Greenway Archives - nashville public art

Frankie Pierce Park, Part 3

Franke Pierce Newspaper Nashville street art

In August, 2019 Anthony Billups of Music City Murals and Olasubomi Aka-Bashorun did a series of murals in the new Frankie Pierce Park. The murals all honor one of Nashville’s most important Black activists, J. Frankie Pierce. Pierce was a civil rights activist who played an important part in the women’s suffrage movement in Nashville, and who opened the Tennessee Vocational School for Colored Girls in 1923, which remained open until 1979.

There’s a long Pierce mural on the east side of the park. On the southwest side, there are two Pierce murals flanking a railroad underpass, the southernmost of which I’ve already featured. Today being the first day of African-American History Month, it’s a good time to wrap up this series. This third mural lies across the street from the second one. Here we can read a short biography of Pierce’s life and work in the form of a newspaper article, and learn about her campaigns for civil rights and women’s suffrage.

Frankie Pierce Park is a green space that includes a children’s playground that was built as a public-private partnership between Capitol View, a massive multi-block development, and Metro Parks. It lies in a triangle of land between two elevated railroad lines that separate Capitol View from Capitol Hill.

Today, the neighborhood the park is found in is know as Capitol View, after the enormous development project. There are even developers and real-estate agents who like to call it “North Gulch,” which is truly awful. But as the “newspaper article” that makes up the mural notes, when Frankie Pierce was alive, this patch of land was called Hell’s Half-Acre. Founded during Reconstruction, the neighborhood was populated by Blacks and immigrants. As it lay outside of city limits at the time, it was a place where saloons and all kinds of vice flourished, but was also home to a rich African-American culture. It was razed in the 1950s as part of a Capitol Hill Redevelopment plan, and largely remained empty (or used as parking lots) until the Capitol View development project was built. Gentrification, or just outright destruction of neighborhoods, is not a new problem in Nashville.

Here you can see the “newspaper” mural with its companion, looking out of the park towards the Capitol View development.

Located at 130 Lifeway Plaza. That’s the address of the park. The mural is found on the south end of the park, on the southern railroad underpass, right off of Nelson Merry Street. The easiest parking is off of Nelson Merry, which you can see in the bottom image, and at Capitol View.

Part 1 Part 2

February 1, 2021 0

Bearded Iris Brewing, Makeover Edition

In January 2017, just a few months after starting this blog, I wrote about an interesting wall of graffiti on the rear side of Bearded Iris Brewing. I even called it “Part 1,” because I intended to come back and write about the less interesting graffiti on the building that faced that back wall of Bearded Iris, on the other side of the Cumberland River Greenway. Well, that building got torn down to make way for a parking lot, and the graffiti was replaced by this giant sign for Bearded Iris done by Eastside Murals. (The graffiti off to the left is still there, and might get a blog post someday.) This mural is reminiscent of another recent work by Eastside Murals covering the entirety of the Molly Green building at McFerrin Ave and Main Street. While the color scheme is quite different, that work also features thick flowing lines and large circles. I recently got good photos of it, so look for it on the blog soon. The featured photo above is angled because, as you can see below, trying to take a photo straight on mostly just gets you a picture of trees! The Bearded Iris Brewing logo, which you can see in the upper right of the mural and on the tanks located on the front of the building, doesn’t look much like a bearded iris flower to me but more like a stylized fleur-de-lis. Your mileage may vary.

Located at 101 Van Buren Street. The mural faces east, along the Cumberland River Greenway. There is a paid parking lot directly in front of it, but you can probably park for free for a little while in Bearded Iris’s parking lot (look for the tanks), longer if you stop in for a brew!

October 23, 2019 0

Striding and hiding

This one is just barely public art. Down at the bottom of the post is what you can see if you stay on the regular path. Maybe in winter, it’s a little more visible. It’s really a double that brings together two Nashville artists known for their stenciled solitary men, Brian Wooden and an artist who signs his work “For Becks.” Wooden does the usually headless men in suits (though sometimes not), while For Becks does the Lego men. Here, their work is found side by side. This grainy photo proves Wooden’s piece has been there at least a couple of years, while the For Becks piece is much more recent. They are not very accessible – if you want a selfie with one, there are easier places – just check the Instagram pages linked above. These are at the base of a platform that is part of the Rolling Mill Hill Greenway, itself part of a ramp that connects the City View Apartments above with the Nashville Trolly Barns below (that’s where Pinewood Social is). To get to it, start at the bottom of the ramp and either jump the railing, or at the very beginning of the lower part of the ramp, you can squeeze between the railing and a low wall for about 30 feet to gain access to the area where the mural is. And if you climb up the first part of the ramp, you’ll see some miniature Wooden stencils, these just of headless men in jackets, but no legs (see below).

Located at 9 Lea Avenue. That’s the address of the closest business, Emma, which is on the backside of the trolley barns, behind Pinewood Social. City View Apartments, up above, are at 500 Rolling Mill Hill Greenway, off Middleton Street. If you’re at the apartments and can see the Batman Building, head in that direction, keeping near the river. If you are at the Trolley Barns, head away from the Batman Building, towards the big hill next to the river with apartments on it. If you’re coming from below, the two large figures are above where the ramp makes an almost 90-degree turn before heading up. The mini mural is at the place where the ramp makes a U-turn. Parking is problematical in this area, but a lot less so nights and weekends.

October 14, 2019 0

With a Capitol View

It’s been a while since I’ve put any “wild” graffiti on the blog, but this one caught my eye recently and I really like it. That skull in the middle of the tag is common in Nashville graffiti. A good example is the one featured in Staying power. This tag was surprisingly difficult to research because it lies in the midst of a massive development project, Capitol View. Capitol View lies on the north side of the part of Charlotte Avenue that was recently renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, centered on 11th Avenue. When fully finished, it will take up six entire blocks running between MLK Blvd and Clinton Street three blocks north, while bordered by George L. Davis Blvd to the west and the railroad that roughly parallels 10th Avenue to the east. And about 10th Avenue – many of us have come to rely on Google Maps to stay up to date, but as of this writing it very much isn’t, (but it might be by the time you click that) and I could not make what I remember seeing jibe with the map. At one time, Gay Street crossed 10th Avenue and went under a railroad bridge to connect to a large, decrepit parking lot. That lot is now “Building E” of Capitol View and has a big sign on it that says “500,” as it’s official address is 500 11th Avenue. And the stretch of 10th that used to run between Nelson Merry Street and Lifeway Plaza? It’s been turned into an almost-finished park, that according to Capitol View’s Master Plan, will apparently be open to the public and linked to the greenway system. To get it, you have to go under the bridge, right where this graffiti is. Which means this graffiti probably counts as endangered art. Check it out soon.

UPDATED: This has been painted over.

Located just east of 500 11th Avenue. There is a driveway that runs between Lifeway Plaza and Nelson Merry and parallels the railroad, and the underpass where this is found is right in the middle of that stretch. There is an entrance to a parking garage right in front of it where you should able to park as a visitor for short periods of time.

October 2, 2019 0

Tattoos of Shed

Some people like their photo taken with wings, but there are undoubtedly some folks who would prefer a couple of heavily muscled tattooed arms in their picture. This three-month-old mural by Tara Marie Aversa (also known as Tarabella Aversa) has those people covered. It’s an appropriate mural for a fitness center. Shed Group Fitness is actually a chain, though four of its seven locations are in Nashville, including the one in Germantown, where this mural is found. While spare compared to some of Aversa’s other murals, these tattooed arms contain a few of the flowers characteristic of much of her work. There are also some traditional tattoo subjects, like birds, knives and mottos – “Keep Goin” and “Stronger Harder Every Day.” But how many people have tattoos of a cassette tape? No doubt someone does. This isn’t the only mural of flexing arms in town. Put up your dukes! by Rachel Deeb is found on the side of the Church Street branch of Title Boxing Club near Elliston Place. Those are also tattooed, but not surprisingly, also have boxing gloves on.

Located at 85 Van Buren St, at the corner with Adams Street in a building Shed shares with O-Ku Suhi Nashville. The mural is on the west side of the building, facing a large parking lot. The Cumberland River Greenway is on the other side of the lot. The lot is a pay lot – there is some street parking on Van Buren and Adams. Get your sweat on and enjoy the art!

September 30, 2019 1

The Cumberland Greenway Cluster (Part 1, Bearded Iris Brewing)

It helps to drive around. Keep going down that road, you might find something. The art along the Cumberland River Greenway between Van Buren and Taylor is no surprise to anyone who uses that greenway, but no doubt far less known to everyone else, other than the patrons and employees of the businesses nearby. Although very close to downtown and to the development in Germantown, this is an industrial area with roads that dead end at the river, so not a lot of traffic. Along this stretch of the greenway, all of the buildings have something on them, and it’s fairly easy to divide it up given the different styles. The backside of Bearded Iris Brewery stands out as the most detailed and elaborate installation. And look, it’s signed! These are names associated with the TM crew, with a giant logo at the far north end, and the MFK crew, which is prominently tagged nearby. An interview with Paser reveals, by the way, that I deciphered UH wrong in a previous post – it’s Urban Heroes. I’ll have to go back and do some updating! We also see Rex2 (Bryan Deese) whose shown up a lot on this blog. I also include the Bearded Iris logo, featured prominently on the other (west) side of the building.

Located on the Cumberland River Greenway between Taylor Street and Van Buren Street. Bearded Iris Brewing is at 101 Van Buren. The graffiti mural is on the back (east) side of the brewery. Lots of parking there, and given the quiet nature of the area, street parking is fairly easy. Grab a beer, or go for a walk or a ride, and enjoy the art.

January 24, 2017 0

Tunnel of art

You know what doesn’t work well when sweat from your forehead pours on it? iPhones don’t. I took these on a July bike ride, and it wasn’t easy!

There is both official and unofficial public art along Nashville’s greenways; this falls in the official category. And the recent category, too, as these murals went up on both ends of the Two Rivers Tunnel in May. Dante Bard and Troy Duff produced these murals as part of Metro Arts THRIVE project. The one above is at the east end of the tunnel and is Duff’s work; Bard’s work below is on the west end.

Located on the stretch of greenway that links the Shelby Bottoms greenway to the Stone River Greenway, under the Briley Parkway between the Two Rivers water park and the Cumberland pedestrian bridge. Park at the water park and walk north up the greenway, or grab a bike and zip past them as you fly by. Just remember to yield to pedestrians! “On your left!”

July 31, 2016 0

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