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

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The drops of Saint Stephen

Saint Stephen mural street art Nashville

This work is by the youngest artist I’ve ever featured on this blog, save those murals that were collaborations between adults and children, such as my most recent post. Drew T. Morrison’s website doesn’t give his exact age, but a friend who knows the family tells me that Morrison is eleven or twelve years old. On his website and his Instagram account, you can see he’s already quite accomplished, and also that this piece is much calmer than most of his other work. It’s found in the outdoor seating area of Saint Stephen, the new Germantown restaurant owned by James Beard Award-winning chef RJ Cooper. Before Cooper took over the site, it was home to a restaurant called Mop/Broom. Mop/Broom also had a mural on this wall, by Nathan Brown. I never managed to get it on the blog or even photograph it, but it is preserved on Brown’s Instagram account (that’s a multi-photo post, so be sure to scroll through). A new owner often means new art, that’s not unusual.

Located at 1300 Third Avene North. The mural is in the patio on the back (north) side of the building. Street parking is available, but you might have to walk a block or two.

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The Gold Rush, R.I.P

Gold Rush Mural street art Nashville

News has just come down that The Gold Rush, a fabled bar long=resident at Elliston Place, has closed for good. It’s a bit of a stunner for anyone who knows the history of this neighborhood, but change in Nashville stops for no one. So the fate of the wagon train mural on the back of the building is uncertain. Coincidentally, I got this car-free picture just a week or so before the news broke. Because The Gold Rush’s website and social media is also shuttered, I’ve been unable to really research the origin of this unsigned mural. If anyone knows who made it, drop me a line. Someone has written across the Sun in the mural, “You are not a rock star. Shut up. Be humble.” (see below) I don’t know if that’s original or not. Also in this parking lot, there is a small mural of a marijuana plant on the east side, and on the west, some graffiti art (actually on the wall of The End), at least part of which was done by Troy Duff. There is a small image of a crying cat (?) partially obscured by the graffiti art. In the slideshow below, I’ve included a full version of that image I took some months ago, along with the other art around the parking lot.

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Located at 2205 Elliston Place. The art lies faces the alley behind the bar, on the north side. Most of the nearby parking is either in a pay lot or uses a parking meter.

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Angels and monsters

PresbyFull

The mural that graces the parking lot of the Downtown Presbyterian Church is difficult to photograph, as it faces a narrow lot and there are usually cars parked in front of it. Turns out, Sunday evening on Labor Day weekend is the time to get a clean shot. The work, done in 2007, is by four artists. The giant angel and the billy goat are by John Grider, the long-legged beasts are by Isaac Arvold, the colorful mountain by Drew Peterson, and the geometric “clouds” are by Eric Inkala. The mural indicates that it was made possible by the church and by Twist Art Gallery, which closed a few years ago. Grider has done both the goat and the angel in other places. There are other murals close by, including one that faces this same parking lot I haven’t featured yet.

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Located at 154 5th Ave North. That’s the address of the church. The mural is actually on the side of 415 Church Street. The parking lot is best accessed from the alley that parallels Church Street behind the Presbyterian Church. This is downtown, so lots of parking, virtually none of it free.

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Impermanent, The Nations

MPSouthFull

And the blog is back! How about a whole lot of art to celebrate? Back in April, there was an art show at an old warehouse in The Nations whose only indication of its past is a damaged sign that seems to have once read “Motor Parts.” The show was carried out by Impermanent, which bills itself as “a collective of artists who are displaying their talents in the world of subversive and immersive art within an uninhibiting environment,” and was done in partnership with Nashville Civic Design Center and The Oasis Real Foundation. The show produced art both inside and out at the warehouse. This blog covers outdoor art, but you can see some of the creations inside in this video. Some of the work on the outside features tags associated with the UH crew. There is one piece signed by Brandon Donahue (look for the “inkblot” image that is the second image in the South Wall slideshow below). On the Impermanent website, the orange face above is credited to Sterbo and based on style, the mouse on the south wall and the mouse and head on the north wall appear to be the work of Adam Hale, while the ice cream-colored scene around the orange face fits the style of Kevin Bongang. Presumably, the other artists listed on Impermanent’s Who page (UPDATE: Their website has no longer exists) were also involved in producing the outdoor art. (I really should have gone to this show – I’d be better informed. It must have been laundry night!) Go check it out soon. An abandoned warehouse in the go-go-go real estate market of The Nations won’t last long.

UPDATE: These murals have been painted over.

East Wall, left to right.

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South Wall, left to right.

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West Wall, full, then left to right.

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North Wall, left to right

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Located at 1211 57th Avenue North. Street parking is available.

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The blog pauses

MapofCarib

Your intrepid blogger is taking a bit of a trip, to Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname. So the blog goes on hiatus for a week or so. I’ll be looking for outdoor art while I’m there, of course. You’ll find some of it on my Instagram and Facebook pages. Back soon!

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300 – Map Edition

ArtMap

As of the last posting, That boat has sailed, there are now three hundred marked points where you can (or could) look for art on this blog’s map. Some points actually reference several pieces of art and multiple posts, notably for the Norf Wall and Off the Wall projects. Some of the art, including the one from the last post, no longer exists. I am working on updating the relevant pages. This isn’t just a guide though, it’s also an archive (I am an historian, after all), so I think it’s important to maintain a record of what has come and gone.

I went through all the markers to catch any editing problems. Along the way, I noticed something. Each marker has an image of the art that can be found at that spot. I have become a lot more particular about the photos I use on this blog. Whereas I once tolerated heavy shadows and bad light, I do so no more. I have several images for future posts filed under the heading “needs to be reshot!”

The blog is motoring along as we approach the second anniversary in June. In 2017, 400-700 page views a month was normal. Since January,  1400 has been the norm, peaking with 1675 in March. In all of 2017, there were 7583 page views. As of this posting, there have 6243 for all of 2018 so far, more than double last year’s pace. Still small potatoes, but a healthy growth trajectory. It helps that some posts remain perennially popular. The Kind Way is the reigning champ.

Located on a tab on the menu bar. Look for a new menu tab soonish for artists (though not right away – it’s a slow process and I’m about halfway through).

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An update and a goodbye

HopStopMissed

I’ve been meaning to update Have a beer! A really big beer! for some time, as a new mural was added (above) facing the original, and either I missed the one on the back wall the first time, or it got added later. In any event, the one above is quite appropriate, because unless you get there before close on Wednesday (November 15, 2017), you will have, in fact, missed The Hop Stop, which is set to close for good that night. The new proprietors plan a craft brewery designed to cater to Hop Stop customers. Perhaps then they will only make changes to the name in the three murals, but that remains to be seen. While not signed, these two are presumably the work of Anthony Billups, who did the one featured in “Have a beer!” See the pin for that post on the map.

UPDATE: This has been painted over.

HopStopBack

Located at 2909B and 2913 Gallatin Pike. The mural above is on the south wall of 2913, home of East Tattoo Collective. The one below is on the back, western side of 2909B where The Hop Stop will be located for one more day. Plenty of parking – and some good food and some good beer if you’re really quick!

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