Millennial black plant enthusiast and self-proclaimed “plantrepreneur”, Colah B. Tawkin will hold a live recording of her podcast, Black in the Garden, at Cheekwood’s Black Arts Bash on Saturday, August 20 at 10 a.m.
“Nashville’s Black Arts Bash event will celebrate Black culture and horticulture at Cheekwood similar to the way that the Black in the Garden podcast does in every episode,” says Tawkin. “In the spirit of Black joy and kinship with plants!”
The 25-minute show will be centered around how past contributions from the Black community to horticulture impact the present and future. It will feature a conversation with Nella Pearl Frierson, known by many as “Ms. Pearl”, about her Brooklyn Heights Community Garden, a non-profit, .56-acre urban farm. The garden, located on formerly vacant lots, has greatly impacted the Brooklyn Heights community in Nashville, TN, a historically Black and low-income neighborhood. Ms. Pearl’s mission is to provide a community-building hub to honor the land, nurture people, and inspire a more beautiful, loving world. After the recorded interview with Ms. Pearl, Tawkin will share about her journey, some Black botanical trivia and take questions from the audience.
The Black in the Garden podcast celebrates the past, present and future of Black plant enthusiasts and is a Top 2022 podcast recommendation by BET, Essence and Apple Podcasts. Find the show on your favorite podcast platform.
The Black Arts Bash will celebrate Black culture, showcasing music, visual art, dance, spoken word and more.
Performances on the Arboretum Lawn Main Stage, include genre-bending songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Khrys Hatch, acoustic soul singer-songwriter Larysa Jaye, the Sankofa African Drum and Dance Company, alternative R&B/soul singer Lauren McClinton, jazz trumpeter Rod McGaha and more.
Black Arts Bash Fine Art Exhibition, featuring works by rising 10th to 12th grade students from the greater Nashville area who identify as Black, or mix-race alongside works by seven local artists. The exhibition will be on view in the Frist Learning Center Great Hall through Sept. 2, 2022.
Cuisine from Onyx Food chefs, including David Swett Jr., Albert Lovelace, and Troy Stovall. Homecooked favorites will be available for purchase from 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
A Community Quilt Activity, where guests will learn about the colors and symbols in African textiles, including Kuba cloth, Adinkra cloth, and Mudcloth and see how artists brought these fabrics to canvas. Participants will choose a fabric square and use stamps depicting traditional symbols and designs to create their own design. Each completed square will be added to a larger canvas to create a “community quilt” display. The activity will take place in Massey Auditorium inside Botanic Hall from 12 – 5 p.m.
Reservations are required for the Black Arts Bash which runs from 9 a.m.to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. Admission is free for Cheekwood members. Tickets for not-yet members are $20 Gardens Only or $25 for Gardens & Mansion. To purchase tickets, visit cheekwood.org. The Black Arts Bash is sponsored by Bank of America and Ernst & Young.
With its intact and picturesque vistas, Cheekwood is distinguished as one of the leading Country Place Era estates in the nation. Formerly the family home of Mabel and Leslie Cheek, the 1930s estate, with its 30,000-square-foot Mansion and 55-acres of gardens, today serves the public as a botanical garden, arboretum, and art museum with furnished period rooms and galleries devoted to American art from the 18th to mid-20th centuries. The property includes 13 distinct gardens including the Blevins Japanese Garden and the Bracken Foundation Children’s Garden, as well as a 1.5-mile woodland trail featuring outdoor monumental sculpture. Each year, Cheekwood hosts seasonal festivals including Cheekwood in Bloom, Summertime at Cheekwood, Cheekwood Harvest and Holiday LIGHTS. Cheekwood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and nationally as a Level II Arboretum. It is a three-time voted USA Today Top 10 Botanical Garden and in 2021 was recognized by Fodors as one of the 12 Most Beautiful Gardens in the American South. Cheekwood is located eight miles southwest of downtown Nashville at 1200 Forrest Park Drive. It is open Tuesday through Sunday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., with extended days and hours of operation depending on the season. Check cheekwood.org for current hours and to purchase advance tickets required for admission.
