Facilities: Tanasi Gallery
The Tanasi Gallery is the temporary home of the Tanasi Arts and Heritage Center. Located near the site of the future Center, just off I-26 at exit 32, it is housed within the Town of Unicoi’s newly developed Unicoi Tourism & Information Center. The Gallery displays regional arts and crafts and other regional products for viewing by visitors and for sale. Featured local artists and craftspeople are chosen by a juried selection process to ensure high quality and a wide range of genres and styles. Periodic demonstrations such as painting, pottery, wood carving, weaving, and broom-making are held on the grounds of the Tourism & Information Center. Come visit the Tanasi Gallery and see the work on display that reflects the heritage of this beautiful area on the edge of the Appalachians and the Cherokee National Forest. Our hours of operation are:
Tanasi Gallery Thursday-Friday 10:00 A.M - 5:00 P.M. Unicoi Tourism & Information Center Monday-Friday 8am-5pm |
Facilities: Future Center Home
The future site of the Tanasi Arts and Heritage Center is ideally suited for this beautifully designed 38,000 sq ft building that will showcase the arts, crafts, and cultural heritage of Tennessee’s Appalachia. Its location just off Interstate 26 in Unicoi, Tennessee, is a natural gateway for travelers eastbound into Tennessee and Southeast Virginia and westbound toward Asheville, North Carolina. The Center itself will be a model of sustainable and responsible development that honors the history and geography of the land on which it will be rooted. Many “green features” have been incorporated into a building that is designed to achieve the Platinum level of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building performance rating system. As such, this building will set the pace toward objectives that include energy independence, bolstering of the local economy, and reduction of the need for costly environmental regulation. Escalating costs for electricity and water, health care, and transportation make a sustainable building plan the only sensible choice for our times. Our opportunity here is to display not only our exceptional abilities in the live and performing arts and crafts, but also in our engineering and design skills and construction practices and our stewardship of the environment. And not least, the construction and operation of the Center will provide jobs and business opportunities for a wide range of area residents and businesses, ranging from trades-people to artists and craftspeople, and from college students to high-tech design firms and equipment vendors. |