The finery campus art program

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<h4>THE ARTIST</h4>
<h3>I Saw The Sign &amp; Meghan Wood</h3>
<p>I Saw The Sign is a local creative studio that specializes in hand painted murals and signage. Their work can be seen across the city, having painted over 300 signs and murals in the Nashville area and beyond.</p>


The Finery parking garage mural, How We Come Together, was designed and painted by I Saw The Sign. The concept for this mural was created by Meghan Wood.

<h4>the art</h4>
<p>The Finery parking garage mural, How We Come Together, was designed and painted by I Saw The Sign.</p>
<p>The concept for this mural was created by Meghan Wood, the owner and lead designer for I Saw The Sign. Meghan worked with the teams at Hines, Hastings Architecture and Red Arrow Gallery to develop and design a mural that would encapsulate the strength, integrity and vision of the Wedgewood Houston community. Because of the size and the positioning of the mural in the heart of WEHO, this project felt like a perfect opportunity to honor the neighborhood&#8217;s two most profound legacies : creativity and community. As a result, a parking garage that would otherwise have added nothing to the visual landscape, was transformed into a piece of art that depicts a straightforward and honest expression of togetherness. Meghan wanted this message to be clear and uncomplicated. This drove her decision to depict the figures in the scene as simply as possible, as well as to match the background to the color of the sky, so that on a clear day, everything disappears except a circle of giants standing together holding hands in the heart of WEHO.</p>
<p>It took I Saw The Sign 8 weeks, 4 people, 360&#8242; of swing stage scaffolding, and over 100 gallons of paint to complete the 12,295 square foot mural.</p>


The Finery Parking Garage

How We Come Together

<h4>THE ARTIST</h4>
<h3>Ryan Schemmel &amp; Joshua Cooper (Fort Houston), Maggie Sanger, Betsy Littrell, Nicholas Georgiou, Ray Sumler</h3>
<p>Fort Houston did not build Wedgewood-Houston. Nor did they brand it WeHo, nor the &#8220;makerhood.&#8221; Fort Houston set out to create visibility around its space, members, and &#8220;makers&#8221; making stuff with their hands. Their presence in Wedgewood-Houston and the May Hosiery Building simply exposed what had been going on there for many, many years: artists doing radical things behind closed doors.</p>


In 2019, CORE partnered with Hines and announced a live-work, mixed-use property in the neighborhood.

<h4>the art</h4>
<p>In 2019, CORE partnered with Hines and announced a live-work, mixed-use property in the neighborhood. Fort Houston decided the property, known as The Finery, was fit for a gamble on a giant statement piece.</p>
<p>Inside the Fort, Joshua Cooper, co-founder of Fort Houston, and Nicholas Georgiou, a designer and artist, were designing and fabricating various pieces for clients across the Southeast. On the Fort&#8217;s front desk sat a scale model version of hands that the Fort Houston crew always dreamed of making&#8230; bigger. So, that&#8217;s exactly what they did.</p>
<p>From late 2018 and into 2019, fabrication began on The Hands &#8211; a metal interior frame and foam, the bones of the sculpture. Along the way, a few people were imperative to the creation of The Hands. Betsy Littrell was brought on board to help conceptualize, project manage, and oversee the feasibility of the 17&#8242; tall hands. An amazing visual artist and designer, Maggie Sanger, worked closely with Hastings Architecture &amp; The Finery to create a composite that not only reinforced the narrative but complemented the surrounding environment. Her colors and patterns helped solidify a quilt like composition, capturing the spirit of the neighborhood.</p>
<p>Simply put, the neighborhood was built by hand for people who work with their hands. Sometimes it felt like artists in Wedgewood-Houston were guiding the conversation for art and development, and other times it simply felt out of their hands. These Hands embody that feeling, and they are a gift to the neighborhood &#8211; out of our hands and into theirs.</p>


 The Finery Plaza

Out of Our Hands

<h4>THE ARTIST</h4>
<h3>Brian Wooden</h3>
<p>Brian Wooden is a local artist who has been known for his large-scale ‘street art’ for the past few years. He explores a sort of ‘literal, modern cubism’, taking familiar motifs and breaking them down to the parts that he finds most exciting, and putting them back together in a sort of stream of the consciousness type method. Brian has other public large-scale pieces within the Wedgewood Houston neighborhood.</p>


“My goal with this piece was to continue and explore the concept of “play” as I have with many of my designs within this body of work.

