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Nashville murals, street art, graffiti, signs, sculptures and more

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September 2016

A bit of hope

Hope mural street art Nashville

Mending Hearts is an addiction recovery center that started small and has grown into a large campus along Albion Street in West Nashville, near Tennessee State University. The mural, called “Mural for Hope,” was conceived by Beth Inglish, a Nashville artist and art promoter, and was put up about three years ago by Inglish and residents of the center. It’s not the only mural at the Mending Hearts – Inglish and some of the residents produced another in 2014 that I hope to feature later. The photo above is from May of this year.

Located on the 4300 block of Albion Street, at the corner of Albion and 44th Avenue. Street parking available.

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Definitely not hidden

Moist Tower mural street art Nashville graffiti
If you drive across the Jefferson Street bridge, it’s impossible to miss the old Kerrigan Iron Works smokestack. It’s also impossible to miss the giant “moist” if you are coming from the east side of the river. I’ve mentioned the moist campaign before. This is one of its most audacious examples. Hats off!

Located at the north end of the courtyard of the Riverfront Condominiums building on the 1000 block of First Avenue North. (The iron works, like everything else in Nashville, has been converted to condos.) However, it makes much more sense to park at the base of the bridge and walk. I recommend the lot at Crosspoint Community Church (the ginormous sign for Crosspoint TV is as impossible to miss as the smokestack.) They have a giant lot with lots of parking at the corner of Jefferson and Cowan.

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W.E.B. DuBois (Norf Wall gallery, part 1)

DuBois mural street art Nashville

This mural, found on 19th Street near Herman, is part of the recent push to promote more public art in North Nashville. Jay Jenkins, a North Nashville artist and Tennessee State University graduate, got a THRIVE grant in 2015 from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission to produce a number of murals on the grounds of an old tire factory a little south of Fisk and Meharry. the Norf Wall Fest was born, and soon the factory grounds were covered in art. Many of the artists involved in the Norf Wall Fest went on to become part of the Norf Art Collective. The piece featured here was done by Nashville artist Brad Wells, who has since passed away.  This is one of the quieter murals in the set, befitting the dignity of the memory of W.E.B. DuBois. Most of the other murals found in and around the old factory are much more exuberant and playful. I could do a month of blog posts on them, but instead, I will pepper them into the blog from time to time as I explore the rest of the city. It’s a place worth exploring on your own.

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13

Located at the north end of the 800 block of 19th Street N., at the corner of Herman Street. It’s impossible to miss. Street parking is very haphazard. There is a lot of art to see here, and also a lot of overgrown weeds (depending on the time of year) so wear the right shoes!

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She blinded me with science!

STEM mural street art Nashville
The STEM Preparatory Academy on Foster Avenue in South Nashville sports this prominent display invoking the circuitry that students no doubt learn about. There’s no signature on this trompe l’oeil piece — perhaps a collaboration with the Nashville School of the Arts next door? That juxtaposition raises all kinds of possibilities! UPDATE: This is a Murals and More piece by Michael Cooper. It’s featured prominently on his website.

Located on the TPS Complex on Foster Avenue, in the 1100/1200 block. The mural faces west, and is visible from the road across a green space. No street parking, and on the weekends the parking lots are closed, so you have to park at one of the companies across the street and pretend you didn’t see the “no trespassing” sign at the complex entrance. It’s small. This is a school, so seeing it during the week may depend on school visiting policies.

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Unique Automotive, Part 3 (the east wall)

Graffiti tags mural street art Nashville
The back wall of Unique Automotive presents a familiar layout for permitted and/or commissioned graffiti and graffiti-style art — the series of panels. Most of these are signed, but only a couple are easy to track down — because the artists sign with their Instagram accounts! Well, sort of. @bukaloop is the handle of Nashville-based artist John Buko, whose work is featured in the bottom picture in this post. @folekangelo does not seem have an account, but there are mentions, and it seems to be an alternate name for an artist who also goes by Folek. Googling the terms finds other mentions besides the ones in that link. Folekangelo’s work is in the third photo down.

UPDATE: “Folek” is Folek Kelof, who can be found under the IG account @folek_folek_folek

Located at 1414 3rd Avenue South, up the hill from Hart Lane. Makeshift street parking. On the map, look for the pin for Part 1.

Part 1

Part 2

Graffiti tags mural street art NashvilleGraffiti tags muralGraffiti tags mural street art NashvilleGraffiti tags mural street art NashvilleGraffiti tags mural street art Nashville

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Unique Automotive, Part 2 (the west and south walls)

Sign mural street art Nashville
The front face of Unique Automotive is much less boisterous than the other walls. Here we basically have a couple of flashy signs for the business (above and the first shot below). This kind of style is in keeping with some other places in town that do auto detailing. The south wall, at the bottom, is quite the contrast, essentially one enormous graffiti tag that I can’t even begin to read! For more about the story of Unique Automotive, check out Part 1 below.

Located at 1414 3rd Avenue South, up the hill from Hart Lane. Makeshift street parking. On the map, look for the pin for Part 1.

Part 1

Part 3

Green car mural street art NashvilleGraffiti tags mural street art Nashville

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Boo!

Skull mural street art Nashville
One of the odder murals in town is this one, at the entrance to what had been the Slaughterhouse on Sixth Avenue. Skulls, lots and lots of skulls. It’s hard to say how long this will be here. There are two merged buildings here, and the other one is for sale. It’s not clear if this part is included, but even if not, it’s hard to imagine that property a stone’s throw from the convention center is going to keep a skull motif for long. For its part, Slaughterhouse itself has moved out to Lebanon Pike. I’d say this is definitely endangered art.

UPDATE: The mural has been dismantled as the building undergoes construction, but its pieces are still there, helping to block entrance to the site.

Located at 423 Sixth Avenue South, behind the Central Police Precinct building. You can probably park long enough for a quick peek in the lot of the office building across the street, but this is downtown, so good luck.

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