Growing Tennessee: Rural Youth Cultivate Common Ground

Amateur photography can be far more interesting than professional photography. An unmediated view lacking the constraints of overly-specialized study often provides a gateway into individuals’ lives and expresses a more immediate, unfiltered look at one’s surrounding environment, creating a potentially more authentic document of the subject from the point of view of someone whose initial instincts have yet to be trained away. This is the impression you may get looking at the photographs in an upcoming exhibit at The Art Gallery of Knoxville that features the work of a group of migrant and Appalachian children from rural East Tennessee.

Twenty-two children aged 11 to 16 from Greene and Unicoi counties participated, with about half of the participants consisting of migrant children and half from rural Appalachian families. The combination of the two groups of photographs allows for a comparing and contrasting of two seemingly disparate cultures that project coordinator Jane Crowe says actually have much in common.

“Traditional Mexican families are like traditional Appalachian families in many ways,” Crowe says. “Their food, music and emphasis on family and religion can be very similar. Part of the reason for the project is to bring kids from different backgrounds together through a shared creative experience.”

Many of the children and their parents have noted the impact of the program on their lives, with one parent saying her daughter has experienced a type of “rebirth,” since participating. Several of the youth have expressed a greater interest in attending college after working closely with students and professors to bring the project to fruition.

The exhibit will be accompanied by the sound sculpture work of Glenn Weyant, who will be at The Art Gallery for the July 6 opening reception (see following page). Weyant will also conduct a workshop with the youth in which they are taught to create a musical instrument from household objects.

It’s an inspired pairing and Crowe is excited about the opportunity for this collaboration. “The Art Gallery has made this collaboration with Glenn possible,” she says. “They’ve gone out of their way to make this happen. We can’t thank them enough.”

The young artists were taught photography as  part of a project coordinated by Crowe, the Telamon Corporation’s project development coordinator, utilizing a $10,000 grant from the Starbucks Foundation and Head Start funds.

Telamon’s five Tennessee Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs serve children six weeks to five years old, providing education and social services to children whose parents are seasonal agriculture workers. In 2005 a Youth Initiative program was created with Head Start funds, concentrating on the elder siblings who often must work in the fields at an early age.

The program partners with the Unicoi County Extension 4-H program to recruit the local Appalachian youth who also participate, and offers additional learning opportunities beyond those provided by traditional public schools, including an emphasis on arts and creativity as well as improving self-esteem and critical thinking skills.

The project also aims to promote cross-cultural awareness, bringing together Appalachian and Latino children who may not interact despite living in close proximity to each other. With the Starbucks grant, the program was able to launch the Growing Tennessee project, with its emphasis on photography as a means for the participants to communicate and comment on their unique cultures.

Students received lessons in both film and digital camera photography, with the help of donations from The Fuji Corporation and Olympus. The lessons included rudimentary photography skills, as well as darkroom instruction. Five professional photographers worked for very small stipends to instruct the children, and many are willing to continue to work pro bono, as the Starbucks grant year has come to a close.

Crowe stresses that numerous community partners contribute to the success of the project. She says professors and students at Milligan College in Johnson City were helpful in their instruction and assistance, East Tennessee State University and Migrant Education Program offered invaluable support to migrant youth participants, Starbucks Café in Johnson City provided display space and volunteer support and members of the University of Tennessee’s Information Sciences department are helping to construct a Web site around the project.

The photographs were previously displayed at Milligan College, Starbucks Café in Johnson City, a Telamon conference in Myrtle Beach and at a national Head Start conference in Washington, D.C.

Although the Starbucks Foundation grant year had come to a close, the Youth Initiative will apply to other foundations, corporations and private donors to continue the project. The project will continue by expanding the photo project to Telamon’s Alamo center in west Tennessee, with the assistance of UT Martin and the West Tennessee Regional Arts Center.

Growing Tennessee: Rural Youth Cultivate Common Ground
Through August, Reception July 6 / 7pm
The Art Gallery of Knoxville (317 N. Gay St.)