A Colorful Addition: Elizabethton Arts and Cultural Alliance donates bench to library

Published 5:00 pm Friday, February 3, 2017

Star Photo/Curtis Carden                           The Elizabethton Arts and Cultural Alliance made donated a specialized bench Friday morning at the Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library. Pictured, from left, as ECCPL Director Renita Barksdale, Alliance Vice President Jess Miller, his son Scott, artist Mary Ruden and Alliance President Robert Benfield.

Star Photo/Curtis Carden
The Elizabethton Arts and Cultural Alliance made donated a specialized bench Friday morning at the Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library. Pictured, from left, as ECCPL Director Renita Barksdale, Alliance Vice President Jess Miller, his son Scott, artist Mary Ruden and Alliance President Robert Benfield.

Volunteers in Elizabethton are coming together with a goal to boost the cultural and artistic scene within the community.
The Elizabethton Arts and Cultural Alliance took part in its first initiative Friday morning by installing a specially-designed bench outside the main entrance of the Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library.
Providing a piece of artwork outside the facility was the perfect way to get the ball rolling according to Robert Benfield, president of the Elizabethton Arts and Cultural Alliance.
“This was important to us as a first step because the library’s inclusiveness and attitude toward the public,” Benfield said. “This was a nice, colorful way for us to begin projects here in town. We’d definitely like to carry on, of course (on other projects).”
The organization called on the expertise of nationally-known artist Mary Ruden to complete the project.
“Mary is the artist and she’s well known around the country,” he said. “She’s been in a lot of art shows and has a lot of current art shows going on now. She was kind enough to make this donation.”
Ruden is no stranger to the area, either. The artists visited Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park just a few years ago and restored the statue of the Overmountain man in front of the park’s visitor center.
With a vibrant color on the bench, which depicts a caterpillar maturing into a butterfly, Ruden stated she was inspired by the library itself for the design.
“This was inspired by the library,” she said. “People who liked to read used to be called ‘bookworms’, so with the butterfly bench, it tells the story and it is a metaphor for a caterpillar, which could be considered a bookworm, and how learning and reading changed his life and it is a beautiful butterfly. I think reading and learning is the same type of story. It can really change your life.”
Library Director Renita Barksdale was on hand for the installation and said the new bench will be an asset for the public.
“This is great for our library and for our patrons,” Barksdale said. “They can come out and sit down and do their homework on the bench if they want, or just sit and enjoy the breeze. This will be a great asset to our library and just the meaning behind the bench … growing into your own butterfly … it’s just a great thing and we greatly appreciate this gift.”
Tom Hitchcock, with Blue River Studio, and local physician Jess Miller were also in attendance for the event. Along with Benfield, the trio are just some of the individuals that make up the newest nonprofit organization that’s looking to help beautiful Elizabethton and Carter County.
“There’s other towns in the state of Tennessee that have these types of alliances and Elizabethton didn’t have one,” Benfield explained. “It seems to be a time of change going on in Elizabethton. More people are getting out in downtown, walking around the different shops, so it seemed like a natural thing to bring art to the pedestrian landscape. Art also brings about the culture of the town, too.”
And with the first project down, Barksdale said she thinks the group is on the right track.
“It’s going to make Elizabethton look so wonderful,” she said about the impact of the organization. “We already have tourism going, we already have a lot of people coming into the community and now we’re going to have the chance to make it even more beautiful for everyone.”
For more information, visit the Elizabethton Arts and Cultural Alliance website at elizalliance.org or visit Blue River Studio, located in Historic Downtown Elizabethton across from the veterans’ war memorial on Armed Forces Drive.

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