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Endangered art

The Johnny Cash Mural

Johnny Cash Mural street art Nashville

Sure, there’s more than one mural featuring Johnny Cash in this town. But this was one of the first, if not the very first. Or at least, the original one on this spot was. Bryan Deese, Audie Adams and Ryan Shrader of Thoughts Manifested produced a Cash mural on this spot not long after Cash’s death in 2003. However, by late 2012 it was in very bad shape, so the same three artists painted a new Cash mural to replace the original (and I do not know how close the second version is to the first). There is a video of them making the second mural. Now six years on, the second mural is somewhat worse for wear, and it faces more threats than just the weather and traffic smog. The little building it’s on is surrounded by some very expensive real estate, and it’s hard to imagine no developer has any interest in it. If you want your picture taken in front of it, you might want to do so soon.

UPDATE: This building has been slated for demolition. Get your selfie immediately!

UPDATE 2: This building and this mural no longer exist.

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Located at 300 4th Avenue South at the corner of 4th and Molloy Street. The mural faces Molloy. This is downtown, so lots of parking, almost none of it free.

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Dutch Maid

DutchMaidWest

Large, three-dimensional signs like this one used to be common in America, but they’ve been out of style for decades. There are persistent survivors in Nashville, like the Weiss Liquor sign featured in A true Nashville survivor or the Ernest Tubb sign and others on Lower Broad. There are even some new ones on Broadway, given its place in local tourism. Other survivors are scattered around town, mostly on the Pikes. This one is located in the rapidly gentrifying The Nations neighborhood, and its fate is uncertain. The laundromat it advertises has long since closed its doors, and the windows are boarded up. It’s hard to imagine any developer tearing this wonderful icon down, but in go-go Nashville, it’s always a possibility. Call it endangered art.

DutchMaidEast

Located at 6227 Roberston Avenue, near the corner with Croley Drive. Plenty of parking on site.

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Building who’s Nashville?

ChurchStFull

Ordinarily, I like to keep people out of the pictures I use on this blog. But for this particular mural, done by Michael Cooper of Murals and Moore, that’s not easy. Church Street Park, known also as Library Park, has become a gathering ground for homeless Nashvillians. Some of this is because it lies across from the downtown Main Library, which has made efforts to reach out to the homeless. Not surprisingly, the presence of homeless people in such a prominent spot has raised controversy. That controversy is probably behind the willingness of Mayor David Briley to back a controversial proposal to allow developer Tony Giarratana to build a commercial high rise tower on the property in exchange for also building an apartment complex for the homeless on James Robertson Parkway. Ten years ago, the city bulldozed and rebuilt the park to rid the park of pesky starlings. Now they might just demolish it so they can rid it of the homeless. Whether the deal with Giarratana goes through remains to be seen. If it does, Cooper’s mural suggesting an unfinished but growing Nashville will almost certainly disappear. Call it endangered art.

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Located at 600 Church Street, across from the downtown library. This is downtown, so plenty of parking, almost none of it free. The library parking garage has reasonable rates, including ninety free minutes with validation. Peruse the stacks and enjoy the art!

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Another departure

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In what seems to be a new, ongoing series, yet another entry to file under “artwork endangered because the business is moving.” While the first two entries are from Yazoo Brewery’s building on Division Street, this time we are at Grimey’s New and Preloved Music, which will be decamping from 8th Street and moving to Trinity Road this fall. The building Grimey’s is in sold to a new owner, whose plans do not seem to include the iconic record store and music venue. All of which puts the future of this mural in question. Found on the patio of what used to be a branch of Frothy Monkey that shared space with Grimey’s, it’s a DCXV production. DCXV is the business home of Adrien Saporiti, whose best-known murals are the “I Believe in Nashville” murals scattered around town. Here we see a stack of amplifiers, maybe some turntables, and a couple of plastic crates filled with records (one of which has the DCXV signature). If you look close on the far right, you’ll see a coffee cup with the Frothy Monkey logo on it. File all of this under “endangered art.”

Located at 1604 Eighth Avenue South. The mural lies on the south side of the building, easily visible from the road if you are driving north. There is limited parking in front, more in back. Grab some records and some souvenirs while there is still time and enjoy the art!

 

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Yazoo Brewery, Michael Cooper edition

YazooTankMain

This giant Yazoo Brewery tank is something of a landmark on Division Street, but it’s a landmark that will be gone soon enough. Yazoo announced some time ago that they would be moving to a new site, and now that they have purchased land in Madison, all that’s left is finalizing the sale of their Gulch property. It’s unclear what will happen to this tank, painted by Michael Cooper of Murals and More, or the Herb Williams panels on the west side of the building. Hopefully, they will make the move as well. The logo on the front of the building, also by Cooper, will, of course, be lost. (See below, along with shots of the tank from other angles.)

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Located at 910 Division Street. Yazoo has a small amount of its own parking, and much of the paid parking in the Gulch area is one hour free. Get your last call at the Division St. site and enjoy the art!

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Have I got a deal for you

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I have wanted to write about this particular mural for some time. It’s prominently visible if you are driving north on upper Nolensville Pike, it’s a weird mix of cheesy and minimalist, and it seemed to have been around a long while. What’s not to love? Sadly, there always seemed to be at least one car parked in front of it. So when I saw it car-free, I knew I had to get my shot quick. Sadly for this mural, the reason I found it car-free may also spell its doom. The furniture and appliance store whose goods it advertises has moved. Sam’s Mattress Furniture Warehouse doesn’t have much of an internet presence (other than a couple of bad Yelp reviews), but a sign on the door lists three new addresses, two for furniture and mattresses, one for appliances, all closer to downtown on Nolensville. The murals are as I guessed, survivors. All are signed by Mark E. Witte, a name I have not been able to track down. Witte seems to have worked fast giving each of them a separate specific date in April 2009. But they are out of order. Going left to right, they are dated April 26, 27, 28, 25 and 30. So he did the sofas first, then went back to the washing machine and worked his way back down the wall. Started on a Saturday, finished on a Thursday for a productive week. But with Sam’s closed, the fate of this mural seems uncertain.

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Located at 3312 Nolensville Pike. It faces south, towards Chilton Street. It is possible to park across the street on Chilton, and there is of course parking at Sam’s until developers get a hold of it.

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Flour Girls

FlourGirlsNossi

This is an easy one to write about, but there’s a twist. There’s a web page that goes into detail as to the origins of this mural in central Goodlettsville. Imagine Goodlettsville, a community association, partnered in 2014 with artists at the Nossi College of Art to produce this mural that graces the Flourgirls Cafe building. Mark B. Flemming, Nossi’s Illustration Coordinator, was the chief artist, with significant help from students Lance Askins and Chelsa Jeanne. So what’s the twist? Well, note the lack of a link for Imagine Goodlettsville. Their website is defunct, and there’s no sign that the group is still active. That’s a shame, because it seems this was supposed to be part of a “mural program,” but it doesn’t seem much else was produced besides this one. And the Flourgirls are a mystery, too. They left this building in 2015. The last entry on their Facebook page (October 17, 2015) says that they will open their new Madison location in a week – and then nothing. There’s no evidence the Madison location ever opened. The Goodlettsville building remains empty, though it still has a “Flourgirls” sign. The future of this piece is uncertain, with the original sponsors gone, the building inactive. A crack evident in older pictures (see the first link above) has worsened and had to be patched. This bright splash of color has to be thought of as endangered art.

Located at 201 South Main Street (Dickerson Pike) in Goodlettsville. The mural faces south, in front of a dirt and gravel lot where you can park.

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