The Tennessee Arts Academy presents a new feature during this year’s Virtual Winter Retreat. “Tennessee Talks” will present the thoughts and reflections of a notable Tennessean whose life’s work has had a major influence on the arts, arts education, and the lives of all citizens throughout our great state. Much like the Academy’s “Musings,” Tennessee Talks will be a time of meaningful inspiration and introspection. This year’s Tennessee Talks guest of honor is Flowerree McDonough.
Flowerree W. McDonough was named by the National Art Education Association as the Tennessee Art Educator of the Year in 1999 and the National Emeritus Art Educator in 2018. The Tennessee Arts Academy Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to her in 2011. The Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts named her Tennessee Visual Arts Educator of the Year in 2009 in a ceremony at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.
Until her retirement in 2013, McDonough served for thirty-two years as chair of the Bearden High School Fine Arts Department in Knoxville, Tennessee. During her tenure, her students garnered numerous scholarships and won scholastic gold, silver, and honorable mention awards. At Carnegie Hall, she was honored at the national teacher recognition ceremony for having several national student winners. After being named a Twenty-First Century Classroom Teacher, the resulting grant funds jump-started her students’ technological understanding of visual production techniques. She received a fellowship of the National Endowment for the Humanities and subsequently participated in the Excellence in Teaching Institute at Ohio Wesleyan and in Florence, Italy.
She served as president of the Tennessee Art Education Association, as well as National Art Education Association’s southeast region secondary director, and has also chaired statewide art education conferences. In 2000, she represented the state in several events as state finalist for Tennessee Teacher of the Year. Working with Leadership Knoxville, she has coordinated the art experiences for new class members each year since she became a member in 2003. McDonough has been a frequent clinician and adjudicator at regional and national events. McDonough passionately serves both students and teachers of the arts in her dual roles as an adjudicator for the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts and as a Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation board member.