Have you wandered around Memphis and seen a cluster of murals, and wondered who painted them? Well, Paint Memphis is responsible for a lot of the beautiful imagery that’s seen throughout our city. Each year, artists from near and far take to streets to bless parts of the city with their creative touch—and even amidst pandemic, they were able to safely come together to bring some color to what’s felt like a dull year.
Mural by @brittpaintsalot // Mural by @smart_spf & photo by @mikekerrmemphisphoto
This year’s location: The Carriage District downtown, where Grind City Brewing Company is. There are murals on almost every wall covering the whole block, and then some.
This year’s theme: “Togetherness,” which is pretty fitting seeing as the pandemic has brought us together in many ways, even if we have to stay apart.
Artists have been busy at work since mid September, and they’ll be steady at it until October 30. This project will end up being the largest collaborative mural in Tennessee, as if painting the town and beautifying our blank spaces wasn’t already cool enough. If you put all the murals together, they end up covering 30 to 35,000 square feet!
“Unlike other art organizations, we give a palette to those artists and residents who might not ever venture into a gallery or museum,” said Golightly. “We create a different kind of museum, one that is accessible to anyone, regardless of socio-economic class, transportation, location, and without any sense of intimidation,” said Paint Memphis Director, Karen Golightly.
Paint Memphis is even somewhat of a family affair! There is a documentary in the works that follows along the process of Paint Memphis coming all together filmed by Golightly’s kids, Bella and Finn.
Make sure you come down to the Carriage District at the end of October, and check out the gallery of art created in our very own city. Artists will be busy working up until then, and there will also be merch like shirts, stickers, masks, and more on sale for purchase to support them.
