CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The Customs House Museum has released the activities that will be happening and exhibits that will be on display throughout the month of October.

Exhibits:
This Is My Story June 8 – October 15
Jostens Gallery
Women writers representing multiple decades share their thoughts of who they are on May 14, 2017 (Mother’s Day). Their writings are suspended on cloth, hung “clothesline style” in the gallery.

The X Housewife Portraits by Kit Kite August 8 – October 22
Orgain & Bruner Galleries
In this series of photographs, artist Kit Kite takes on the persona of a beleaguered housewife who is overwhelmed by sculptured piles of domestic items such as plastic utensils, milk cartons, and baking pans. Kite describes the work as a self-experimental portrait and installation series that depicts the cognitive differences of house and home. This series explores the artist’s personal displacement and separation within an isolated process.

Ed Nash: Terrain August 10 – October 18
Crouch Gallery
Nash focuses on abstract non-representational work. His mixed media terrain series build up on the canvas to create textured landforms. Nash currently lives in Nashville TN where he is an Art Dealer, Appraiser and Artist. His work can be found in collections across the US and UK and is represented in galleries in New York, Atlanta, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville TN.

Ann Nichols: Split Focus October 2 – December 3
Planters Bank Peg Harvill Gallery
Chattanooga Artist Ann Nichols is a contemporary realist painter who works in the medium of oil. Many of her paintings are inspired by art historical images such as Renaissance portraits, flowers by Georgia O’Keeffe, Dutch floral paintings, botanicals, Magritte’s surrealism and Martin Johnson Heade’s images of orchids and hummingbirds.

Tamara Reynolds: Southern Route October 24 – January 14
Kimbrough Gallery

Photographer Tamara Reynolds was born and currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she has worked for 25 years as a commercial and editorial photographer for magazines and advertising agencies focusing on portraiture and lifestyle imagery. Reynolds says about her Southern Route series: “This project is about resolving my conflicted feelings I‘ve experienced as a Southerner. I love the South, but I have sometimes been embarrassed to claim it as my home. I chose to explore the South on back roads and across railroad tracks. In so doing, I found I could appreciate my home despite its failings.”

Veiled Abstractions: L.A. Bachman October 24 – January 7
Jostens Gallery
Nashville artist L.A. Bachman’s abstract art explores family, belief, responsibility, failure, and desire, and is an arena for self-reflection. Hints of human form are veiled by an abstract layer like lace across the body, suggesting tangible objects amidst unrecognizable ones.

Activities:

Writers’ Hour: This Is My Story
October 1, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Authors featured in the exhibit “This Is My Story” will be reading excerpts from their work during this Writers’ Hour event.
Readers for the Writers’ Hour include Shana Thornton, Mitzi Cross and Dr. Amy Wright. This event is free and open to the public.

October Activities in the Family Art Studio

The Triangle: More than just a Slice of Pizza
The triangle is one of the first shapes we teach our children to identify. It is a shape that makes bridges strong and it is the shape of the 1898 Building roof.
Drop by the Family Art Studio to create your own works of art with construction paper and cardboard triangles. Take the Triangle Challenge scavenger hunt to help you find triangles throughout the museum. Look a little closer during October. Where will you find triangles this month?

First Thursday Art Walk

October 5, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
The museum is open to the public with free admission as part of Downtown Clarksville’s First Thursday Art Walk.

Haunted Paper Houses

October 13, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Join us in the Family Art Studio on Friday the 13th to make Haunted Paper Houses. Create your own spook-tacular haunted house using paper, glue, and markers. Will it be filled with ghosts, spiders, bats, or other creepy crawlies? Spooky fun for all ages!

Second Saturday Free Admission

October 14, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
The museum is open to the public with free admission as part of our Second Saturday Free Admission Day.

Fall Break on the Explorers’ Landing

October 11, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Drop by the science lab table for an up-close look at a paper wasp’s nest, minus the wasps!

Fall Break Model Trains

October 10 & 12, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Our volunteer train crew has installed some spooky and some funny Halloween components for your enjoyment. Push a button and see a special wish from Snoopy, whose creator we will celebrate in December.

Andrew Jackson & the War of 1812
Presentation by Dr. Tom Kanon, author

October 15, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Free Admission
Dr. Kanon is an archivist at the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville. He holds a doctoral degree in public history from Middle Tennessee State University. Dr. Kanon will also do a book signing. His book will be available for purchase that afternoon.
This presentation, sponsored by the Andrew Jackson Foundation, is one in a series of events throughout Tennessee commemorating the 250th birthday of our seventh U.S. president, Andrew Jackson.

3D Witches

October 28, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Join us for A Little Witch Craft in the Family Art Studio and make a 3D paper witch face!

All activities are free with your museum membership. Non-members pay regular admission fees. For more information contact Ms. Sue at sue@customshousemuseum.org or 931-648-5780.

Closings:
The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center will be closed Monday, October 9 for Columbus Day.