DeMaris Gaunt and the Back Roads of Brown County Studio Tour A
~story and photos by Bob Gustin
rtist, poet and writer DeMaris Gaunt has lived in Brown County for only about three years, but her roots here run deep. Long before she built her home and Mud Horse Art studio at 1515 Tanglewood Lane, she had connections to the unspoiled natural beauty and nurturing artist colony which characterize the area. Her great-grandfather, Ora Chitwood, was a former Brown County sheriff and county commissioner who owned and developed land around what was to become Lake Lemon. And as a child, her father Charles Henderson, a builder and former mayor of Greenwood, brought the family on many trips to Nashville and Brown County State Park, particularly Ogle Lake.
34 Our Brown County Sept./Oct. 2021
“My dream in life was to be an artist and live in the woods,” she said. Though she said she is still not “plugged in” to all of the local arts community, due partly to the lockdowns caused by the coronavirus last year, she looks forward to being a part of the Back Roads of Brown County Studio Tour, going on the whole month of October. The free, self-guided tour features 28 artists in 20 studios across the county. Named after a childhood friend of her mother’s, DeMaris attended Herron School of Art and Design, and is divorced from caricature artist Paul Gaunt. Their son Will, 13, lives with DeMaris and is a budding artist himself. Her other children are Jayden, 28, who has a husband J.R., three children,
