By Natalia Mielczarek and Angela Patterson • THE TENNESSEAN

Green Hills-based photographer Cheryl Stewart has captured images of nature all across Middle Tennessee, showing the beauty of places like Richland Creek and Belle Meade Plantation.

It’s her third year to show her work at the Antiques and Garden Show of Nashville. Her work includes matted prints and giclees on canvas, and she’s pleased this year’s theme is focused on finding the splendor in our surroundings.

“The theme itself is great because it’s focused on going green, and trying to be more conservative,” said Stewart, who also does portrait photography. “So, there should be a lot of curiosity seekers. In spite of the economy, I think there’ll be people curious enough to check it out.”

Through this year’s theme, sustaining beauty, the show organizers have one central message: eco-friendliness doesn’t have to be ugly or out of reach.

“We don’t pretend to be a completely green trade show,” said Mary Jo Shankle, the show’s co-chairwoman. “We just want to give people ideas of ways to explore sustainability in their own lives that are manageable.”

Businesses show inventory

The event, which draws horticulture and antique dealers from around the world, will be Feb. 5-8 in the Nashville Convention Center. It features lectures by renowned landscape and antique experts and more than 150 exhibitors from the U.S., France, Canada and more.

In a span of four days, visitors will learn how to convert used car tires into a grassy patch, incorporate an old chair into modern furniture and treat a cistern that collects rain water as a focal point of a garden — and still make everything look good.

“We came up with the theme in the summer of 2014,” Shankle said. “And it was in the middle of the drought, and we were thinking something’s got to change with the way we live, garden and understand what beauty is in our surroundings.”

Metal worker and artisan Ben Caldwell has shown his collection of copper and metal spoons, bowls and large wall sculptures for eight years at the show, and looks forward to showing his work, which is heavily inspired by the shapes of leaves and flowers.

Susannah Scott-Barnes, co-owner of Ashblue in Green Hills, said in addition to several gift items that will be displayed this year, there will be some green items.

“We’ll have a bamboo hand towel this year, as well as a Skoy Cloth, which is sponge-like towel made from natural cotton and wood-based cellulose pulp,” Scott-Barnes said. “You can reuse it over and over. We’ll also have a candle made of organic soy, and everything about it is green.”

Green items displayed

The gardeners welcomed this year’s theme with open arms, said Lou Ann Brown, the show’s garden artistic director.

“When I presented this idea to the gardeners, they all said: ‘We’ve been doing green gardening forever,’ ” she said. “But this is the first time we’ve made it such a point in the show. We’ve all been talking about the environment for several years. It was time to bring that into the show.”

Aside from incorporating more than 60 old tires into the design, Paul Lively used a special kind of surface material called grassy pavers in creating an eco-friendly, transportation-themed garden. The porous pavement that looks like a honeycomb recycles runoff water and can withstand the weight of a fire engine without eroding the soil.

“We don’t want to come off as too preachy or academic; we just want to get people excited about green ideas without sacrificing their esthetics,” said Lively, designer and owner of The Lively Landscape Co., LLC in Bellevue.

“Some of the green products are fairly expensive, but the tradeoff is, you’re bettering the environment and still doing it in an esthetic way,” said Lively, who’s participated in the show four years.

Alongside transportation, other themes that guide this year’s landscaping displays are: water, food, energy and shelter.

Giving despite crunch

Shankle said the recession hasn’t negatively impacted corporate sponsorship of the show. She hopes visitors deliver, too.

“During hard times, people are looking for diversion, for fantasy,” she said. “I can’t think of anything better to do on a cold February afternoon than to lose yourself in the beauty of the show and learn something at the same time.”

The organizers hope recession won’t stop people from shelling out $15 to enter, take notes and shop, since the bulk of the proceeds, about $400,000 last year, benefit Cheekwood and an array of local charities.

“The funds provide general operating support for Cheekwood, and the show is one of the primary contributors to the institution,” said Jack Becker, Cheekwood’s president.

Last year, Cheekwood received more than $200,000, he said.

Contact Natalia Mielczarek at 615-259-8079 or nmielczarek@tennessean.com. Contact Angela Patterson at 259-8287 or apatterson@tennessean.com.

Source : http://www.tennessean.com