<h4>the art</h4>
<p>My goal with this piece was to continue and explore the concept of “play” as I have with many of my designs within this body of work. This was fitting for this space since the concept of play correlates directly with sports as well. I wanted to convey a sense of chaos and movement as if the entire piece was vibrating. Given my background in animation, I often like to incorporate a feeling of movement in my designs. The decision was made to keep the raw concrete texture in the background to contrast the bright colors and bold black outlines. The piece was sketched out by hand on a smaller scale, and then painted using spray cans while on a scissor lift over the course of 1 week.</p>


The Finery Basketball Court

Play

<h4>THE ARTIST</h4>
<h3>Duncan McDaniel</h3>
<p>Duncan McDaniel graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2006. Since then, Duncan has embarked on a creative journey covering a wide range through the avenues of painting, drawing, public art and site-specific installations. Duncan has exhibited in public collections and galleries nationally, but now you can find him in Nashville, TN living and working alongside his wife and two daughters.</p>


Analog Twist is an acrylic sequence of color that twists through space celebrating the full spectrum in a 90-degree rotation of a square.

<h4>the art</h4>
<p>Analog Twist is an acrylic sequence of color that twists through space celebrating the full spectrum in a 90-degree rotation of a square. Each suspended panel has a thin layer of translucent acrylic paint hand mixed and applied in a single stroke by the artist. The sculpture is made up of 120 individually painted and suspended acrylic panels. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German poet said, “Music is liquid architecture, architecture is frozen music”. It’s best to think of this sculpture hanging somewhere in-between these two realms.</p>


T3 Lobby

Analog Twist

<h4>THE ARTIST</h4>
<h3>Violet Hill</h3>


The intention of this mural was to capture the diverse and vibrant culture of the surrounding neighborhood. Wedgewood Houston—as well as Nashville at large—have both experienced extreme growth and development over the past few years.

<h4>the art</h4>
<p>The intention of this mural was to capture the diverse and vibrant culture of the surrounding neighborhood. Wedgewood Houston—as well as Nashville at large—have both experienced extreme growth and development over the past few years. To plant roots or maintain a sense of belonging in a place that is changing at such a rapid pace is not an easy task. I wanted this piece to serve as a reminder that no matter how the landscape of our neighborhoods change over the years, it’s always the people that remain the most foundational element. My hope with this piece is that every person either living here or passing by can see themselves represented and feel like they belong. I want everyone to see glimmers of their friends, families, and neighbors and remember the importance of connection. To recognize that we are all living our own incredibly complicated, imperfect and yet indescribably beautiful lives alongside one another. To shift away from fixating on differences as a source of tension, when ideally, it’s our differences that allow us to complete and empower one another. My hope is for each of us to be conscious of our own essential role in forming the culture that surrounds us—to realize that it takes all kinds, and our differences are what make us whole.</p>
<p>Although it was clear early on that this mural would capture a series of portraits, the design went through many iterations before landing on the final mural you see captured. Within these iterations were variations on scale, repetition, contrast and detail. I wanted each of the faces to be large enough to be seen well from a distance and to achieve a dramatic sense of scale up close. The faces also needed to be small enough to fit around all the doors, corners and other architectural constraints on the wall. When sketching, I started by filling in the open spaces with front-facing portraits then utilized profile views of people to fill in the spaces in-between. To represent and celebrate the diverse nature of humanity, I referenced as many ages, genders, ethnicities, and styles as the wall could comfortably fit. The decision to make all the expression&#8217;s neutral was a conscious one. In a lively neighborhood full of restaurants, bars and loud conversations, I wanted this piece to act as a moment of quiet—a place where you don’t have to perform, where all thoughts and emotions are welcome, where you can sit with your own thoughts and reflect on your own experience. After finalizing the design, the actual sketching and painting of the mural took a total of 4 weeks. I worked about 7–8-hour days, 6-7 days a week until the mural was complete.</p>


T3 Exterior

All Kinds

T3 Wedgewood Houston was built on the old Kirby Welding Company site, where this crane was operational from the early 1900s to early 2000s.

<h4>the art</h4>
<p>T3 Wedgewood Houston was built on the old Kirby Welding Company site, where this crane was operational from the 1940s to early 2000s. The crane was salvaged from demolition, and in collaboration with the neighborhood and city of Nashville it was designed to frame the new pedestrian crosswalk which helps mark the areas transition from its past as a hub for light-industry into the walkable, urban environment that the neighborhood is today.</p>


The Finery Parking Garage

How We Come Together

The Finery Plaza

Out of Our Hands

The Finery Basketball Court

Play

T3 Lobby

Analog Twist

T3 Exterior

All Kinds

T3 Entrance

Kirby Welding Crane

THE FINERY CAMPUS

T3 & FINERY CAMPUS ART PROGRAM

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