Above is a photo of a very special canvas I acquired while visiting Charlottesville, VA last week. It was painted by an elementary school student - signed on the back by Chance Chasse. This child will be a noted artist someday because the art is inspiring, but also because of that FABULOUS name! OMG.

This canvas, as well as about 30 others, was installed on a local restaurant's walls. They were priced at $20 each. Every single penny to go directly back to the school to support the arts. (They rotate schools.)

*swoon*

*bing*


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I'm a member of a delightful group of women called SISS... Sisters in Sensible Shoes. Given our ages and the medical accessories many of us lug around, we most certainly are not the Sisters in Steep Stilettos. We're a group that recently reinvented itself to focus on outreach needs of the immediate community. We're primarily women from Morton Memorial, but we invite everyone and anyone to join us - even those who can still wear stilettos.


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I joke that I live in a vortex of counties in Tennessee where Marion, Franklin, and Grundy converge. We don't quite have the notoriety of places like Sedona or Area 51, but there's no tellin' some days.

Grundy Country has the unfortunate distinction of being the poorest county in Tennessee - and I would argue it has some of the richest history. Nonetheless, the county struggles.

Jana Barrett and her family have been residents of Grundy before the invention of moonshine. (I think I exaggerated there, but it put a twang in my words.) Jana and I became fast friends the very, very exact moment we met. I adore her. Not only is she a talented artist, she's a dedicated teacher. She's the only art teacher for young students in the whole of Grundy. She travels to six schools. She often dips into her own pocketbook to provide supplies. (She'll strangle me for blabbing.) She's funny. She's irreverent. She's a woman of indelible faith. She loves children. They love her back. She has a scratchy laugh that throws anyone in her orbit into fits of laughter. I did mention that I adore her, didn't I?

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Next week I'm hosting a SISS meeting at my home. It wasn't until recently when I realized that in addition to providing sweet tea and dessert, I'm also responsible for the program. Gulp. And here I was still trying to find a recipe for sweet tea.

Then I thought, "No worries. My art collection usually takes charge of any required entertainment."

And then the *bing* happened.

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Jana is going to attend the meeting to give a brief overview of the funds budgeted in her schools. She's also going to bring some of her students' work. I'm going to propose that SISS jumpstart a program similar to the one in Charlottesville with a small donation to purchase canvas boards. The rest is legwork to various restaurants in the area to recruit support. I am, of course, over-simplifying here, but this is a project that has rooted in my heart with a garden of hope.

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I am so jazzed. This is something I can really, really do. This is something that is really, really important to me.

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Not everyone can become a rocket scientist, and I'm not suggesting that everyone can become a Picasso... but art programs are the first to reel from budgetary cutbacks. I ache to think of all the untapped creative genius in our schools... especially in Grundy. Not all, but many of the children have a hardscrabble life... yet their minds and hearts whir with the same creative energy of any demographic.


Now, look at that painting again at the top of my post.

Anything I write on and on about could ever be as powerful as the creative genius on that canvas.

Thanks for listening.