Paint Memphis

Paint Memphis is a one-day festival on July 18 that will bring over 60 artists together to paint the flood wall adjacent to the proposed Chelsea Greenline. The wall starts at the Chelsea trailhead, at N. Evergreen and Chelsea and goes west for .3 miles, making it the biggest collaborative mural in Memphis. Though a one-day event, we plan to expand this wall into a permission wall, legal and sanctioned by the city, a place where artists can show of their talents and reflect the spirit of our city.

There will be two volunteer organizers from Memphis and one from Nashville. We will coordinate publicity as well as organize events on the day of the event and afterwards for clean up. The Greater Memphis Greenline will sponsor the event insurance. Clean Memphis will do a monthly sweep for trash. The Greater Memphis Greenline and Paint Memphis will patrol for offensive work.

We received permission from the Corps of Engineers and the City of Memphis to paint this flood wall. Then we received the support of the Greater Memphis Greenline and the Urban Arts Commission. Then we selected three organizers for this event. We have established a list of local and regional painters for the event as well as guidelines for painting: no obscenities, no gang-related imagery, and the theme of "Revival" for this project. We will prime the wall before the event, making it more economical and accessible for the artists, who will bring their own paint for this project. We will assign each painter a number (the walls are already numbered). The Greater Memphis Greenline Association will have the grassy area next to the wall mowed.

We will have a community meeting in June in order to involve the New Chicago neighborhood in this project.

The next part of this project will be to raise some funds, either in the form of sponsorship for materials (primer paint, rollers, a generator, paint sprayer, etc.) or actual money in order to pay for the permit, portable toilets, garbage cans, and other supplies not covered in donations. We are also looking for for volunteers for the day of, or before the event to prepare the wall.

Finally, there will be a monthly sweep after the event to make sure that the area is clean, maintained, and the art is preserved.

The New Chicago/North Midtown community is neighborhood that is neglected both in terms of funding, media and government attention, businesses, and education. With this last section of the greenlines, which will be completed by 2017, there will be a bicycle route going from downtown Memphis past Shelby Farms. This greenline will help to change this neighborhood, bring more traffic and attention to this community. Likewise, public art will attract locals and visitors to this area, which, in turn, reduces crime and raises pride in residents. In addition, we hope this wall will be an example to the city that legal, permission walls can enhance our city's public art and showcase the talent that we have here.