GEODIS Park

Aaron Grayum was born in Ravenna, Ohio in 1977, but has called Tennessee home since he was 4 years old. He graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 1999 with a BFA in Graphic Design. This is also where he met his wife Michelle (also an artist) and together their art and design business is called The Gray Umbrella. Aaron has shown his art professionally since 2005 in galleries and fairs across the country. His work has been featured in The New England Review, Nashville Voyager, The Saturday Evening Post, and for four seasons on the television show Nashville. He won first place in 2018 at the Arts & Business Council’s “Periscope Pitch” competition by presenting his vision for uplifting and inspiring the good in people through his art. In 2020 he was named one of the top Art Creators of the Year by Nashville Lifestyles magazine, and he was a resident artist for Metro Public High Schools during the 2021-22 school year.

“I make art for the inner child. Using acrylic on canvas, I create images inspired by drawings I made when I was a kid – like birds, umbrellas, and jelly bean trees – speaking a language familiar to both children and adults. Words and poetry are integral to much of my work, allowing me to explore the tension between the playful innocence of childhood and the vulnerable truths of a grown-up world that doesn’t always understand.” 

He currently lives and works with his family in Fairview, Tennessee.

Nashville based artist, AJ Armstrong, has been painting subjects that would stand out on a canvas, often centering around landscapes and architecture. Originally doing most pieces as pencil or pen sketches, he has developed more into paintings over the years, sometimes leading to a mixture of the two mediums. His style of painting is mostly realistic, accurate depictions with accents of color that bring the setting to life. As of the end of 2021, a majority of his work has been purchased through art shows around Nashville. AJ has had a consistent contract with a local Realtor presenting pen and ink sketches of their new homes. He has displayed and sold several beach themed paintings at a gallery in the resort town of Seaside, Florida.

Alice Shepherd is a native Nashvillian and a self-taught kiln formed glass and mixed media artist who was raised in a family of mechanics and machinists. Being an only child in a “make do with what you have” environment, she relied on her creativity for entertainment and began crafting with readily available materials, a practice she continues to this day.

As a young adult she pursued her love of learning to earn a degree in Sociology and Philosophy, a way of viewing the world that influences her art.

A chance encounter with a chunk of windshield slag from the old Ford Glass plant (which operated here in Nashville) sparked her intrigue with glass. And ready access to unwanted industrial parts from her husband’s career in industrial sales spurred her imagination into ways of making artistic use of these familiar materials.

By 2011, her love of spending time in a shop working with her hands and using tools and equipment to create naturally led to the evolution of her glass studio. She named it “Artwork Cubed” because she is third generation Alice, and her works are 3-dimensional. This work grounds her in her Nashville heritage and gives meaning to her practice.

Her works have shown in solo and group shows at venues including Nashville International Airport’s Flying Solo Series, Centennial Art Center, Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, and Oz Arts Nashville. Her work has received recognition by Tennessee Crossroads, Nashville Arts Magazine, Artquench Magazine and Artsy Shark. Arts at the Airport holds one of her pieces in their permanent collection. She is currently represented by Picture This Hermitage Gallery and Harpeth Art Gallery.

Andrés Bustamante @andresbustm is an interdisciplinary artist born in Cali, Colombia based in Nashville, TN. He attended Watkins College of Art followed by a self-taught, experimental practice.

Curiosity is a catalyst to malleable mediums, exploring the abstraction in human emotion and human existence. Informed by his immigrant experience at a young age which led him to existential questions about reality, exploring concepts of human divinity as a reflection of the unseen, and researching the abstract mystery of life reflected in psychonaut journeys. Unquenched awe and wonder inspire his creative process. Bustamante is passionate about community empowerment, mental health, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the visual arts. To provide opportunities for underserved communities to engage in creative play, nurturing awe, and wonder. Empowering communities with art fund-raisers, workshops, and murals via his community empower project, Persona Contemporary @personacontemporary

Bustamante is open to collaborating with local and national interior designers, art collectors, architects, art brokers, art curators. His large-scale sculptural murals and fine art sculptures fit great in luxury spaces both public and residential. Andrés Bustamante welcomes commissions of all types.

