Nashville’s Silos

Menzie Pittman

I was introduced to the artist Guido van Helten’s artwork in the oddest way. I was in Nashville and went for breakfast at The Frothy Monkey. This quaint restaurant is in a part of Nashville called “The Nations.” This area was named after the Chickasaw Nations of Native Americans who lived there in the 18th century. In 2018 developers turned The Nations neighborhood into a walkable community called “Silo Bend,” now commonly referred to as “The Silos.” As I got out of my car and casually looked up toward the sky, that is when I saw van Helten’s work across the street.

His canvas is a 200-foot-tall, old, abandoned silo. Van Helten has painted a 15-story likeness of a 91-year-old man (the past) with two young boys(the future) standing behind him; in the mural the old man seems to be contemplating the possibilities of the new. Could this be van Helten’s apparent nod to the future? It’s hard to grasp the visual impact of this dilapidated silo, now a beautifully painted canvas, but it is so powerful that I was immediately compelled to walk over and photograph it. I was moved by the realism of the artwork.

I share this story to remind us that we are all in a creative business

As business owners our job is to impact our customers by creating intriguing store interiors, inspiring music programs, and providing musical environments that are unique. By doing so, we encourage the customers to trust our judgment and to know us immediately. Our other responsibility is to impact our communities with positive contributions that support the important role the arts play in our lives. I also share this story to remind us to look for inspiration in unusual places. After all, it is our unique design touches that help define the creative spirit, and the feel of our businesses and our communities.

That day when I first saw van Helten’s vision, I immediately began to search the backstory. The scene was that compelling. The key word here is “compelling.” You see, this unique work made me take an action, and that is exactly the impact we are looking for in our businesses and in our communities.

Originally, the silo was slated to be demolished

As with most gentrification, what doesn’t fit the new model generally gets torn down. But in this instance, a visionary councilwoman, Mary Carolyn Roberts, worked alongside members of the existing Nations community, financier Brian Greif with the Nashville Walls Project, and developer Southeast Venture to lead the discussion in a different direction. Roberts embraced the idea of saving some of the area’s important history to focus on the arts as a theme for the entire district. The centerpiece of this vison clearly is the towering silo.

A large player in this story is the Nashville-based real estate firm Southeast Venture

They purchased the property in 2015 to transform it into Silo Bend, a master-planned development featuring single-family homes, condominiums, apartments, and a retail/office complex. Under normal circumstances we think of developers as the ones giving push back, but in this instance, the vision seemed more unified: develop the new in the spirit of the old and celebrate both. Instead of demolishing the old silo, they took a different approach and made it a monument to the history of the region.

Enter world-renowned Australian mural artist Guido van Helten

Guido van Helten was the artist hired for the Silo task and because of his respect for the regions he paints, he wanted to get to know the neighborhood and its residents for inspiration. “It’s definitely a positive thing to commemorate people who have lived here for a long time,” van Helten said. He further shared, “You know, why do people want to live here? Part of the reason is it’s a good community, it’s got a history, people like that when they move to a place.” His goal was to capture the soul of the past with the energy of the future, and he was trying to find just the right person to capture that spirit on the massive concrete structure. Along the way, van Helten met Lee Estes, the Nashville native who has lived in The Nations his entire life. Estes has been an active local volunteer for decades, helping underprivileged families in his neighborhood. Van Helten wanted to choose someone who reflected the history and spirit of The Nations to paint on the silo, and Estes embodied that spirit.

In Closing…

The work by Guido van Helten demands you pay attention, but to what, you’re not exactly sure. Is it the unique quality of the portrait that gets your attention, or is it the perfect color match to the dilapidated building that makes you stop and stare? Perhaps it’s the fact that it is such an unusual sight to see a fifteen-story painting, or maybe it’s the fact that where others see an abandoned building, artists like van Helten see a canvas. That’s the moment that demands my attention – someone had to think outside of the box. Be it advocacy for the arts, design in your business, or inspiration in your education program, as participants in the arts, we have the privilege to do the same.

Menzie Pittman is the owner and director of education at Contemporary Music Center in Virginia (CMC). Following a performance and teaching career spanning more than 32 years, he founded CMC in 1989 and continues to perform, teach, and oversee daily operations. He has 50 years of musical experience as a drummer and drum instructor. Menzie is a frequent speaker at NAMM’s Idea Center, and a freelance writer for MMR’s “Small Business Matters”.