The Rising Fawn Studio Tour is set for the weekend of December 13-14 in the quaint neighborhood of New Salem on Lookout Mountain.
The event allows guests to visit the studios of artists, many of which live in the historic artist community along Plum Nelly Road. There will be six studio stops with over 12 artists, all within three miles of each other. The studio tour is from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. both days.
I stopped on Plum Nelly Road and watched deer enjoying a sunlit morning. I was on my way to meet a few of this year’s artists and learned how they are tied to the unique history of the artists who came before them and the studio tour itself.
It was a rainy and foggy morning when I met lifelong potter Mark Issenberg. A sign on the door to his pottery store welcomes you to step inside and if he wasn’t around, says to call his cell and he’d be right over.
As I dialed his cell, I looked at some of the pottery and photos. I also noticed some of the shelves were empty.
“I sold out of everything,” he said when he came in and we sat down to talk.
During our conversation he showed me an old flyer from an earlier show, dated 1972. He said the art event was started in 1947 created by printmaker Fannie Mennen who called it the “Clothesline Art Show.”
Mennen was one of several creative people in the neighborhood that included Virginia Dudley (enamel and ceramic jewelry artist), Frank Baisden (artist and educator), and Charles Counts (a potter who promoted the preservation of Appalachian folk art).
He said the community came to be known as Plum Nelly because a relative of Mennen said she had moved "Plum out of Tennessee and Nelly out of Georgia.”
Mennen used to live in Chattanooga. Issenberg met Charles Counts while he was still in high school. Counts was teaching a pottery workshop in Miami.
“I was a member of the ceramic league of Miami,” he said. “I was its youngest member, and my dad would have to drive me because I wasn't even old enough to drive.”
Upon graduating high school Issenberg came to Rising Fawn to attend Counts’ two-month pottery workshop. After college Issenberg was hired as a resident potter by Counts and later also worked with another well-known potter, Legatha Walston.
“She had worked for Charles for many years and she was this wonderful, incredible person and was like family to me,” he said.
Issenberg said he moved around a bit and was a career firefighter for the city of Hialeah in Florida. But the Plum Nelly community remained in his heart. When property became available, he bought it. And it wasn’t just any property. As luck would have it, Issenberg’s current home, and pottery workshop, Lookout Mountain Pottery, is the site of Mennen’s former home where it all began.
Issenberg said the annual show continued for 27 years, drawing thousands from across the world. Afterwards, it went by different names, turned into a tour of studios and was sponsored by different organizations.
But, in 2018 artists Bonnie Cayce (textile artist), Claire Vassort (silk painter) and Nikki Oliver (wood carver) relaunched the Rising Fawn Studio Tour. They did so to honor the artists of the past, and to renew the tradition of bringing together artists on the mountain as well as encourage visitors to take part in the joys of their creations.
“It’s about restoring the core of the history to this area which was an artist community from way back in the day,” Issenberg said.
Issenberg sat at his pottery wheel, trimming the bottom of bowls he was finishing for the studio tour. A stack of ceramic cups was ready in the kiln.
As the clay bowl spun, he trimmed the bottom and the edge and smoothed everything with a sponge and water.
“When do you know to stop trimming it?” I asked.
“That’s the question, isn’t it,” he replied.
Yet instinctively Issenberg seemed to know the answer, finishing the bottom of one bowl, placing it back on the tray and moving on to the next. Quiet, skillful and a master of his craft. I look forward to attending the tour and seeing the finished products.
On a cold and blistery morning, I headed back to Rising Fawn and soon turned onto a long gravel road off Plum Nelly Road. Metal sculptures lined the driveway, and I parked next to a stunning sculpture – a tall metal guitar reaching up toward the sky.
I sat down with artist Julie Clark (metal worker and photographer). During our conversation I learned her property once belonged to Frank Baisden and his wife Kay. Baisden started the art program at the University of Chattanooga, which is now known as UTC.
Her family lived in the Plum Nelly community, and she said they attended the annual art shows back in the 1970’s.
“It was really popular and definitely influenced me,” she said.
Clark said she grew up with horses and after college worked as a Farrier. Overtime she said she began to branch off into forging metal and later took blacksmithing classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C.