“Music paints a picture and colors sing.” Dalia Garcia is a Hispanic painter and singer/songwriter from Nashville, TN. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina, with a Bachelor of Arts in Art Studio. Dalia grew up in a U.S. Military family, traveling around the world, like a modern nomad. Between the ages of five to twelve, she lived in Madrid, Spain. After college Dalia did 8 world tours with Julio Iglesias, singing a duet and backup with him. Since then she has performed with many other bands, including the acoustic duo Garcia and Scott. “I’ve always thought of visual art and music as co-existing.” Dalia uses bold and vibrant colors which she says are “emotional synonyms for happiness and exhilaration.” She explores the spiritual relationship between humans, nature, and the power of color. Her objective is to remind us of the gift of childlike wonder and innocence that pulls at the heart strings and enkindles the imagination. The versatility of acrylic paint affords her the flexibility to create an easy, yet energetic vibe. “My goal is to highlight the glee, joy, and serenity of a simple, beautiful moment.” Dalia uses her passion for music, dance, and travel, to make her dream world come to life!

Daniel Arite is a multidisciplinary artist and has been a Nashville resident since late 2000. His creative practice encompasses drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, sculptural assemblages and video. He works with various recycled materials including wood, plastic, leather, metal, etc. to create two dimensional assemblages and mixed media collage. This practice grew out of his views on sustainability and a desire to create art in an Earth-friendly way. Daniel's works are abstract and conceptual in nature and often reference metaphysical themes, our connection to nature and to each other. Over the past decade he has worked with organizations and communities throughout Nashville and Middle Tennessee. He enjoys facilitating art-making and music workshops and leading collaborative murals and mosaic projects. Daniel is also a composer and recording artist.

DaShawn Lewis is a self-taught photographer whose work focuses on the preservation of memories and youth arts. Born and raised in Nashville, TN, DaShawn has been drawn towards photography since childhood. Building community, making connections, and storytelling are components that he considers when making photographs. DaShawn does what he likes to call “Life Photography”. Life photography aims to document real-life events, people, or scenery in the most authentic way possible. The primary goal is to show the importance of everyday life and everyday people. 

His love for disposable cameras as a kid has turned into a passion that he now shares with local Nashville youth. Within the past few years, DaShawn and several of his creative friends have helped coordinate workshops and exhibits with the Edgehill Brighter Days Program in South Nashville.  The group shares their passions in hopes that they will make long lasting impressions on the youth that can be built upon. Presence, access, and opportunity are important components of youth development.

DaShawn Lewis’ work has been featured at the Memphis College of Art, Frist Art Museum, NKA Gallery, Scarritt Bennett Center, Hiram Van Gordon Gallery at TSU, and in the Nashville Scene. Through his community outreach, DaShawn has been able to connect and collaborate with several local artists which is important to building a stronger arts community in Nashville.

David Greaves is an artist, an engineer, and a citizen of Nashville. He works primarily in two mediums: pen & ink and oil paints. The former allows him to meditate on the tiny details that add up to an immense sense of place, while the latter is an exercise in first impressions, the feelings of color, and the urban atmosphere. For his personal work, he chooses subjects that define location. This could be a local landmark, an interesting scene passed on a bike ride, or something he sees everyday. David is urged to express his relationship to these places by an intense love for his city and a desire to share its sights, moods, and history with others.

A portrait photographer all of her adult life, NY native Diane Marsella has moved from capturing reality to recreating it. Through digital photography, she creates abstract photos from everyday subject matter. Her abstract photographs are characterized by use of bold color and intertwining shapes that have been “coaxed” from the original photo. By having no pre-conceived notion about how the finished image will look, Marsella is free to guide her creations to self-awareness through use of Photoshop.

Marsella holds a Bachelor of Science in Fine Arts (Hofstra University, NY) and has been a member of the Techspressionism community since 2020. Now living in the Nashville, TN area with her two sons, Marsella continues to recreate reality from her unique point of view.

