#thenations Archives - nashville public art

#thenations

Kobe and Gianna Bryant (The Nations)

There are now at least three Kobe Bryant memorial murals in town – the ones featured in Strength and mourning and Kobe Bryant (Nolensville Pike), and also this one, by Olasubomi Aka-Bashorun, at the branch of Red Bicycle Coffee on 51st Avenue. Like the Nolensville one (by José Fernando Vargas), it also features Gianna Bryant, Kobe’s daughter, who was one of the seven other people killed in that January helicopter crash. Also, like the Nolensville piece, this one features a quotation from Bryant. There’s also a wide geographic dispersal of the three, with one at Lafayette and 2nd close to the city’s inner core, another well south near Nolensville and Harding, and this one on the west side of town in The Nations, at Red Bicycle. It’s interesting that of all the celebrity deaths, this one has inspired so much art in Nashville.

Aka-Bashorun’s work should be familiar to anyone who has participated in the Downtown First Saturday Art Crawl. His gallery, DBO Gallery, which features his work and that of others, is in The Nashville Arcade, where many galleries featured in the crawl are found. One his Instagram page, you can watch a time-lapse video of him creating this mural.

Located at 712 51st Avenue North. The mural is on the north side of the building, facing Indiana Avenue. Red Bicycle has some parking, and a little further east on Indiana, there is street parking available. The strip of parking across the street from the mural is private.

August 12, 2020 0

Dolly Parton in The Nations

One of the most prolific mural artists in town is Bryan Deese. For some time, he has been maintaining a wall at the Stop-N-Shop on 51st Avenue, putting up a series of murals, primarily ones promoting concerts. By definition, they are temporary. Back in March, Deese put up a new mural on the wall that may turn out to be a little more permanent, not the least because not many bands have concerts to promote these days. It is of course of Dolly Parton, and it is sponsored by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. It seems to have been based on a 1977 promotional photo, seen here on her song-list page on Wikipedia. Parton frequently uses flower motifs and is often seen with one in her hair, which may have inspired the halo of flowers. It’s a popular mural, and I’ve seen it many places on social media. Hopefully, it has some staying power.

Located at 5100 Indiana Avenue, at the corner with 51st Avenue North. The mural faces east towards 51st. Street parking and parking at the Stop-N-Shop are readily available.

July 25, 2020 0

ABLE

Back last July, a new mural appeared in the Stocking 51 development. It promotes the nearby fashion store found in that complex, ABLE. ABLE employs low-income women from around the world, seeking to help them achieve a living wage and a measure of independence. Some of their work, notably their jewelry, is made by women here in Nashville, while other products, including leather goods and clothing, are made by their partners abroad. The mural naturally features women and the company’s motto “She’s worth more.” It’s by Sarah Liz Tate, a Nashville illustrator who appeared on this blog a month ago for her Crieve Hall mural, which is actually more recent than the ABLE mural. On Tate’s Instagram page, you can see some shots of the mural when it was half done. This mural does replace another mural by Chloé Meyer, which was a mural based on her winning 2018 entry in Georges Debouef wines annual contest for the art that will be on their label for the most recent vintage of Debouef Beaujolais Nouveau. All art is ephemeral, so perhaps it’s short life is appropriate for a mural honoring such an ephemeral wine.

On a happier note, Tate got married last weekend. Mazel tov!

Located at 5026 Centennial Boulevard. There’s parking there and along 51st Avenue North, though it can be tough, particularly around lunchtime.

March 18, 2020 0

Nation’s Wall – Part 10

This is the tenth and last 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 tenth piece going from left to right (roughly north to south), and thus also the one the far right. This last one is by Emily Elizabeth Miller, an artist known for doing mixed-media murals, where part of the mural is painted, generally the background, while another part, often the central and main theme, is a paper drawing plastered on to the painted backdrop. She also does installations that are just the paper drawing. Naturally, this leads to a gradual decay of the paper as it is exposed to the weather and sunlight, meaning the mural is also inherently dynamic. The picture above was taken when the installation was about a year old. This picture from Miller’s Instagram feed gives you a sense of what it looked like new. While it seems to be fairly resilient, if you want to get your photo with the elephant, you might want to go soon!

Again, this is the last in this series, as there are no more murals to chronicle from this project. Images of the entire wall with all the murals together can be found in Part 1.

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

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.

July 10, 2019 0

Nations Wall – Part 9

This is the ninth 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 ninth piece going from left to right (roughly north to south). This one is by Mobe Oner, aka Eric Bass, a prolific Nashville muralist. I first saw this image not as a giant mural, but as an oil painting at the Rymer Gallery, when they did a show of Nashville muralists. That painting, called “Fireflies,” can be yours for $3000 (scroll down a bit).

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

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

June 26, 2019 0

Nations Wall – Part 8

This is the eighth 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 eighth piece going from left to right (roughly north to south). This particular piece is by Folek Kelof (or just “Folek”), a fairly prolific local muralist with a diverse range. He says on Instagram about this particular mural:

These are my hands….. they’re constantly injured and dirty. They don’t look normal for a reason.

That’s also his signature in white repeated over and over across the mural. No wonder his hands are beaten up!

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

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

June 12, 2019 0

Nations Wall – Part 7

This is the seventh 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 seventh piece going from left to right (roughly north to south). The Nashville Walls project credits Eshor for this mural. While there seems to be no website or social media associated with that name, the hashtag #eshor on Instagram has a number of images you can explore. The lower tag is “Venser.” (I chose this partially blocked view of that tag for the featured photo because of the way Facebook crops shared links. See a full, angled view below.) This doesn’t seem to correspond to any of the artists that the Nashville Walls Project credited. Searching #venser on Instagram produces some similar tags and at least one other example of the two tags together (see the fourth photo in that set), but rare enough that I assume they are by two different people.