Tennessee Craft creates regional chapter in the Chattanooga area
Alexa Lett sits at a desk inside her second-floor studio at Chattanooga WorkSpace surrounded by stuff. The shelves and tables are filled with the crafting materials she uses for her mixed-media art. She has lived and worked in Chattanooga for 20 years and was the second tenant in the WorkSpace building that is home to artist studios. The space is full, but today she’s in front of her laptop looking up information related to her new gig.
Lett has a new title in addition to “artist” that usually follows her name. She is currently in the first year of her term as president of the new Tennessee Craft - Southeast chapter. The chapter was chartered in March of 2016.
For the first time in many years, Chattanooga/ Hamilton County and the seven surrounding counties have their own chapter of Tennessee Craft. Before this year, members from Hamilton, Bledsoe, Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Polk, Rhea and Sequatchie counties were part of a larger 21-county Tennessee Craft - Southeast chapter.
It stretched across the bottom part of the state, meaning meetings were held in Memphis.
“Not many people from here could make those meetings,” Lett says.
Chattanooga, currently with 50 members, becomes the 10th chapter across the state. Lett says it is one of the few that has access to gallery space
like that at Chattanooga WorkSpace. The chapter has two yearly exhibits planned and had one that ran through June.
The exhibit featured 59 pieces from about 21 members including paintings, mixed media, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, wood and pottery. Ashley Charlton, manager of the Locals at Sewanee gallery in Sewanee, Tenn., was the judge. Lett says what distinguishes the pieces in the exhibit from other craft shows “is the artists start from raw and work up.”
In other words, in most cases the artists make the raw materials that are used to create a mixed-media piece.
At its core, the 500-member Tennessee Craft is designed to help crafters in the state make a living doing what they do. By doing that, they also continue on a tradition of making handcrafted arts.
“It is more about teaching people to make money,” Lett says. “It teaches you to be sustainable.”
For that reason, the students at the Chattanooga Woodworking Academy are big proponents of the organization, Lett says as an example of who might join.
Membership in the chapter ranges from no charge for nonprofits to $50 a year for individuals and $25 for students. Members have access to exhibit opportunities, discounts at fairs and workshops, a monthly e-newsletter, a quarterly printed newsletter and member directory.
There are also mentorship opportunities, scholarships and promotional opportunities throughout the organization. Each chapter offers similar benefits on a more local scale.
The statewide organization hosts the largest artisan craft fair in the state each spring in Centennial Park in Nashville.