Ellen Joiner is a native Nashvillian and has lived in Nashville since she was born 37 years ago. She loves this city, the people of this city and the creative culture that surrounds the city of Nashville. Creating is a part of everything Ellen does. She is most known for the workouts she has been creating since she started the company beatboxFIT 8 years ago. Creating kids programming and crafts through her work in churches and schools is a huge part of her life. Ellen and her husband Greg, along with their daughter Jozy (10) and their son Riser (6) attend every Nashville SC game! We love NSC soccer! Ellen is so grateful to be alongside all the incredible artists in the Soundwaves gallery.

Jamal Jenkins, known artistically as Woke3, is a melanated muralist and mixed-media artist from Norf Nashville. Woke3 has a special gift: he has the ability to make people feel connected, appreciated, respected, and completely submerged in his art works. His works are greatly praised by the community for being inclusive, diverse, and having the ability to show how no one thing is greater than another, expressing his heart for a more equitable world for all.

Jeff Fasano is a well respected portrait photographer living in Nashville Tennessee. He has captured the essence, heart and soul of legendary actors, notable artists and musicians and up and coming Indie Artists.

Jeff has created images with artists that include The Avett Brothers, Terrence Howard, Wilco, James Earl Jones, Sheryl Crow, John Oates, Phylicia Rashad, Quincy Jones, Morgan Freeman, Vince Gill, Stephen Stills, Judy Collins, Kevin Bacon and Taraji P. Henson. His work has been featured in many publications including Vogue Magazine, Time Magazine, Paste Magazine, Gotham Magazine, L.A. Confidential, Guitar Player, Guitar Aficionado, The New York Times, and The N.Y. Daily News, Essence Magazine and the Los Angeles Times. His portraits have graced posters for major Broadway Productions including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Street Car Named Desire. He has also photographed for record labels that include RCA, Koch, Roadrunner Records, New West, Republic, Thirty Tigers and Decca. The essence of the person is what Jeff capture’s and through his images that essence is revealed to the world. Beneath the surface lies the beauty and elegance of the soul and the heart. It is real and authentic and that is what comes through in Jeff’s work.

Jessica Eichman is an artist who works and lives in Nashville, Tennessee. A native of Natchez, Mississippi, Jessica earned degrees in Art and French before living and working in Paris, France; Corvallis, Oregon; and Boston, Massachusetts. Jessica’s paintings have been exhibited in the Huntsville Museum of Art, Nashville International Airport, and numerous private galleries, and have been featured in print and online. Her work can be found in public and private collections across the country and internationally, including permanent public art collections in the Nashville Historic Metro Courthouse and Hermitage Park in Nashville. Jessica is represented by dk Contemporary Gallery in Marietta, Georgia.

Joe Nolan is an intermedia artist based in Nashville, Tennessee. His diverse practice includes photography, multimedia paintings, public radio poetry broadcasts, live performances, musical releases, NFT digital art and public creative placemaking projects. Nolan’s critical writing about art and film has appeared in Art in America, White Hot Magazine of Contemporary Art, Flaunt and more. His art has been exhibited across the Southeast, and his photos and paintings can be found in Nashville Metro Arts’ public art collection, Vanderbilt University Library’s Special Collection, and in private collections in the U.S. and Europe. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Nolan is a lifelong martial arts enthusiast and a fly fishing fanatic. He’s currently writing Nowville: The Secret History of Nashville, Tennessee’s Contemporary Art Ascendancy for Vanderbilt University Press.

Joe Nolan is the creator of the Pikes Project which spotlights the overlooked beauty along Nashville’s historic “Pikes" roadways. The Pikes Project began as a series of photo essays published on WPLN Nashville Public Radio's website from 2015-2018. Since 2015 Nolan has won 25K in public art grants, awards and purchase prizes, and The Pikes Project is now organizing community-created art works in public spaces as a fiscally-sponsored project of the Arts & Business Council, a nonprofit organization.

I don’t work delicately, I like to be messy. Mistakes and accidents are my secret ingredient. I pour truth into my pieces like a heavy handed bartender, though you may not always taste it because of how well I’ve blended it with humor.

My woman is Black like my mother, my thoughts, my neighborhood, & my sneakers. Nashville TN raised me, gave me my perspective, along with a thick accent & and an understanding of good food.

If a picture’s worth a thousand words I pray my words comfort you with insight, inspiration & laughter. I love you though I’ve never met you & I hope the feelings’ mutual.

