Written by Cindy Podurgal Chambers, Photos by Susan Bryant
Clarksville, TN – The 85-year-old home of Susan Bryant and Billy Renkl is a gift for the eyes – and the heart. From the warm welcome offered by their senior beagle, Lucy, to the much-loved furniture that begs you to lean back and sit deep, it’s a space that invites you to stay as long as you like. And the longer you linger, the more you’ll see.
Part art studio, part gallery, part library, the house is a quiet riot of light and life and learning. “All the people we’ve loved and all the memories we’ve made still live here,” Billy says with a smile.
Embraced by a comfy velvet armchair that once belonged to Billy’s grandfather, Susan adds, “Home, to me, is a place where you can be yourself, without any filters. It’s unpretentious.” A large window full of plants warms the space, illuminating the framed artwork tiptoeing up the wall beside her. Susan says it was the very window that first attracted her to the house.
In 1982, she and her then-husband Phillip, a military nurse, were looking to rent a home within easy commute to Fort Campbell. Instead, their Realtor convinced them to tour a house for sale on the corner of Glenwood Drive off Madison Street. It was, he admitted, in “terrible shape” but in a great neighborhood. It was owned by a single mother with several boisterous teenagers and was in desperate need of some TLC.
As a photographer, the sunlight pouring in through the living room window convinced Susan to venture beyond its threshold. But it was the dark that kept her going. “When he told me it had a basement, I got excited. And when I saw a small room that had been used for storing canned goods at the foot of the steps, I said, ‘We’ll take it.’” The space has been her photographic darkroom ever since.
The couple raised a family in the 2,500-square-foot home: Emily was 18 months old when they moved to Clarksville, and Ian was born soon after. They also substantially renovated the house during the course of their nine-year marriage, to include patching holes, painting walls, removing doors that “led nowhere,” and knocking down a wall separating the kitchen from the dining room. When the marriage ended, Susan and the kids kept the cozy house on the corner.
Billy and Susan first met when he interviewed for a position on the graphic design faculty at Austin Peay State University in 1989. Susan, an art professor, served on the selection committee that hired him. It was, they agree, love at first sight. But it would be seven long years before, as Billy puts it, “I married her – and her house.”
Combining two homes into one, especially when both partners have strong aesthetic sensibilities, is not for the faint of heart. “But she was so eager for me to feel like I had a stake in the house,” Billy recalls. “It was a tender negotiation.”
Beyond negotiation was – and is — the value of art, which both defines and unifies them. The pair teach art, create art, share art, and display art. And their home, says Billy, is a testament to a mutual “accrual aesthetic.”
“We really didn’t attempt to decorate it,” he explains. “It was just … cumulative.” He offers examples: One pair of Mexican salt-and-pepper shakers were joined by another, then another, then another, until they now fill an entire shelf in the kitchen. A tiny, dark-skinned baby Jesus, formerly part of a miniature creche scene, was ultimately reunited with His parents (albeit sporting different skin tones) before being joined by dozens of Wise Men, shepherds, and animals. And don’t even get Billy started on his ever-growing collection of globes.
Susan, for her part, is especially fond of hands. “I’ve always loved them … the fact that they touch, that they heal, that they communicate.” Hands – crafted from wood, ceramic, cast iron, glass, brass, bronze, and other mediums, along with paintings, drawings and photographs of them – reach, caress and point from tables and shelves and walls throughout the house.
And they both love books, which fill every inch of the living room’s built-in bookshelves before spilling out onto tables and floors. “However many books you think you need,” Billy advises, “you need 10 times that many.”
Among their greatest shared loves is son Will, whom they adopted from Guatemala in 2000. Now 24, Will and his partner Siera have given them another new love, grandson August. The dimpled baby joined granddaughter Lily, now 14, in 2023.
It’s serendipitous, says Susan, that just as her older children were outgrowing their willingness to have their pictures taken, Will came along; when Will began to chafe against his mom’s ever-present camera, along came Lily; when Lily lost interest in the camera lens, along came August. His sweet grin is now the subject of photograph after photograph and will remain so for many years to come.
For now, the empty-nesters enjoy days filled with creative projects and creative people: Billy remains a full-time professor of art and illustration at Austin Peay State University, and Susan, now retired, leads photography workshops all over the country.
Interspersed with work are gatherings of like-minded folks in their warm and welcoming home. Susan generally mans the stove while Lucy loiters underfoot to catch anything that drops. Billy, by his own account, mostly contributes “by standing in front of the very drawers Susan needs to get into.” Evenings with friends feature lively conversations on topics ranging from art to politics while enjoying home-cooked meals eaten at the dining table or from plates balanced on laps around the living room.
And the couple continue to travel as time permits: So far, their favorite spots abroad include Rome, Istanbul, Mexico City, Prague, Venice, Florence, and the Yucatan; and New Orleans, the Grand Canyon and New York City stateside. But there will always be more places to explore, and more to bring back home to Clarksville.
“Everything in the house has evolved organically, always led by something we want to look at,” Susan says. The art changes over time, moving from basement storage, to dining room, to living room, to upstairs guestroom when the mood suggests. Just as their colorful front-yard wildflower garden reflects the changing seasons, there is always more to learn, more to see, and more to share at the home of Susan Bryant and Billy Renkl.
