THE ARTS IN MT. PLEASANT

Two Brothers Frame a Small Town’s Artful Revitalization

By William Harwood

The single-story brick building at 103 South Main Street, Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, circa 1872, has seen a lot come and go within its walls over the past 150 years. At various times, it has been a general store where clerks filled patrons’ orders; a noisy — and sometimes dangerous — saloon where men from the phosphate mines drank and gambled; a bustling newspaper office where reporters wrote the stories for the local paper and printing presses printed it. Then came the 1980s, the phosphate boom ending and the local paper soon with it, the building fell into some disrepair and simply served as a dry place to store carpets.

And that might have been the end of the building’s story had two brothers, Mike and Pat Greene, not thought otherwise. Growing up in Mt. Pleasant, they graduated from the high school in ‘61 and ‘64 respectively, then moved away to make their lives. A half century passed, and both the Greenes did well and retired. They returned to their roots, intending to invest their time, money, and talents into Mt. Pleasant’s revitalization. In March 2021, the brothers purchased the structure, planning to fix it up and rent it out, but fell in love instead during their labors to make the building beautiful again. “We decided to just completely restore it to its original condition,” Mike says. “We stripped plaster off the walls to the brick, and took five floor layers off before we got to the original wood.” As the brothers worked, they uncovered more of the building’s past. “When we bought it,” Pat admits, “we didn’t know the history of the building, so we kept digging and finding all this great, wonderful stuff.” Things like parts of the printing presses in the basement along with sacks of coal for the old furnace. Even the sign for the newspaper — The Mt. Pleasant Record — was still there, sandwiched between rolls of old carpet. The brothers cleaned it off, put it up, and took its name for the building’s new lease on life: The Mt. Pleasant Record Art Gallery as it was named, was the first of its kind in the town’s nearly 200-year-old history.

“This building turned out to be gorgeous,” Mike shares. “We couldn’t rent it out and let somebody come in and tear it up, so we decided to help the art program in the Mt. Pleasant school system.” The new art gallery’s first show in October 2021 turned out to be a huge success. Students from Mt. Pleasant’s three schools, grades K through 12, were invited to display their work for cash prizes as visitors lined up to get inside. “That did more to introduce art to Mt. Pleasant than anything that had even been done to that point,” Mike says. “The building was full of people. It was just amazing how many people were trying to get in to see what was going on.” The brothers decided to make it an annual event, and support their local students through art. “We are going to sponsor a senior high artist for college,” Mike says. “And continue to support these students who graduate high school and want to go on to college.”

JONAH THOMAS — ELEMENTARY WINNER

ALLIE SUTLIFFE — MIDDLE SCHOOL WINNER

ANNLEE SANDRELL — HIGH SCHOOL WINNER

In addition to supporting student artists, The Mt. Pleasant Record Art Gallery, now provides a home for professional artist Pat Barro and has been renamed the Poiema Studio Gallery. With formal training in the fine arts and decades of experience across various mediums, Barro is inspired by God’s creation — whom he refers to as ‘The Master Artist’ — and creates works of beautiful landscapes intended to evoke positive emotions in his viewers. In addition to Poiema offering fine art and art supplies for sale, Barro will also offer art classes to children to adults. Further, his wife Rachel will oversee an initiative to have other professional artists come in once a month to display their work on a rotating basis.

The goal to create a critical mass of galleries and artists is intentional. “The more artists that come the better off everybody will be,” Mike says. “Mt. Pleasant will become an arts destination.” Mt. Pleasant’s mayor and his brother Pat both agree. “We would like to have an art walk in the back parking lot,” Pat says, “and Mayor Bill White says ‘whatever you want to do, we’re going to support you.’ We are happy the Mt. Pleasant government wants to see it happen because you need the support of the community and the city.” In any case, the brothers have come a long way in a short time of realizing their artful vision. “Mt. Pleasant is in the center of Nashville’s ‘Big Backyard,’” Mike points out, referring to the string of small communities stretching from Leiper’s Fork to Muscle Shoals. “Our purpose now is solely to create an arts center for this area of the state; Mt. Pleasant could be the center of art for Nashville’s Big Backyard.”