Nashville artist Kelley Rice has a passion for inspiring others through her expressions in painting. Her love for the fluid medium of encaustic translates into her organic, emotion-evoking and playful works.

Kelley’s career as a professional graphic designer spans over 3 decades. Since a child, she has always been involved in the arts and, recently, is pursuing her dream of being a full-time artist. Along with exhibiting in local shows, she also teaches encaustic, showing others how art can be a healing expression.

Kelley exhibits her work in encaustic and mixed media online and has exhibited at the Jewish Community Center and The Turnip Green Creative Reuse Gallery in Nashville.

Kelly Merecicky is a Nashville local, recently transplanted from Cincinnati, OH. Her most recent creative endeavors have involved hand-painted skateboard decks and paintings so big she has to borrow an SUV to bring the canvas home from the store. Kelly enjoys integrating bold, grungy colors with sharp angles and lines, primarily with oil paint and oil markers. She works from a home-based studio in Old Hickory. Kelly markets her artwork as Gnarly Nebulae on Instagram (@gnarlynebulae). She welcomes your commission requests. The bigger the canvas, the better.

I have been enamored of the creative process from a very young age - taking art lessons at age 9, as an Honors Art student at Clarksville High School, and studying drawing, oil painting and watercolor painting, as well as metal sculpture at the University of Tennessee.

Based on my love of watercolors, I began working in stained glass and transitioned into mosaic designs in 2010. I was awarded a Tennessee Craft scholarship to study at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, in 2012 and returned in 2014 to learn how to create enameled glass

tiles and ornamentation. I first presented my work in the Emerging Artists Tent at the 2014 Spring Tennessee Craft Fair. One of my mosaic designs, “Tree of Life” was selected for the 2018 Best of Tennessee Craft exhibit, and my “Starry Starry Night Over The Cumberland” was selected for the 2022 Tennessee Craft Best of Tennessee Exhibition.

With 10 years of mosaic experience, I have a solid reputation for delivering custom designs to private clients. Successfully shown and sold mosaic work at Christmas Village (five years), Master Gardeners Spring Showcase, Christmas Holiday Show, Birmingham, AL, and exhibited at the Gordon Jewish Community Center 2018 and 2022.

My work is inspired by nature and designed to evoke an emotional response. I want my artwork to bring a smile to your face, take one back to a favorite memory or bring joy. Add sparkle to your life with a Tangled Tiles design.

Hello! My name is Mallory Wilbanks and I am an elementary art teacher from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I graduated with an art degree in 2017 and have been given the opportunity to study art in some amazing places while completing my undergrad. These places include Italy, England, Belgium, Ireland, and Chicago, Illinois. Through traveling for some of my studies, I found myself drawn to my Southern roots as I created my art and implemented my homestead. I even use this theme as I create artwork today. The primary mediums used in most of my art include pieces made of oil paints, watercolor, pen and ink drawings and print making. My personal favorite medium is oil painting. This medium is so visceral and connects me to a process used by the greatest in the art world. Art speaks volumes to me. As a believer in Christ, I firmly believe art connects to my faith. I create because He created me wonderfully and to do good works. As of 2022, I now have a side business called Mallory’s Makes where I create custom pieces for my clients. My dream is to grow my own business well and to provide art to those who wish to incorporate beauty found within the Fine Arts into their everyday lives.

Marla Faith is a Chicago native who received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and MS from Bank Street College in NYC. She has directed art education programs at The Art Institute of Chicago, The Guggenheim Museum (NYC), Storm King Art Center (Mountainville, NY), and Cheekwood (Nashville). She has taught art (& art history) in public and private schools in Nashville from 1993- 2017. One person exhibits in Nashville include The Parthenon, Nashville Airport, Scarritt Bennett Center, & Williamson County Enrichment Center; as well as many two person exhibits, and group juried and invitational exhibits throughout the country. Ms Faith has published three books of her art and poetry: Listening to the Bones (2017), The Diver and the Pearl (2020), and Art of the Divine: Buddhist, Hindu, and Earth Gods and Goddesses (2020). Making art is her daily practice for spiritual well being and healing, calling more beauty into the world and reflecting that which is here.

