Program Description
Event Details
“Where is John Sevier’s head and hand?” That was the type of question that was asked on August 14, 2002, when it was discovered that Gen. John Sevier, 1745-1815, East Tennessee sculptor Edgar W. Bowlin’s masterpiece, had been vandalized.
Join the team at the East Tennessee History Center at 2:00 pm, Sunday, November 17, 2024, as they unveil what remains of Gen. John Sevier, 1745-1815. You will have the opportunity to meet the family of sculptor Edgar W. Bowlin and other individuals who played a role in preserving this unique East Tennessee work of art from its display inside a Kingsport bank to its fateful hours on the site of the 1982 World’s Fair.
“It doesn’t bother me that it doesn’t have a head. I’ve been to Europe many times, and in Europe there are thousands of headless, legless, and armless statues. It’s about time America had a few headless statues.”–William James “Jim” Cortese, local arborist who helped preserve the sculpture, “The Headless Governor,” Metro Pulse, July 15, 2010
Was the vandalism a Rush Week dare carried out by fraternity pledges, as some believe, or was it simply a random act? Is John Sevier’s head sitting on a shelf in a fraternity house, or has it been discarded, perhaps at the bottom of the Tennessee River?
The search for Gen. John Sevier, 1745-1815’s head (and hand) begins on November 17! Join us!
2:00 pm, Bilo Nelson Auditorium, East Tennessee History Center
601 S. Gay St., Knoxville, TN 37902
PROGRAM
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Dr. Warren Dockter, President & CEO, East Tennessee Historical Society
“That Backwoods, Barefooted Sculptor from Hancock County: A Brief Review of the Life and Work of Edgar Wallace Bowlin”
Adam H. Alfrey, Assistant Director of Historical Services, East Tennessee History Center
Interview with the Bowlins and Wanda Ault
“The Sculptor: A Tribute to Edgar Bowlin”
Rebecca P’Simer, Curator of Collections, East Tennessee Historical Society
Unveiling of Gen. John Sevier, 1745-1815
Light refreshments
About the artist: Edgar W. Bowlin was born in Hancock County in 1919. After service in World War II, he conducted a successful career as an artist in Upper East Tennessee. Gen. John Sevier, 1745-1815, is one of three life-sized marble sculptures by him. He also carved
Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth president of the United States, unveiled on October 12, 1956, in the lobby of the Greeneville branch of Home Federal (now the lobby of the Greene County Partnership), and Kenneth D. McKellar, United States congressman and advocate of commercial aviation, unveiled on June 22, 1958, at the Tri-Cities Airport. Bowlin passed away in Sullivan County in 2001.