Community Collaboration Creates Green Space and Public Art

This article was originally published in the Daily Post Athenian in Athens, Tennessee on July 20, 2017.

Nestled between Interstate 75 and the production facilities of DENSO Manufacturing Athens Tennessee (DMAT) and MIDLAB is an 11.5 acre EcoPark. The green space is surprisingly serene for its proximity to a heavily trafficked roadway and offers walking trails, a quiet pond, botanical education, and a majestic pavilion.

DMAT understands art is a vital aspect of a landscape and, further, that public art helps cultivate a greater sense of identity and understanding of where we live, work, and visit. There are three examples of public art in DENSO’s EcoPark: a “Little Free Library” constructed by Seth Bush as part of his recent Eagle Scout project and painted by Athens Area Council for the Arts (AACA) volunteer Jason Carusillo, a weather vane built by advanced manufacturing students at Walker Valley High School, and the newly installed signs crafted by Jerry Hagaman and Julie Jack.

DMAT collaborated with AACA, Keep McMinn Beautiful, Public Works, and the artists to brainstorm, execute, and install artistic signs at their EcoPark. The resulting works of art are not only beautiful to behold, but they are also an epitome of the spirit of cooperation that brought the park itself to life.

Shawn Bryant, Manager of Safety, Health and Environment at DMAT was inspired by the EcoPark he visited on a 2012 business trip to DENSO’s Zenmyo plant in Nishio, Aichi, Japan.

“DENSO grew up in rural Japan and preserving the environment has long been part of our heritage,” Bryant explained, “So we wanted to develop an EcoPark that demonstrates DENSO’s Japanese heritage while creating an eco-friendly and educational oasis for our associates and community.”

Shawn Lindsey, former Public Works Director for the City of Athens, was an early champion of the idea and helped facilitate DENSO’s partnership with the City of Athens Parks and Recreation and the McMinn County Development Authority to develop that oasis in which employees and the community can walk, learn, and immerse themselves in nature.

Now, after another successful joint venture, visitors to EcoPark may also immerse themselves in art.

DMAT approached AACA this spring with an idea to commemorate the company’s 20 th anniversary in Athens with a mural or artistic sign. “It is tradition for DENSO plants to give a commemorative gift at anniversaries,” noted Erin Holbrook, DMAT Compensation & Benefits/Corporate Communications, “and we wanted to do something in conjunction with the EcoPark to celebrate the community collaboration of the project.”

AACA supported DENSO in developing project goals and wrote a Request for Proposals, which the arts organization then distributed to artists in the region. Then a committee of DENSO associates and personnel from AACA, Keep McMinn Beautiful, and Public Works reviewed the submitted artwork.

Julie Jack and Jerry Hagaman, local artists, entrepreneurs, and professors of art at Tennessee Wesleyan University, submitted a proposal that embodied the theme of the park and were commissioned to build and install two signs.

“The design [the artists] produced perfectly fits the theme we were going for,” Bryant remarked, “it celebrates our Japanese heritage, features our green products, and highlights the partnerships that built the park.”

Holbrook echoed Bryant’s enthusiasm about the finished signs: “They did their research and included everything we asked. The signs are informative and easy to follow for visitors. Plus they’re beautiful.”

The synergy uniting these efforts carried through to the collaboration between the artist duo.

“We enjoyed working together as husband and wife. In fact, this project might be our first successful collaboration,” Jack smiled.

Jack’s background in printmaking and Hagaman’s experience in sculpture were a perfect marriage to execute their vision.

“We found the environment at the pavilion to be welcoming and calming,” Jack reflected.“ There is a pleasant blending of a local nature trail, east/west architecture, and Zen garden.

Jack was inspired by vertical banners placed beside Japanese tea houses to think outside the traditional landscape orientation of a mural. Hagaman agreed to a vertical format and was inspired to adapt the architecture of the Japanese Torii gate into a sign.

Hagaman constructed the signs with simple and direct joinery using mortises and wedges as the main method of assembly. Painted on the signs are fourteen images ranging from the project partners and corporate logos to the eco-friendly autoparts produced at DMAT.

“We knew that putting these images in circles would create cohesion in the vertical format,” Jack explained “and we wanted the designs to be simple and reminiscent of a woodcut as a nod to the Japanese history of wood art.”

Jack painted the designs in earthy yellow and green to “reinforce the feeling of the outdoors.”

Jack’s printmaking background informed her work as she painted “subtractively” as one would in printmaking, a medium in which the image is created using negative space (the space around and between a subject). The effect of this technique alludes to a woodcut style and, as Jack describes it, “complements the environment and visually punctuates the space.”

Americans for the Arts defines public art as: “often site-specific, meaning it is created in response to the place and community in which it resides. It often interprets the history of the place, its people, and perhaps addresses a social or environmental issue. The work may be created in collaboration with the community, reflecting the ideas and values of those for whom it’s created.”

As Executive Director of AACA, I am proud of Athens’s latest art installation, which is an ideal example of public art. On behalf of AACA, I commend DMAT and their community partners for upholding the value the arts have in our community spaces and for supporting local artists. Jack and Hagaman second the sentiment offering thanks to the company as they “appreciate DENSO giving artists the chance to be active in our craft.”

Julie Jack and Jerry Hagaman stand beside one of two signs DMAT commissioned them to construct to commemorate the company’s 20 th anniversary in Athens and celebrate Denso’s EcoPark.