It doesn’t happen as often as it used to, but every once in a while I feel really lucky to live in Nashville. It’s not always clear what causes these occasional bursts of gratitude, but a few weeks ago I was able to pinpoint it exactly: I was watching my daughter make a clay bowl in a Saturday afternoon art class at Buchanan Arts.
Lots of cities have lots of art classes, but I’d like to think that Buchanan Arts has something special. There are around a dozen professional pottery wheels in the North Nashville nonprofit, which is the kind of thing you really only find in a city with a sizable community of artists. It’s unusual to see so many quality tools outside of a university — seeing them untethered from that environment almost makes you instantly feel like experimenting or being subversive. I tied an apron around my daughter’s waist and pulled her hair back with a piece of string I’d scavenged from my car, and it felt like I was watching her gear up for a big event. Her feet barely reached the pedal of this massive pottery wheel — the kind real artists use, I told her — and when she slapped the lump of clay down onto the plate, she grinned as if she was simultaneously proud and disgusted. After lots of instruction from the brilliant Virginia Griswold, she scratched her name into the bottom of the soft clay, and looked more than ready for whatever came next.Â
—Laura Hutson Hunter
Arts Editor, Nashville Scene
Our notes of gratitude to the teachers, workers, nonprofits and institutions who make Nashville special