Nashville Voices echoes the theme of Marla’s oil paintings The Abundance Series, which are large portraits of real Nashville women of diverse ages and ethnicities, posing in Nashville’s abundant nature, and surrounded by fruits or vegetables of the season. The series echo the truth that though we may be different we are all connected, and Mother Earth holds us all in her loving green hands. Please see the rest of the series at marlafaith.com.

Melodie Provenzano currently lives and works in the countryside near Nashville, TN. After receiving a BFA from NYC’s Parsons School of Design in 1996, Melodie freelanced for more than a decade painting window displays, showrooms and various commissioned projects for fashion companies including, Saks 5th Avenue, Donna Karan, Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo, Chanel and Hermes. At that time she sharpened her drawing and painting skills while developing her fine art. Among many group shows Melodie has exhibited at The Brattleboro Museum, VT; The Chelsea Art Museum, NYC; Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA; and has had solo shows at Lyons Wier Gallery, NYC; Goya Contemporary, Baltimore, MD; Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL; The University School of Nashville, TN; and Nancy Margolis Gallery, NYC. She has also written and recorded songs as "Connie Acher", releasing five LPs on Flipped Out Records and her latest “For Giving" on UK label Golden Lab.

I began my art career in Austin, Texas as a graphic artist. My work appears in a number of poster retrospectives from that era, including the books, The Art of Rock (1987, Abbeville Press) and Homegrown (2015,Texas Monthly Press). During that same time I was privileged to study photography under the legendary Garry Winogrand who made a profound impression on me through his philosophy of photography. My early work in music and street art has come full circle and found its place in my current work in street photography, capturing the zeitgeist of this remarkable time and place in Nashville.

Miriam (Mimi) Speyer is a multidimensional artist, who moves fluidly between musical and visual mediums. Hailing from Michigan, she made her way to Nashville via San Francisco in 2017, inspired to dive into the Nashville songwriting scene. Miriam has toured the country and beyond as a bass player, and has released several albums of her own original music. She works regularly as a background vocal arranger and is also a composer for London-based licensing library, Audio Network.

As a visual artist, Miriam’s unique illustrative style is immediately recognizable. With the use of clean lines and thoughtful selection of bold colors, she creates whimsical imaginary scenes and characters meant to inspire joy. She is a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient, as well as a Nashville Metro Arts THRIVE grant recipient. Miriam recently illustrated and published her first children’s book—“The Sick-Proof Tunnel” — co-written with 8-yr-old Alice Cleland. You can learn more about the inspiration behind this book at www.sickprooftunnel.com. Miriam is a lead teaching artist at Turnip Green’s after school art program, where she enjoys sharing inspiration with the students of Inglewood Elementary School. She also works regularly on commissioned paintings, album artwork, and hand-painted signs.

Omari Booker, visual artist based in Los Angeles, CA and Nashville, TN, began his journey as an artist his senior year of high school at Montgomery Bell Academy. While attending Belmont University, Omari studied Mathematics and other more traditional curricula before he finally focused on studio art and graphic design. He later earned his B.S. in Graphic Design from Tennessee State University. Oil paintings are Omari’s predominant medium, but mixed media including charcoal, ink, and found objects are essential building blocks of his work, and are used to create finished pieces. Large scale work has been a constant creative outlet for Omari, and murals have also become a consistent part of his creative practice. Omari takes a process-oriented approach to his art, embracing it as a therapeutic modality through which he is able to express his passion for the freedom and independence that the creative process allows him to experience. His art is his personal therapy, and his desire is that those viewing it will have personal experiences of catharsis. The philosophy that undergirds Omari’s work is FREEDOM THROUGH ART and he aspires to create work that communicates to his audience their unique and intrinsic ability to be free. see more work at omaribooker.com.

Originally from Leicester, England, Rhiannon Guppy studied art, photography and silversmithing at Loughborough School of Art & Design as well as Sheffield Hallam University. She spent 10 years working for a global greeting card company in design concept and range planning, before returning to her own artistic endeavors. The opportunity to work with mixed materials alongside her peers fostered her journey to discover her true love: Painting. 

