NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The best way to describe it is a high-tech treasure hunt. It was turning heads in the Edgehill community Thursday as a team worked to better tell the story of a figure of Nashville history.
Documentary filmmaker Mark Schlicher says there is a reason he's compelled to share the story of an important figure in Nashville's history.
"You got a couple hours?" he laughed. "Lemme try to make it concise. I was surprised so few people outside of art circles knew anything about him."
Mark's talking about sculptor William Edmondson.
"In 1932 or '33, he heard the voice of God tell him to start carving tombstones to honor the dead of the Black community," Mark said.
That evolved into the creation of all kinds of sculptures, including three now on display at Cheekwood. Another one's on display at Tennessee State Museum.
"He carved in limestone," Mark continued. "William Edmondson was a self-taught sculptor. In 1937, he became the first African American to get a solo show at New York's Museum of Modern Art."
After Mark made a few calls, Thursday, he was out documenting something big happening at the home site.
"We're working with the VISR team from Vanderbilt," he explained. "That's the Vanderbilt Institute for Spacial Research. We have a team of geophysicists who have brought out their ground-penetrating radar equipment as well as a very high-resolution GPS. Are there maybe even remnants of the limestone he carved under the surface of this basketball court?"
It was especially exciting for Brenda Morrow of the Organized Neighbors of Edgehill group. She brought a great-grandson to see it all.
"Might be sculptures under there," she said. "It might be some of his works. It might be some of his dishes! You never can tell!"
The plan is for this study to also help create an app where people can see a historically accurate 3-D model of the home and studio. The 3-D model will be intended to look the same as before the home was demolished in the 1950s, a few years after Edmondson's death.
For now, we wait to see what's found.
"History doesn't stop with today," Mark said. "It's a river. It's moving. We're swimming in it, and we're making history today."
The preliminary findings of this are set to be revealed in a community event. The event will be May 9 at 4 pm. It's open to the public and will be held at the William Edmondson Homesite Park at 1450 14th Avenue South.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
