Clarksville-Montgomery County Arts and Heritage Development presents Lifetime Achievement Awards to Dan Hanley, Mark Holleman

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.

Then working with a number of generous donors, Holleman raised funds and provided the creative vision for the Frank Sutton statue that is such a popular photo spot on Franklin Street. Holleman is quick to point out that the creation and installation of these three sculptures commemorating Clarksville’s past citizens and events resulted from the work and donations of many. AHDC recognized his persistence in moving them forward.

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.

APSU Military Community’s Fall 2021 set to be Busy, Celebratory Year

Clarksville, TN – For years, Austin Peay State University (APSU) has been Tennessee’s leading provider of higher education to military-affiliated students, with about 25 percent of enrolled APSU students having a military connection. This fall, Austin Peay State University will continue to embrace its support of the military through several new programs, celebrations, and scholarships.

Here are some things to look forward to this fall:

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Clarksville-Montgomery County Education Foundation announces New Chairman, Board

Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville-Montgomery County Education Foundation is pleased to announce Joel Wallace will assume the role of Board Chairman beginning July 1st, 2020. Wallace is a partner at the law firm of Cunningham, Mitchell & Rocconi.

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Austin Peay State University ROTC landing Black Hawks on campus for training

Clarksville, TN – Seeing UH60 Black Hawk helicopters circling above is not unusual in Clarksville Tennessee. However, seeing them land at Austin Peay State University’s campus in Downtown Clarksville is.

As part of a coordinated effort between Austin Peay’s Governors Guard ROTC program and the Tennessee National Guard, the APSU ROTC department has arranged to have Black Hawk helicopters land on campus three times over the next several weeks.

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Murals, Sculptures, Fountains and Flames Fill Clarksville’s Public Art Trail

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.

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APSU ROTC looking for college sophomores, offering $5,000 bonus

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s ROTC program is looking for the best and brightest college students in the country, and the U.S. Army is willing to pay a little extra for these qualified soldiers.

Through the Army, Austin Peay’s ROTC program is now offering a $5,000 bonus to college sophomores who complete the program’s cadet basic training and go on to become commissioned officers.

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Clarksville Beginnings – Part 3: What Kind of Man Was Valentine Sevier?

Clarksville, TN – Our lives here in Middle Tennessee are built upon the foundation of those who lived before us. The names of these souls of long ago are sprinkled upon our consciousness as they are now reflected in the names of our counties, cities, and roads: John Montgomery, George Rogers Clark, James Robertson, etc.

They are people who lived the prime of their lives in the late 18th century on the cusp of a new nation, bordering a frontier with a plethora of possibilities. These men are revered and their lives have been boiled down to a thick consistency of stories that all reflect their heroism, bravery, and sometimes larger than life achievements.

There is a definite vibe that they are only to be portrayed as one dimensional hero type characters. Along with that I get the feeling that to declare anything else is pretty much blasphemy.

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Clarksville Beginnings – Part 2: Revisiting the Massacre at Sevier Station; In Their Own Words

Clarksville, TN – I love history and find it fascinating – and you must enjoy it as well or you would not be reading this article! Yet, I could listen and listen to someone who is alive and well with me today go on ad nauseum about the dry facts from the past and get absolutely nothing from it.

But, to hear the very words of those who lived before us – those priceless journals, letters, and testimonies – that is gold to me! It is amazing to be able to peak into their minds and hearts for just a moment and experience with them the joys, the struggles, the hopes, and the pain of the experience of life.

That is what we have with the story of the lives of Valentine Sevier, his family, and community – their own words.

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APSU Students produce Monograph on City’s Public Art Pieces

Clarksville, TN – Throughout the city of Clarksville, a number of statues and other pieces commemorate the history of the local community, honor heroes and celebrate the spirit of the town.

There’s the statue of John Montgomery, for whom Montgomery County is named, located in front of City Hall, facing Strawberry Alley downtown. The legend of Wilma Rudolph, Clarksville’s most famous woman athlete who was the first female to win three gold medals in the Olympics in 1960 in Rome, Italy, is preserved in her classic crossing-the-finish-line pose at McGregor Park at the intersection of College Street and Riverside Drive. [Read more]