WHITE TEAM – WEST TENNESSEE

Team Art Leader: Amy Beth Rice
Environmental Partner: Tennessee Environmental Council
Team Members: Anabel Baty, Allen Mitchum, Ben Nelms, and students from Overton High School in Memphis

Description of Water Craft

Our vessel is designed after one of nature’s own “water warriors,” mussels, which clean and filter many of Tennessee’s lakes, rivers, and streams. They remove silt and suspended organic particles. Because mussels are affected by pollution, they are an indicator for the quality of our water. The composition in which we find our vessel and our captain, Grizz, is inspired by Botticelli’s “Venus,” depicting the Roman goddess of love emerging from the sea and arriving at shore on a clam shell after her birth. This nod to the Italian Renaissance painting speaks to our responsibility to act with love and intention in our relationship with it and its provision for us. The flowers, also inspired by Botticelli’s painting, are a symbol of Venus and can be seen showering the musselcraft and Grizz, representing the growth and health that manifests when we commit to water conservation and care. The rain barrels to the right of the composition highlight an action that we can personally take to conserve water. Imagery associated with the furthest-West corner of our state is present such as the Memphis skyline and our captain posing similarly to the goddess, our NBA team, Memphis Grizzlies’ mascot.

White Team Water Craft

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Team Photo – White Team

White Team Flag

Environmental Partner’s Statement

Tennessee has over 60,000 miles of rivers and streams and more than 75,000 acres of lakes that source our domestic, agricultural and industrial water supply1. We all live in a watershed and when we take care of the watershed, rivers and streams, we are rewarded by cleaner drinking water, better recreational opportunities, healthier fish, and a better environment and economy. The Council’s Watershed Support Center, works with local communities to educate, conserve and restore the health of Tennessee’s watersheds, including healthy urban and rural forests, for people, plants and animals. Check out our downloadable watershed guidebook – the “Citizen Action Guide for Watershed Restoration.”

 The most recent watershed data about Tennessee shows that more than half of our state’s rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands are impaired, or in poor biological health.  These waters are the source of our drinking water supplies, and where we go fishing, float, swim and irrigate our crops.  

Our Watershed Support program engages communities in watershed health and provides services to reduce flooding and improve and conserve Tennessee’s drinking water supplies. These goals are achieved through education, installation of green infrastructure including revegetating stream banks with native trees and grasses and installing and maintaining rain gardens.

White Team Chant

Funding to design this site provided through a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission.