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Murals

An invitation

Balloons mural street art Nashville

Part of what drives the mural explosion in Nashville is social media. To be more precise, business owners are increasingly aware that having a mural on their building is an invitation for people, tourists mainly, to have their picture taken with the art and hopefully check in on Instagram or Facebook. Even if they don’t, the art drives foot traffic. Some murals are specifically designed for this. Note the work of Kelsey Montague. She does murals all over the world meant as selfie bait. Her original wings mural in the Gulch draws long lines, and the newer, temporary one was an instant sensation. The owners of the East Nashville branch of BoomBozz, a beer and pizza joint recently installed in the old church at Russell and 10th Streets, understand this dynamic. Thus this Mobe Oner piece on the back corner of the building. Who doesn’t want their picture with these balloons? If it helps sell pizza, all the better. (There’s more Mobe Oner art inside, but this is an outdoor art blog.)

Located at 1003 Russell Street. There is street parking nearby, but it can be hard to come by. A pay lot is nearby, across the street. Grab some grub (and a selfie!) and enjoy the art.

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The Nations Wall – Part 3

Rebel mural street art Nashville

This is the third in the series on The Nations Wall, a massive set of murals on the west-facing wall of Music City Tents and Events, organized by the Nashville Walls Project. It’s the third piece going from left to right (roughly north to south), and it’s by the artist who goes by TheRebelAtLarge. From some photos on his Instagram account of him doing the mural I know that the whole message is “Moving Together as One.” Either the paint can or the raised thumbs represents “one.” A Nashville skyline can be seen in the can’s sunglasses, and on the top of the can you can see the word “chulo.” “Chulo” generally means things like pretty, fancy, fashionable, or hot, but it means a lot of other things too, depending on where you are from.  Hey, that’s definitely a tricked-out spraypaint can! ¡Muy chulo!

Images of the entire wall with all the murals together can be found in Part 1.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

Located at 5901 California Ave, Nashville, TN 37209. The murals actually face the 1300 and 1400 block of 60th Avenue North, across from the intersection with Pennsylvania Avenue. Street parking is possible nearby.

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Hear now this!

Religious mural street art Nashville

 

The artist who goes by jamersonsgc and signs all his work #lowkeyart has been busy of late. You’ll see on his Instagram page linked above a lot of new work in an around the J.C. Napier Homes, and along the Lafayette/Murfreesboro Pike corridor. This home, found at the corner of Cannon and Claiborne Streets, on the southeast of the Napier complex, is an older work. The whole house is covered, primarily with religious themes. On the front, he quotes both Jeremiah 5:21 (thus the title of this post) and the gospel tune “Open our Eyes.” Here it is by The Gospel Chiefs, Earth Wind & Fire, and Funkadelic. There’s a Christ figure on one side, a giant “ELOHIM” on the other, and the apple and serpent in the garden on the back. The house itself is in bad shape. While gentrification is coming slowly to this neighborhood, this still should be considered endangered art. At the rate this artist is going, there will be plenty to replace it soon should it go.

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Located at 71 Cannon Street. There is street parking available. The house appears unoccupied, but still, be respectful.

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Stratus skyline

Skyline mural street art Nashville

This lovely skyline with a bit of a watercolor vibe stretches the “public art” definition a little bit. It can be seen from Antioch Pike, but it’s definitely blink-or-you-miss-it. It’s found on the training center of the Nashville branch of Stratus Building Solutions, which bills itself as “leading the way in health and environmentally conscious commercial cleaning services.” It’s by Hannah Holgate, an artist who also is the Frame Shop manager at Jerry’s Artarama on Main Street (where she partnered with Marshall Hall to produce the mural on the facade of the art store, which I’ll post about later). She says it’s her first solo mural, which makes it a pretty good start! Hopefully, she will be doing more murals in the future.

Located at 2123 Antioch Pike. It’s located on a building behind the main building you see from the road, facing approximately north. There is parking here, but this is also a working business so you might want to ask politely before driving around to the back, particularly on a work day.

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The Nations Wall – Part 2

Horse mural street art Nashville

This is the second in the series on The Nations Wall, a massive set of murals on the west-facing wall of Music City Tents and Events, organized by the Nashville Walls Project. This is the second piece going from left to right (roughly north to south), and it’s by Herb Williams. Brightly striped animals are something of a theme of his, as seen in Back with a kick and Guitars and automobiles. He’s also known for sculptures and wall hangings made out of crayons. You can see some of those at The Rymer Gallery on 5th Ave. (Why didn’t I crop the picture to isolate the mural? Blame Facebook’s cropping of shared images.)

Images of the entire wall with all the murals together can be found in Part 1.

Part 1 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

Located at 5901 California Ave, Nashville, TN 37209. The murals actually face the 1300 and 1400 block of 60th Avenue North, across from the intersection with Pennsylvania Avenue. Street parking is possible nearby.

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Nashville Spring Service

Spring Sign mural street art Nashville

Since 1943, Nashville Spring Service has been meeting all your vehicle and trailer spring needs, including, like the sign says, products from Monroe Shocks and Struts. They also provide a lot of other services, like cabinets and shelving. For most of those years, they’ve been in a red-brick building with the official address of 621 Eight Avenue South, but which lies on the corner of 9th Avenue South and “Litte” Division Street (Just one block north of Eight and Division there is a block-long stretch of road also called Division Street.) They have moved, however, to 216 Omohundro Place, an industrial area more in keeping with their work, unlike the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood they leave behind. The old building is for sale. That puts this sign in danger. This type of sign used to be common in Nashville, and you can still find a few of them around, but by and large, they disappear when the business does (or when the building is torn down.) Some new businesses save the old signs, but that’s rare.  So as this blog is meant in part as an archive, I want to document it while it still exists. I found a picture on Google Maps of a three-dimensional sign that used to be here as well (see below) but I don’t believe it made the move to Omohundro. Keep an eye out for these fossils. They are disappearing.

Spring sign street art Nashville
Photo credit: Kenny Holloway

Located, officially, at 621 Eight Avenue South. It actually faces Ninth, at the corner with “Little” Division Street. Around that corner is some of the only free street parking left in downtown Nashville. Grab it while you still can.

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Ride on

Bike mural street art Nashville

This mural is something of a survivor. It’s the work of Andee Rudloff, who’s done a number of murals and other art around town. It first went up in November 2016 (check that link for a list of several sponsors) on the backside of what used to be Eastside Cycles. The owner of Eastside sold the business early this year (see the pinned post) to MOAB Bikes. Meanwhile, the empty lot next door became Vandyke Bed and Beverage. What had been empty space on the one side of the mural became a wall. Both that wall and the parent building got a paint job, but the mural survived. However, at some point, it was damaged. I have forgotten the circumstances, but sometime last year Rudloff returned to repair the damage. The black and white bicycle rider in the middle covers the damaged area. Below, you can see what the original looked like. Given that the new owners are bike people, maybe this mural can keep rolling one.

Bike mural street art Nashville

Located at 103 South 11th Street, at Five Points. The mural is on the backside of the building, facing the Art and Invention Gallery. There is paid parking right at the mural, but with a bit of luck, you can find free street parking within a block or so.

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