On a chilly day in mid-December, Cincinnati artist Jenny Ustick put the final touches on her masterpiece “Hurrah!” that spans the better part of a block in downtown Sweetwater. The mural celebrates the legacy of Febb Burn, whose famous letter to her son Harry T. Burn is credited with convincing him to vote with suffragists to ratify the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote.

Sweetwater’s suffrage history

Tennessee was the 36th and final state to ratify the 19th Amendment. The state Senate had already approved the amendment, but a tie in the House would mean defeat. The vote was in a deadlock, and Rep. Harry T. Burn wore a red rose, the sign of the anti-suffragists, in his lapel. After re-reading a note in his pocket he received that morning from his mother, Febb—“Hurrah and vote for Suffrage and don’t keep them in doubt!” it said—Burn took a stand. He removed the rose and cast the tiebreaking vote to ratify the amendment, changing the course of history.

Ustick not only incorporated Miss Febb’s portrait, but her actual handwriting, including an excerpt from page two of the letter, the postmark and the text from the envelope. Burn hailed from nearby Niota and practiced law on the second floor of the Scruggs Building (now called New Block) from 1927 to 1951.

“If Harry T. Burn were still practicing law in downtown Sweetwater today, he would be able to see this beautiful work of art out his office window,” said Jessica Morgan, the city recorder for Sweetwater and project champion. “Our community is so proud to host this mural and so grateful to TAC and DMA for making this piece of our heritage a bright, beautiful reminder of why public art and history should go hand in hand.”

Sweetwater’s inaugural mural was completed in May 2021 by Kim Radford, with a second quickly following later that year when Nashville-based lettering artist Cymone Wilder added a

“Welcome to Sweetwater” piece at the entrance to Main Street. After an outpouring of excitement from the community following the first pair of murals, the city’s Mayor and Board of Commissioners elected to incorporate public art funding into the annual budget.

In July 2022, the city of Sweetwater received a creative placemaking grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission to assist in the creation of “Hurrah!” and State Farm agent Jessica Green donated her wall at 211 N. Main St. for the project. The remainder of this year’s public art budget went toward installing a second mural that underpins the greenway beneath the Highway 86 overpass adjacent to Duck Park and was designed by Ohio-based visual artists Atalie Gagnet and Chase Melendez.

About the artist

Jenny Roesel Ustick is Assistant Professor of Practice and Foundations Coordinator in the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. She holds an MFA from the same program and a BFA from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Ustick has become one of the most prominent muralists in the region, completing more than 10 projects with ArtWorks and several independent projects that include commissions from the U.S. Soccer Federation and 21C Museum Hotel Cincinnati. Outside of Cincinnati, Ustick has created murals in New Mexico, Illinois, Kentucky, Florida and Argentina, as well as served as an art fellow in Sicily. She first painted for DMA in McMinnville as part of the initial Walls for Women cohort.

Ustick is also an interdisciplinary solo and collaborative studio artist with a practice based in drawing and painting and expansions into multimedia textile and time-based installations. Her solo and collaborative works have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museum venues that include the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, the DaytonArt Institute, the Cincinnati Art Museum, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art and Redline Contemporary in Denver. She has participated in multiple international art fairs including ArtPrize in Michigan, Governors Island Art Fair in New York, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

About DMA-events, Inc.

Journalists Kristin Luna and Scott van Velsor started 501(c)(3) DMA-events in May 2018 as a catalyst to provide free access to art to rural communities throughout the South, with over 40 large-scale murals successfully completed to date. In April 2021, DMA-event’s Walls for Women program was awarded the Daughters of the American Revolution’s state public relations and media award for commitment to historic preservation, education and patriotism consistent with the DAR mission.

Sweetwater’s latest mural joins the Walls for Women Trail across Tennessee. All of DMA-events’ murals can be found here: http://bit.ly/DMAMuralMap. For more information, interviews and images, please contact DMA-events President Kristin Luna at kristinluna@gmail.com.