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LOCATION: The project site is a 17,000 square foot area of Arthur Avenue where 8 lanes of the Interstate 65 bridge cross over the residential street near Elizabeth Park Senior Center in North Nashville. One of the few through streets left when the interstate bisected the area in the 1960s, the interstate remains as a divider between the Elizabeth Park neighborhood on the west side (Council District 21) and the Historic Buena Vista neighborhood on the east side (District 19).​​​​

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SCHEDULE: State and Metro approvals are expected April-May 2025. Site preparation—bridge painting, electrical work, and sidewalk repair—will begin once all approvals are in place and take approximately 8 weeks. Once sitework is complete, the public art lighting will be installed and the community will gather for a celebratory artwork dedication event! Time and date for the dedication to be set as the installation nears completion.

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COMMUNITY INPUT: Several years ago, transportation planning and engineering staff with Metro Public Works, Metro Planning, and WeGo Public Transit began exploring walking and biking opportunities for North Nashville. They connected with artist and neighborhood organizer Simone Boyd who completed exhaustive community engagement with over 300 area residents. Residents indicated an interest in slowing traffic, safer ways to cross the streets, and, most importantly—lighting for Arthur Avenue at the interstate bridge.

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NEA GRANT: Inspired to "Light Up Arthur," Simone Boyd reached out to Metro Arts and together they applied for and received a $75,000 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant. They were joined by Nashville Department of Transportation and Project Return, a local non-profit dedicated to successful new beginnings after incarceration. For the grant, Simone Boyd served as Lead Artist in engaging a Council of Elders, administered by Project Return, in an extensive process to evaluate and select the artist and concept for the final public art project. The dedication and advocacy efforts of Boyd and community leaders led the Tennessee Department of Transportation, owners of the interstate bridge, to complete significant bridge repairs in February 2024.

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PROJECT PARTNERS: To better scale the budget to the project site, the Metro Arts Commission approved additional funding for a public art lighting project to be managed by Metro Arts staff and, once completed, added to the city’s permanent public art collection. The public art project is a collaboration between Metro Arts and the Nashville Department of Transportation, responsible for maintaining the right-of-way. NDOT, as the city’s transportation agency, will apply to TDOT for the 10-year lease for installation and maintenance of transportation art and lighting under the interstate bridge.

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ARTWORK DESIGN: Be As Water is a multimedia work of art consisting primarily of a dynamic canopy of LED light referencing the nature and movement of water as an homage to the resilience of the North Nashville community neighboring the Arthur Avenue Underpass. The thousands of programmed lights are set against a deep, dramatic, and reverent blue background.
 

With this work, Braden intends to pay respect to the community, the elders, and lifelong residents who generously shared their stories with him. This collaborative process results in a "placekeeping" work of art, one that directly engages those who have lived in a place for generations while honoring the stories and culture of that place. Ultimately, Be As Water seeks to transform the long-neglected Arthur Avenue Underpass into a creatively lit, multi-sensory, and artistically immersive space of reflection, celebration, and hope.

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ARTIST: Alex Braden is a multidisciplinary artist who uses an array of new media—light, sound, sculpture, and installation—to deconstruct and reimagine conventions, spaces, and systems. With his work, Braden wonders if by recovering our physical senses—returning to our bodies—we might reconnect to our own and, perhaps, to each other’s humanity. Braden’s work has been featured in Hyperallergic, the Washington Post, SPIN, and NPR. https://alexanderbraden.com/

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LOCAL IMPACT: The artist is working with local engineers and local fine art handlers on the lighting installation. Honoring the original goals of the NEA grant, the project will also be hiring Project Return as part of the artwork installation team. Project Return's PROPS program provides dependable property services to local clients while providing high-quality job experience to its employees. Metro Arts and NDOT are using local vendors for engineering review, sidewalk repair, electrical systems, and bridge painting.

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CONNECT: For questions, email Anne-Leslie Owens, Public Art Collections Manager, at mailto:anne-leslie.owens@nashville.gov. To subscribe to Metro Arts e-newsletter, go to this link and sign up. Follow Metro Arts on Instagram @MetroArtsNash.