Internationally renowned street artist Beau Stanton came to Nashville to help launch a new campaign for stream stewardship: Rivive! Nashville.
The five story mural in Nashville facilitated by Nashville Walls Project in cooperation with Rivive! Nashville, is a coalition five of non-profit environmental organizations who seek to clean up and raise awareness about the importance of Nashville’s waterways, particularly the Cumberland River and its tributaries.
“We want to remind Nashvillians that the city thrives because of the river,” Mekayle Houghton, executive director of the Cumberland River Compact and a Nashville Waterways Consortium member.
The mural was painted at Fifth Avenue North and Commerce Street in downtown Nashville, just steps away from the Ryman Auditorium, and takes inspiration from local waters and their importance to life, health and recreation.
Beau Stanton spent 12 days painting the 75 x 70 foot mural in Nashville, he often incorporates familiar, iconic images and presents them in contemporary ways. He chose a classical female for the Rivive! mural because it is an iconic figure and because of Nashville’s historical reputation as the “Athens of the South.”
His mural also includes Gothic and Art Deco designs he has seen in Nashville.
The mural on 5th Ave in Downtown Nashville shows a classic Greek Goddess pouring water from an urn, providing a home for three blue scaled fish swimming below.
The Goddess and the purpose of the mural is to bring attention to the waterways of Middle Tennessee and the value they bring to the area.
Photo credit Nashville Walls Project