Nashville Scene

Public Art Festival Artville Announces Lineup

The three-day event is slated for Sept. 29-Oct. 1 and will feature Andres Bustamante, Lindsy Davis, Brett Douglas Hunter, Bryce McCloud and more.

The folks behind some of the city’s favorite festivals — Nashville Pride, Tomato Art Fest and OUTLOUD Music Festival among them — have set their sights on the visual arts.

Good Neighbor Festivals has announced its first public art festival, called Artville. It will take place Sept. 29 through Oct. 1, and will be free and open to the public.

Public art is a tough nut to crack. Longtime New York art critic Jerry Saltz has famously said that 90 percent of public art is bad, and Nashville’s public-art track record — murals and all — isn’t threatening to challenge that assessment anytime soon. But what Artville has going for it is a reliance on some of the area’s best artists instead of publicly accountable arts commissions or real estate developers. What that means is simple — it could be really good.

The just-announced roster of Nashville-based artists whose public art will be part of Artville include — Andres Bustamante, Lindsy Davis, Troy Duff, Rachel Hayes, Brett Douglas Hunter, Alex Lockwood, Bryce McCloud, Beth Reitmeier, Kit Reuther, Camilla Spadafino, Vadis Turner, Yanira Vissepo and Herb Williams. A solid list of luminaries!

What’s more, a mural project called Artville Walls will feature works and murals by Jeremiah Britton, Joe Geis, Violet Hill, Meg Pollard, Xavier Payne, Maggie Sanger and Brian Wooden. 

Visit artville.org to learn more, and follow the fest on Instagram to stay up-to-date on announcements. We’ll see you there.