Street Art in Nashville Tennessee

For the past couple of months the idea of "street art" has been coming at me from all different directions.  I never set out to create it, but it continues to cross my path.  So I've finally wised up and started paying attention.

It all started when I saw the Bansky film, "Exit Through The Gift Shop".  It is described as "the inside story of Street Art - a brutal and revealing account of what happens when fame, money and vandalism collide."

If you haven't seen this movie, then I highly recommend you watch it.  I can honestly say as an artist it changed my life.  It made me look at art and artists in a whole new light. 

I started asking myself the hard kind of questions like why do I make art and what is it's purpose?

Then the very next day after I saw movie a gallery director and friend of mine posted an article about the street art movement in Houston, TX.  It's incredible what artists are doing in the larger cities around the US.  I know nothing like that is going on in Nashville and if we're really serious about being put on the map as an "arts town" I think we need street art.  So I decided to start a movement here, but legally.  Nashvillians just aren't the type to vandalize, but we do come together for the greater good and that's the angle I'm working.

Here's the idea.  As an aspiring singer/songwriter and artist in Nashville it's pretty clear after three years living here that we are hanging around every corner.  So why not capture that with art?  My idea is to use the street art technique of wheatpasting and literally paste graphic images of people playing guitar on the sides of buildings.  It's as simple as that.

I want to bring this community of people together and show through art that our dedication to music and this very difficult career path is being honored and appreciated.  The hard part will be getting permission from property owners, but so far I've already had success and permission granted from the few people I've approached.

The next step will be creating the images.  I've already started photographing guitar players and creating the graphics for the art.  I'm kicking off this project with a small show at Dunn Bros Coffee in downtown Nashville during March and April.  The exhibit will have miniature indoor versions of the art I plan on installing around town.

If you would like to get involved in this project in anyway please contact me at beth@binglishART.com and share your ideas.  I am currently scheduling photo shoots and setting up appointments with local business before the first piece is pasted.