The largest art project in the history of the city, Knox Walls at Emory Place is currently wrapping up and will be unveiled at Emory Place (behind the northwestern row of buildings) at next Friday’s First Friday Art Walk. You’ll want to make the effort to make it to Emory Place and check it out. The spot has already become an art/design destination, and the new permanent exhibition will only add to what Lilienthal Gallery, Pivot Point Gallery, Design A.F., and the nearby Artisan Woodworking and Design Gallery have started.
We’ve become accustomed to beautiful and interesting murals dotting the city thanks largely to the fact that Dogwood Arts has commissioned over fifty murals in Downtown Knoxville since starting the Art in Public Places Mural Program in 2019. This project, as Monty Python might say, is “something completely different.
Funded by a group including Dogwood Arts, Visit Knoxville, Lilienthal Gallery, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and ORNL Federal Credit Union, there is nothing of this scale anywhere else in the city. Property owners Ilana Brodt and Johnny & Libby Harb offered their buildings for use, while Ken Knight and the Crowne Plaza served as host hotel for the artists who traveled to Knoxville to complete their work.
The host hotel was necessary because most of the artists represented live elsewhere and were selected because of the excellence of their past work. The internationally known award-winning artists have massive followings and were selected from over ninety submissions. Four local artists joined the nine who traveled here to work, offering connections for the artists while working overlapping schedules. The concentration of murals, as well as the scale — several of the works are two stories tall — make this enclosed area an entirely new, immersive experience. The total coverage area of the murals tops 7,000 square feet.
The first work visible from Central Street is Pat Perry’s 1,100 square foot work featuring pictures of women, as if in a scape book of a family’s matriarchs. The prompt given the artist was “divas” and each of them, as you might imagine, pursued very different takes on the topic. Some chose family members, other icons like Pat Summitt, and others took extended the interpretation to include men or nature. It’s interesting to look at the exhibition, think of the theme, and imagine the thread in the artists’ heads to the final product.
I spoke with Curtis Glover, a local muralist, about his thoughts on the art project. His work isn’t pictured here because he’s been busy with a major project in Townsend and got a late start. It should be ready for viewing on the 4th. He said the murals are intended to be around for a long time and have a UV protection coating that “keeps the colors richer for years.” He said the stellar lineup of artists would not have been possible without the funding provided. He added that while some of his and other muralists work is simply for the artistry, that doesn’t pay the bills, and this kind of effort helps.
Not only does the project support artists, but he also feels murals make a statement about a city and its commitment to culture. “A presence of street art or mural work that makes you turn your head in traffic, makes you realize there is a renaissance of public art. If you go to any big city there is an arts district . . . and there isn’t a concentration here. When you get patches of things like this it shows you a city is developing culturally and there are people out there who have something to say with a brush or a spray can and they’re allowed to do so. It makes the city feel bigger.”
He hopes it continues to spread. “It shows you what public art is capable of. Maybe it inspires people to seek out more public art.” He thinks it’s not only good for the arts, but with increased foot traffic to see the art, people support restaurants and other businesses in the area.” He thinks word will spread about the new project and people will want to see it.
Participating artists include: Orel Brodt (Knoxville, TN), ARCY – Ryan Christenson (North Haven, CT), Cole Eisenhour (Ogden, UT), Detour – Thomas Evans (Denver, CO), Curtis Glover (Knoxville, TN), Naomi Haverland (Titusville, FL), Megan Lingerfelt (Oak Ridge, TN), Gared Luquet (Knoxville, TN), Pat Perry (Detroit, MI), Juan Rozas (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Miami, FL), Don Rimx – David Sepulveda (Puerto Rico/Orlando, FL), The Obanoth – Hannah Webb (Los Angeles, CA), and Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith (Oakland, CA).
Find out more about the project here and more about each artist (with links to their sites) here. And be sure to mark October 4 on your calendar and see these amazing works for yourself, as well as others I’ll preview later, inside Lilienthal Gallery. I promise the photographs do not do the experience justice.