Music City is transforming into Artville in late September.
The free, annual visual arts festival is on the horizon, running Sept. 25 to 27 at Walk of Fame Park. Now, Nashvillians are gearing up to celebrate some of the city's most innovative visual artists.
From public art installations to immersive experiences and contemporary art, Nashville's visual arts scene is growing rapidly.
Murals cover much of the city's walls, neighborhoods like Wedgewood-Houston continue to expand as art epicenters, and the Frist Art Museum regularly showcases local and regional artists.
In honor of the upcoming festival, The Tennessean compiled 10 artists you need to know in Nashville.
Here are the creatives fueling the city's art crawls, experimental scene and museum
spaces.
Marcellus Hammond
Marcellus Hammond is a mixed-media artist who creates chunky, collage-like works focused on identity.
"A lot of my work starts with something that catches me. A person, a place, a memory or just a moment I feel connected to," Hammond said. "I work with painting, fabric, photography and raw texture, often peeling back the surface of an image to explore what lives underneath it."
Hammond, a resident artist at Nashville art hub @arcadeartsnash, recently created a body of work called "Becoming Nashville."
"The city is constantly becoming something new. But so am I, and so are the people living in it," he said. "I think the work is really about paying attention to that change while we’re in the middle of it. And staying curious about what we might find there."
Hammond also plays with elements of augmented reality in some of his pieces, adding QR codes that, once scanned, virtually animate his art.
Kim Radford
Muralist Kim Radford captures Nashville's musical talent in bright, lively hues on the sides of buildings.
Radford is well-known for her iconic mural of Dolly Parton on the exterior wall of East Nashville music venue The 5 Spot.
(Yes, the mural that was vandalized earlier this year. Afterwards, it became clear the individual responsible was experiencing a mental health crisis. The mural has since been repaired. All has been forgiven.)
Radford also regularly paints larger-than-life murals of album covers on the walls of Grimey's New & Preloved Music, celebrating new releases for local and national artists alike.
Keep an eye out for her work — it's all around town.
Jason Brooks A.K.A "Strangehandle"
Jason Brooks, known by his artist name @strangehandle, is known for his elaborate immersive installations.
A Nashville-based software engineer, Brooks combines his tech background with visual art, building moving pieces with projection-mapping, LED lights and more.
Many concertgoers have seen Brooks' piece "Circa•Luna," a permanent kinetic art installation at Nashville venue The Pinnacle made of 36 LaserDiscs. The sculpture's movements are dependent on the phase of the moon.
"It was likely the most ambitious build I'll ever attempt," Brooks said.
"It hopefully taps into some much larger, innate sense of wonder. I think the word 'tech' to most people, in this day and age, does not connote positivity ... the impact it can have when 'used for good' remains largely unexplored."
Caleb McLaughlin AKA drift.prism
Caleb McLaughlin, who collaborated with Brooks on "Circa•Luna," is a new media artist whose work features pulsing, neon lights and mesmerizing prisms.
Under the name drift.prism, he blends technology, mechanical design and tactile sculpture to create interactive art.
"I think of my work as a digital campfire, something mesmerizing that facilitates slower and more thoughtful connection with those you’re with," McLaughlin said. "I think the value of these spaces and experiences will increase as we collectively suffer from more and more screen fatigue."
McLaughlin said he plans to host immersive art parties later this year as he finishes building out a space.
Keavy Murphree
Keavy Murphree is a Nashville-based sculptor who crafts whimsical faces into ceramic forms.
Murphree blends primitive aesthetics with modern design, exploring emotional expression and identity through playful shapes.
She has displayed public art installations through Artville in the past, where her interactive sculptures were awarded for community engagement. Murphree has been featured in LUXE Interiors & Design, Nashville PBS and Nashville Interiors.
Sarah Saturday
Sarah Saturday creates immersive live performances that combine music, film projection, dance, spoken word and lighting displays.
An interdisciplinary musician, producer and multimedia artist, Saturday is a recipient of Nashville's Metro Arts Thrive Grant and the Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship.
Last year, Saturday created her project "Afterlife," a large-scale installation and performance piece created in tandem with collaborator Dycee Wildman and nearly 20 other Nashville artists. The immersive show, think "Sleep No More" meets "Meow Wolf," ran for three sold-out weekends.
"I'm a musician in Music City who is more interested in creating a visually rich experience for people, so I have had to carve out a space for myself at that intersection," Saturday said.
"Over the past 15 years I have watched and worked to help Nashville's underground experimental art and music scenes grow and bleed together. It's a really exciting time to be making art in this city."
Brett Douglas Hunter
Nashville artist Brett Douglas Hunter creates colorful, quirky sculptures doused in neons.
Known for his DIY roots, Hunter uses papercrete and various industrial materials to craft furniture and installations. His style is marked by giant, campy facial features and trippy designs.
Hunter's work has been showcased through annual installations at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, as well as at his campsite-for-rent on his property outside of Nashville.
Lizzy Love
Lizzy Love's bright, abstract paintings capture layered patterns alongside feminine forms.
Love, a Nashville-based painter who works on both canvas and paper, is inspired to counteract the sexualization of women in media by celebrating femininity in her work.
"I infuse each piece with my earnest admiration and respect for the women who have influenced my personal life and artistic growth," Love said. "My aim with each painting is to uplift and celebrate women and bring fun and joy to the homes where these paintings live."
Love added that "Nashville is a wonderful place to be as a creative," and many people don't know about the artistic talent in the city beyond just the music industry.
"My fellow creatives in Nashville are constantly inspiring and uplifting me."
John Holmes
John Holmes creates sculptures, installations and videos that explore how technology shapes alienation.
As a new media artist, Holmes plays with sound, light and custom software in his work, crafting experiential environments that invite participants to reflect.
Holmes is one of the featured creators at this year's Artville and a 2025 design week ambassador.
He's also the founder of New Media Nashville, an artist-run community that uses experiential art to critically engage with technology.
Josh "ODD" Snodgrass
Josh "ODD" Snodgrass brings his signature street art flair to a number of creative projects, from hand-painting cars down on Broadway to turning full denim suits into his canvases.
Snodgrass is a multi-disciplinary artist, muralist, award-winning designer and founder of Visual Minds Co., a street art gallery and creative hub.
At the gallery, Snodgrass aims to build community with other artists, creatives and community members, hosting an open mixer and DJ night every Thursday.
Snodgrass and his partner, Fern Lee, were showcased in a Tennessean article earlier this year about cultivating community in Nashville.
Artville kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 24, with a preview event called "Artville After Dark," a "nighttime celebration of light, sound, and movement."
There will be DJ sets, immersive light sculptures and more throughout the park.
The event is free with a ticket reservation. To learn more about Artville, visit artville.org.
Audrey Gibbs is a music journalist at The Tennessean. You can reach her at agibbs@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Before Artville, meet 10 visual artists changing Nashville's art scene
