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An icon under the bridge, a revision

Tupac Shakur mural street art Nashville

I have featured the wall under the Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Boulevard overpass on Herman Street twice before. Originally, it was when the first image on the wall appeared, a portrait of Jimi Hendrix that I featured in a very early post to this blog, An icon under the bridge. That piece was done by Dough Joe of Norf Studios. Later, Norf Studios added two more portraits of Nikki Giovanni and Miles Davis, which I featured in An icon under the bridge, revisited. Now a fourth portrait has appeared, of Tupac Shakur. This is not a Norf Studios piece, but one by JamersonSGC, who frequently signs his work “Low Key Art.” You can see all the portraits together below, and the tag “Mr. Woo,” which I’ve seen in a couple places not far from this wall. If there is any further activity on this wall, I will be sure to keep everyone posted.

Icons mural street art Nashville

Located below the Dr. D. B. Todd Jr. Boulevard overpass on Herman Street, between 18th and 19th Avenues. There is street parking on these streets. Your best bet is probably 18th. Just south of this bridge you’ll find a lot of mural and graffiti art.

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The present is a gift (Norf Wall gallery part 12)

Donahue

I have almost finished documenting the many murals at the old tire factory at 19th and Herman. (To learn about how these murals came to be, see Part 1.) One thing I’ve learned – avoid if at all possible multi-part posts! Most of what I have not documented in this series either appeared relatively recently (which I will deal with separately) or I have no idea who the artist is (which I’ll handle in one post wrapping up this series). I do of course know who did this one, as it signed by an artist who has already been on this blog before a few times, Tennesse State University art professor Brandon Donahue.  I should note that since these murals first went up, a lot of materials have been stacked up in the yard where many of them are found, so it can be difficult to see them. The picture here is imperfect, because a car blocked the original shot, but getting a better photo would be near impossible today. It’s still a sight worth visiting, but don’t expect all the murals to be fully visible. See the pin for Part 1 on the map.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 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 to see here, and also a lot of overgrown weeds (depending on the time of year) so wear the right shoes!

10

If you’re left alone

Sleeping girl mural street art Nashville

Entropy is real. All things eventually decay, all information is eventually lost, all art goes away. But sometimes it’s a little hard to take. I first saw this Norf Art Collective piece at 16th and Buchanan back in November. It was late in the day, and the shadows were long, and I didn’t think the light did the piece proper justice, so I put the photos in my “Needs to be reshot” file and made vague plans to shoot it again. Today was overcast, and I thought I’d try again. At first, unable to find it, I thought I had forgotten where it was. But then I realized I did remember where it was. It’s just that this entire wall and all the doors are now painted white. Sometime since November, whoever owns this building decided that a blank white space was better than this piece. I can’t imagine how that could be, but so it goes. I’m glad I have these pictures, that, after playing with filters, I think will give you a good idea of what used to be. The title of this post comes from the text on the right – see below.

 

Located (in the past) at 1510 Buchanan Street. There’s plenty of free street parking in this neighborhood, and some other art worth seeing on both Buchanan and Dr. D. B. Todd Blvd.

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Perseverance

Perseverence.jpg

Or at least that’s what the dedicatory plaque calls it. But on the Norf Art Collective’s project page for this mural, it’s called “Family Matters.” No matter, it’s rather impressive either way. Put up last November, it honors Diane Nash, Curlie McGruder, Z. Alexander Looby, and John Lewis. I let the Tenessee Tribune explain who they are:

Curlie McGruder was a tremendous supporter of Nash and Lewis as they led the desegregation of Nashville lunch counters with sit-ins and organized the “Freedom Rides” in the Jim Crow South. E. Alexander Looby was a lawyer and in this capacity he protected many Civil Rights activists…John Lewis was a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement and has recently toured the United States speaking about his experience and the changes he played a part in making.

The small plaque on the right side dedicates the mural to Rev. Bill Barnes, a longtime affordable housing advocate who died just a few months before the mural went up. It’s fitting then that the mural is found on the side of an Urban Housing Solutions property, a private non-profit that builds and administers affordable housing. The mural is yet another project sponsored by the local office of Google Fiber.

There’s a video from the Norf Art Collective page showing the mural going up.

Located at 2615 Clarksville Pike. The mural is located on the Northwest side of the building. There is a fair amount of parking behind the building and much more at a small shopping complex across and south a bit the street on 26th Avenue. People live here, so be respectful.

 

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Heroes (Norf Wall gallery, part 11)

Heroes

Someday I will finish the Norf Wall gallery project. I had thought to just do one big post on everything that’s left, but I think I’ll save that for the ones I don’t know the artist and which have things stacked in front so the pictures aren’t great. This is not one of those. It’s signed “TA” and is obviously the work of Thaxton Waters, who first appeared in this blog in A Soul Break. The main panel includes images of Mahatma Gandhi, the Dali Lama, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. The last one really looks like Etta James to me, who would not be out of place given her role in bridging white and black culture.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 12

Located about half about half a block south of where 18th Ave North dead ends into Herman Street, and under Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Boulevard. Parking is very easy here. The tire company that occupies this space seems to be fine with people exploring to view the art. See the map post for Part 1.

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Run and don’t ever stop

RudolpTempleMural

The blog has been quiet for a few days because of holiday madness. (Your intrepid blogger threw a very big party.) This Jefferson street mural has no label, but it’s no trouble to recognize the artist or the subject matter. This is a Yusef Hubb piece, who goes by Dough Joe and is a member of the Norf Collective. And that, of course, is Coach Ed Temple encouraging Wilma Rudolph to run, run, run. Temple was the legendary track coach at Tennesee State University, where among his many accomplishments he coached Rudolph as she prepared for her record-setting gold medal performance at the 1960 Olympics. There is a big statue honoring Rudolph at TSU. There’s one of Temple at First Tennessee Park that is not yet on the blog. Temple died this September. The mural serves as a memorial to him and Rudolph, who died in 1994.

WilmaRudolph

EdTemple

Located at 1022 Jefferson Street, on the west side of the Jefferson Street Sports Bar building. There is parking behind the bar and at nearby businesses. The nearest street parking is across Jefferson on Warren Street.

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Wake up! And have some pizza!

Slim and Husky's Wake Up

Slim & Husky’s is the happening new pizza joint on Buchanan Street. Seriously, go there off hours if you can, because long lines are common. The pizzeria is owned by neighborhood locals who are trying to be part of a revitalization of the neighborhood, but the restaurant is also symbolic to some extent of the gentrification that is changing the neighborhood. So the Dough Joe piece has a certain resonance. Dough Joe (also known as Yusef Hubb, aka Joseph Love III) has chosen for his topic the final scene in School Daze where the activist Dap (Laurence Fishburn) clangs the bell on the quad calling out the entire community to, well, “Wake up!” I don’t know who designed the restaurant logo painted on the adjoining wall. Slim & Husky’s website has this to say about the tractor in the logo: “The tractor in our company logo represents our locally sourced ingredients and locally brewed beer. It also signifies the redevelopment of historic North Nashville, something our three founders take great pride in as Nashville natives.”

Slim and Husky's Logo

Located at 911 Buchanan Street. The two murals are in an outdoor seating area that faces Buchanan on the east side of the building. S&H has a fair amount of parking, though it can get full at peak hours. Grab a beer and some pizza and enjoy the art.

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