Mark Making

Ray Bassett from WUTC's Scenic Roots' interview with Frances about the new mural "Going Home."

“Going Home” - A Mural Now On Display In Chattanooga (Aired Thu 4/09/26) “Going home” was a phrase heard from women in Mark Making’s art class in the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office jail. It is also now the title of a mural.

Our ladies from Silverdale did these pieces in classes facilitated by David Riall.

Installation of "Going Home" - a mural with birds by inmates from the Hamilton County Jail and artists from the Hart HART Gallery TN and McNabb group homes. Thank you Jessalyn Beasley, our great colleague!, for taking these photos.

Silverdale inmates were asked to visually describe the moment ... when some decision was made that led to their eventual arrest. Here is what they expressed.

So much fun!

Thank you Jessalyn Beasley for this inspired video of yesterday’s mural installation:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWkdvxiDC-o/?igsh=MTkwcHh2bnlsdTdhbQ==

Here’s a peak into my day as a helping hand installing a new mural at the Hart Gallery on Main. This mural was facilitated by @markmakingchattanooga. It is a community collaboration artwork that started with bird paintings done by female inmates at one of our detention centers. I only had a teensy tiny roll at the beginning of the project supporting the bird paintings, but the hands in this video have facilitated and installed an unbelievable amount of the public art around Chattanooga. If you’ve been anywhere in the greater downtown area of Chattanooga, I guarantee you’ve seen at least one public art project that is a result of their labor of love. Mark Making, along with the Hart Gallery, take great effort to provide access to art for unrepresented parts of our communities and make sure that it is seen. She wouldn’t like it if she knew I was praising her, but Chattanooga would not be the same artistic community without my boss and role model at Mark Making. It was really meaningful to have the opportunity to get to be a small part of that. Go by the @hartgallerytn on Main Street to see it in person. #muralart #birdartwork #communityart #chattanoogaartscene #chattanoogapublicart

New mural “Going Home” signage just went up.

Halfway installed!

Big day tomorrow! We’re installing the inmate bird mural titled “Going Home” at the Hart Gallery. 20 painted parachute cloth panels, 300 square feet, 60 inmate participants!

Great work by the talented beautiful ladies in the Hamilton County Jail. Here they are expressing their joy from an imagined "happy place."

We welcomed back the Massey brothers from Portraits of Hope. They were here in 2010 to work with Mark Making in workshops funded by a CreateHere grant. This trip was about AIM Center artists and staff painting content for a HUGE (20,000 participants) piece for the Reflection Pool at the Washington Mall. This group is the only one from TN and the one group representing the mental health community!!!! What a thrill!