CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.- (CLARKSVILLENOW) Four Clarksville locals were recently honored by the Clarksville/Montgomery County Arts and Heritage Development Council for their achievements in art and in preserving our heritage.

Cindy Marsh, professor emerita of art at Austin Peay State University, and graphic designer Mike Fink received the lifetime achievement in art award, and local historians Rosalind Kurita and Carolyn Stier Ferrell received the lifetime achievement in heritage award.

Carolyn Stier Ferrell and Rosalind Kurita have worked separately and in collaboration to preserve Clarksville’s heritage.

Ferrell has written and published seven books on Clarksville. She is finishing up an eighth, “Clarksville’s Historic Dog Hill Neighborhood and Beyond,” which should be out in the next several months.

Ferrell is a frequent speaker on local history for civic groups and serves as a tour guide, reenactor and volunteer at Fort Defiance. She recently conducted tours of Riverview Cemetery, which raised nearly $1,000 for the Montgomery County Historical Society. Just last week she led a bicycle tour of Haunted Clarksville for Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department.

One of Kurita’s first contributions to Clarksville’s heritage came nearly 25 years ago when she spearheaded the city’s celebration of the 75th anniversary of the passage of the 19h Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. She produced the play, “The Perfect 36,” which commemorates Tennessee’s role as the 36th and final state needed to ratify the amendment.

Kurita and Ferrell collaborated together to lay out the Tennessee Discovery Trail, a series of three downtown walking trails featuring information about historical Clarksville as well as locally produced art of Tennessee icons.

Separately and in collaboration Cindy Marsh and Mike Fink have contributed to the artistic and social well-being of this community.

Mike Fink has designed brand identities, publications, posters, packaging, exhibitions and websites for clients in music, arts and education for nearly 40 years. Among his many clients are the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Universal Music Group, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney, William Morrow, Rock the Vote and T-Mobile.

For many years he designed programs and posters for Roxy Regional Theatre productions. In 2014, he took on the task of designing and preparing for production AHDC’s art-alphabet book, “C Is for Clarksville.” He donated his time in both cases.

Some of his work on Borderline was in collaboration with his wife Cindy Marsh, a graphic designer and typography expert. Limited edition prints, broadsides, illustrations and artists’ books designed and produced by Marsh have been exhibited regionally, nationally and internationally.

In 1997, Marsh organized the acquisition by APSU of a New England poster shop that included 75,000 pieces of rare wood and several antique printing presses. The assortment of print equipment and hand-cut letters was named the Goldsmith Press & Rare Type Collection in honor of the late librarian, rare book collector and literacy advocate Arthur Goldsmith.

Local community projects Marsh has produced include “Narratives of Hope and Recovery,” a flag quilt created from essays written by Montgomery County veterans with PTSD; “Pillars of Hope,” a 3-D print installation of community narratives remembering 9/11; and “Listen-Up!!” a National Endowment for the Arts at-risk program to empower teens through writing and printing autobiographical posters and T-shirts.

In 2009 Marsh won the Clarksville Chamber of Commerce – APSU Community Service Award for her community work with the Goldsmith Press.