Note to fellow Brown County art lovers
To the editor:
My husband Clint and I decided to take a break from our Brown County volunteer jobs by taking a short road trip.
But we did not leave Brown County behind completely as our trip was centered around seeing the work of our artist friends from the Art Associates of Brown County.
Our first day we drove directly to Grafton, Illinois to view the six 16-foot tall steel trees built by Brad Cox. Most of you know Brad and Stephanie’s works from the smaller objects in our AABC Gallery at the Playhouse as well in some other Nashville galleries. We personally own a much smaller tree and a woodpecker placed at our front door.
Brad built a very large bar for a beautiful event space located at the top of the bluffs overlooking the town of Grafton and the Illinois River’s confluence with the Mississippi River. The owners are Jeff and Sandy Lorton. It is a spectacular site by itself, but with Brad’s tree-bar the place becomes a must-see if you are passing to the West. The trees hold up the glasses and wine system. Each tree contains small details, like bolts and railroad ties.
We then travelled on to my favorite big city, Kansas City. It is definitely ‘up-to-date’ as always. The great architecture ranges from innovative — Kaufmann Center, Sprint Center — and historic —Plaza, Waldo. The whole city smells of barbecue. The blues music is the very best. Some performers have been to our own Bill Monroes stage, such as Samantha Fish and Danielle Nicole.
Next, we drove west to Wichita, Kansas through the National Prairie Grasslands of the Flint Hills. You can really feel your place in the Earth.
Once in Wichita, we immediately texted Brandon Kirkham, Brown County’s own puppeteer. He had been expecting our visit. Brandon is currently traveling and working with Disney’s 20th anniversary North American tour of “The Lion King.” The night we were there was the last performance in Wichita. The next stop is Oklahoma City and beyond – for all the year! Brandon might be gone from Brown County for a while as his contact is open ended. We had a short delightful dinner with him during his one hour break between matinee and evening performances.
Some interesting, behind-the-scenes facts that Brandon supplied us: there are 230 puppets with 100 backup puppets for each performance. It takes 18 semi-trucks for the move to the next city. The company brings its own lighting and sound systems with them — not relying on the local stages for what is needed. Brandon is in-charge of Scar, the villain, and the grass-bud puppets. The elephant is too big to go down the aisle and one person is inside of each leg! Fifteen of the chorus performers are from South Africa. The ‘witch doctor’ performer is a real-life clairvoyant.
Catch one of Brandon’s paintings at the AABC gallery in the Playhouse, too.
Heather Nicholson, president, Artist Associates of Brown County
Think of lives lost this Memorial Day
To the editor:
My fellow veterans and their families and our loving Brown County citizens, Memorial Day is once again upon us. It is a time to memorialize and embrace the loss of so many men and women throughout the country who have sacrificed their lives for its wars.
I am cognizant of this national holiday as many are, but still in a different way. As the years go by from my time in service, I begin to recognize the many who were lost in many battles over the course of time and the numbers are astonishing, and it is a heavy burden for many.
This memorialization is not about veterans everywhere. It’s about service members who died in the line of duty. What veterans and family members can do is embrace the heaviness and sadness that comes along with this time as a county, as a state and as a country. We must embrace the impact and importance of the lives lost regardless of our leanings. We must come together and mourn those that we have lost over the course of time. We must embrace that through violence and through courage our brothers and sisters died on the battlefield.
I encourage everyone in Brown County to take solace in knowing that we live in a free country because of the actions of many, but in comparison, the few. The phrase “only the dead have seen the end of war” always comes to mind for me.
I have often wondered why God let me live through the many horrifying firefights and explosions I have been through and why my brothers died next to me. But God has plans for me and I take comfort in His sovereignty. There are many of our Brown County veterans that continue to struggle with living through their own nightmares, but I encourage all of them to take comfort in knowing they had a brother or sister who actually loved them to death and that there is still a hope to be known.
While a sad reality strikes us in our hearts, I am forever grateful to the brave souls who stood up as a blanket of security to defend our nation and to serve their country with everything they had.
May God bless you all and may He give you much peace in this time.
Chris Snell, Veterans Service officer
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