In 1972, they moved again––this time to Bradyville, Tennessee––intent on learning to farm. Arlyn recounted running “into some hippies on the courthouse in Woodbury” who told them about “a farm for sale near their commune,” (both of which were long gone by the following decade). They purchased their new homestead using the profits from the sale of their Tucson house, plus a final $1,500 which Arlyn made in a lump sum as a cook on a river barge. Her erudite journals provide an incisive window into this experience as a time of reflection and self-definition. In its pages, she ponders gender relations, the nature of labor, and possibilities for collective social and political formations. These reflections are interspersed with weekly menus and recipes, character sketches, poems, and revelatory passages on mysticism––a testament to the radical democracy of Ende’s holistic aesthetic identity.

Jack and Arlyn settled into a symbiosis with the land, a steady rhythm of farm life and making art. The artists raised chickens, entered in annual craft fairs, planted and harvested potatoes, created public sculpture, and worked in tandem with architects on commissions. Any boundary between art and life quickly eroded; the artists plumbed the aesthetic depths of goat herding, saw pure possibility in the blank canvas of an untilled field, and cherished the sacred communion of local artisans and craft-makers.

The couple’s playful color palette and kaleidoscopic geometry manifested in a yin-yang of complementary and opposite mediums: Jack favoring the cold precision of concrete and metal, Arlyn delving into the warmth of textiles and rug hooking. Both collaborated on a number of highly-designed environments with renowned architect Robinson Neil Bass. Jack created large mobiles for commissions, as well as giant concrete landscape installations like the EnviroGarden, featured in Knoxville’s World’s Fair in 1982. Homage to Calder, arguably his masterwork, was installed in the iconic Tennessee Valley Authority building in Chattanooga. The vibrant kinetic sculpture spanned nearly 5 stories in the building's atrium. 

 In 1994, Arlyn and Jack moved again, this time to Sewanee, Tennessee. Beginning nearly from scratch in a wooded thicket tucked away amongst the hills, they built their own home and studio. Situated in their new homestead–aptly named Deepwoods–Jack and Arlyn put down roots, their creative spirits quickly embraced by the community. Each continued their own practice; Jack publishing a book of poems (titled The Illuminated History of Darkness) in 2000, Arlyn’s hooked rugs remaining in high demand. Though their work had always been inextricably intertwined, it wasn’t until 2004 that they had their first joint exhibition at Saint Andrews-Sewanee gallery. Together, they became a beloved mainstay of Sewanee’s artistic community, where Arlyn helped to curate and direct the University’s gallery. In 2012, they collaborated on an exhibition at Tinney Contemporary in Nashville, titled “The Essence of Our Ticking.” Shortly after, Arlyn was inducted into the Tennessee State Museum’s Costume and Textile Institute.

Jack passed away the following year in 2013. Arlyn continued to live and work at Deepwoods until her passing in 2022. The Essence of Their Ticking, a retrospective on the lives and works of Arlyn and Jack, will be held at Tinney Contemporary in December of 2022. The work in this exhibit is a lasting monument to the brilliance of Jack and Arlyn; a snapshot into the creative minds of two artists whose spirit touched so many. In honor of the consecrated space they carved out, Deepwoods Studio will be preserved as an artist’s retreat in affiliation with Tinney Contemporary.