Theatre in Sutton’s hometown.