After spending the last 13 years living on two continents with her husband, Steve and their two children, Bailey and Louis, Rhian and her family finally settled down in Franklin, Tennessee in 2020. As the world slowed down, it allowed for her to focus on her technique and various mediums, resulting in her current collection: mixed-medium, abstract landscapes.

She loves texture, minimal palettes, bold strokes & fine detail. While she continues to use acrylics, pens and charcoal, her favourite medium is watercolour because of the way the paint moves on paper and its unpredictability. 

Her favourite artists include: Cy Twombly, Helen Frankenthaler, Van Gogh, Henry Moore, Henri Matisse and Alexander Calder. 

You can view her collection or shop by visiting: 

www.rhiannonguppyart.com or on Instagram at @rhiannonguppyart

My journey as a musician began in the fourth grade. Traveling the road of music has given me direction in the way I look at life. Being a student in the band, taught me the importance of working together. Playing together with fifty or more musicians as well as playing in tune are two very important lessons. It showed me how to move forward in an organized manner, to achieve a particular goal. Currently, I am traveling down a new road where photography lives, which has its own way of looking at life. My objective is to promote civility while bringing people together of differing opinions. More specifically, to bring together people of color and whites who have had a long history of disagreement. I believe we need to get closer to one another and share moments that will allow us to realize we are not that different at all. All of us come from different backgrounds and often the same story will have a different meaning, depending on who shares the information. One example is the way the North and the South view enslaved people. Why is there so much respect for the confederate flag on one side, and so much disdain on the other? If we are willing, we can come together and make an honest attempt to understand this disagreement. In today’s society, we see a lack of understanding in many areas of life. Through my art, I would like to make a small contribution to the way we connect with one another. Leaning towards the common good, instead of individualism, much of my work will challenge the audience to walk on the side of acceptance and understanding, while other parts of my work will focus on the simple beauty of this journey, we call life.

Shadale Smith is a Nashville native and self-taught artist. She attended Tennessee State University and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing. At a very young age, Shadale was introduced to art and was heavily influenced by art mentors and family in her artistic development and expression. This is the impetus for the passion that she has for the visual arts. Shadale makes work that expresses her perspective on social justice and the need for awareness of equality and positivity. She uses bold colors in her paintings to capture the viewer's attention, she makes collages that address specific areas of culture that can spark necessary conversations, and she includes text in her work to encourage positivity. Heavily inspired by our youth, Shadale’s main goal is to bring awareness to the need for the arts, particularly with younger generations. She realizes that they are the future and it is imperative to guide, nurture, and educate them with a curriculum that includes art. As a mentor of several art projects for youth groups, Shadale encourages them to create and develop a discourse for the things that interest them. Shadale has exhibited andfeatured her work in several spaces and magazines in the Nashville area. She has also contributed to many mural projects throughout Nashville. Painting is Shadale’s healing, her way of self-expression, and her therapy. She hopes that every encounter between the viewer and her work presents enlightenment, encouragement, and inspiration.

Shahnaz Lighari is an artist based in Nashville, TN. Her multidisciplinary practice explores the process of surrealist automatism combined with impressions inspired by landscapes and the natural world. Her abstract compositions layer organic shapes with uncommon color and texture shifting focus and gesturing toward visual memory and the passage of time. She began practicing drawing and printmaking as a means of visual storytelling and later studied Fine Art at Watkins College of Art & Design. She currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee where she is active in the local arts community.

Born Emily Read in Nashville, TN, Tree Lily Butcher knew what she wanted to be very early in life: in the words of 7-year-old Tree, “I want to be when I grow up I will be an artist and a mom because a mom is the best job in the world. An artist is a good job too I think because I love to paint pictures.”

As a high school student at The Webb School in Bell Buckle, TN, Tree started her own zine “Sheep Grenade” which caused quite a stir in the small country town due to age appropriate obscenity. Through this experimental zine, she found her love of hand-cut collage.

In March of 2020, Tree Lily was 3 months pregnant, an unemployed waitress full of fear, anxiety and depression. So, she shut herself into her home art studio and ripped apart magazines while the world split at the seams. Change is at the very core of hand-cut collage and change is what inspired her to pursue art professionally.