“Blacksmithing classes, artistic blacksmithing classes, ornamental blacksmithing, traditional joinery,” she said. “So, that's kind of how it evolved.”
Clark is also a metal worker.
“I consider metalworking a different set of skills,” she said. “With metalworking, you're welding with an electric welder. Things that are forged and done in the blacksmithing field, are heated up and forged.”
She said she loved welding so much she got a welding and joining technology degree. She showed her skills by firing up her forge and using her anvil and hammer, changing a basic piece of metal into a decorative hook, which she gave me. Watching her shape a raw piece of metal into something useful and creative was mesmerizing.
In the corner of her workshop stood a small bouquet of flowers crafted from metal with stunning lines and attention to detail. It takes years of practicing and honing skills to master the level of detail in Clark’s work. And her work could be seen across her workshop.
Clark showed me her house. Inside the wooden furniture was crafted by her husband Benic Clark III. The iron that framed the staircase as well as the metal furnishings were made by her.
Beautiful lines and patterns create an inviting and comfortable space with an impressive view. I stood in awe of her talent.
Clark is also a gifted photographer. Her closeup photos of flowers are vibrant and colorful.
“I love art in all forms,” she said.
I drove back down the gravel road and stopped at her old family barn, standing tall, bright red against the fall yellow leaves. The area of Plum Nelly is as picturesque as the artists who live there.
Finally, I met Bonnie Cayce inside her bungalow style Plum Nelly home. She is a retired educator and worldwide traveler who gets inspiration for her textile work from the places she’s visited. She was a family and consumer science teacher.
“So, I always taught sewing,” she said. “I did fabric design, and clothes design. I was always close to the art teachers at school. I've always been artistic even when I was young.”
She has lived in the community for about 50 years and attended the annual art show she is now part of. She held up a recently completed piece inspired by her trip to Greece. A beautiful landscape of white Grecian homes and a sailboat gliding across the sea.
Her work pieces are appliquéd, quilted and painted by hand.
She showed me another called Delos Birds, which are species of birds found on the Greek Island of Delos. Another called The Ancients, is a homage to Greek Mythology.
“When I come home, I have to do art inspired by that country,” she said. “Sometimes I get influenced by politics. Sometimes I'm influenced by fabrics that I buy in other places or that people give me. My son-in-law is South African, so I've had a lot of African and South African fabric, and I've done a lot of those kinds of pieces through the years.”
She pointed to the brightly colored fabric pieces hanging in her studio. She creates large and small pieces like bookmarkers. She also makes cooking aprons with colorful art on one side and a solid color on the other side so you can flip the apron over when you cook and it won’t stain the feature. These days Cayce said her grandchildren keep her busy and inspired. Her daughter Anna is also an artist and will have her custom-made jewelry at the show, and Cosette Smit will have prints of her paintings.
She said most of the studios open for the Rising Fawn Studio Tour will also have guest artists featuring their work.
As we walk toward the door I notice a piece of art with a scene from Cuba.
“You’ve been to Cuba?” I asked her.
“Yes, Havana,” she replied.
“My parents left Cuba in 1957 before the Castro regime,” I told her.
“Have you been there?” she asked me.
“No,” I said.
“Well, you should if you ever get a chance, the people and culture are beautiful.”
I left feeling a sense of connection not only to the artists but the community. I learned what it meant to understand a community that relates to beauty, creativity, fulfillment, patience, nurturing, and compassion. I was welcomed with open arms into their homes and studios.
These were just three of the fabulous artists that are going to make the Rising Fawn Studio Tour an unforgettable experience. I can’t wait to make the trip back to the Plum Nelly community and meet more incredibly talented individuals and learn more about them, their crafts and their history.
List of the six studios in the Rising Fawn Studio Tour:
- Wool Whimsy Creations
- Silk by Claire
- Julie Clark’s Metal and Photography
- Cayce’s Creations
- Lookout Mountain Pottery
- Beth Brasford’s Studio
Rising Fawn Studio Tour
- December 13-14, 2025
- 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
- For studio locations and a map of the Tour visit their Facebook Page