Artist Spotlight: Lawrence Matthews III

Lawrence Matthews III is a Memphis-based artist whose work will be featured at the upcoming MEMFix event at Film Row on Saturday, September 24th from 11-5. See his murals in person at the event!

About Lawrence:

The murals are found along Butler Ave, behind Central BBQ/the Civil Rights Museum.

Born in Memphis, TN in 1991, Lawrence Matthews III came from a family who encouraged him to be an artist from a young age. Being raised in a racially tense environment, his experiences and interests manifested themselves in his visual art. Matthews graduated from Germantown High School in 2009. After experimenting with different styles and influences, Matthews came into his own creating art combining Post Modernist, Pop Art, and contemporary influences to tell the story of the African Descendant living in America. His work ranges from oil paintings, to collage, photography, and ready-made sculpture, to music and film. A recent recipient of a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Memphis, he has shown work in multiple group exhibitions around the mid-south. He was awarded “Best of Show” in the University’s 31st Annual Juried Student Exhibition in 2014. He also was awarded the Deans Creative Achievement Award and Department of Art Creative Achievement Award in 2015. In 2016 he was awarded the Arts Accelerator Grant from Arts Memphis. Matthews has also had many solo exhibitions spanning painting, photography, and installation.

About his Film Row Murals:

The murals are layered, reflecting the layered history of Memphis film.

"All of my visual art deals with history, more specifically black and southern history. When asked to create art for Film Row, I knew a little but not enough I felt to create something special. I began to ask my more informed friends about the film history here and I was directed toward King Vidor’s film Hallelujah. What drew me to use material from the film in my work was the fact it was the first film to have an all black cast without the use of Blackface. It was also the second “talkie” ever, the first being Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer. I was also drawn to the fact it was actually shot here in Memphis. Hallelujah is one of the only films of the time period to not portray African Americans in racist, stereotypical fashion. I felt like it was a crime that in all my time in Memphis I had never heard anything about the existence of this film. I strove to make something that not only honored this film and its historical significance to history but its creation in black communities in Memphis. I collaged book pages containing images and information from the Memphis Massacre in 1866 and as well as Memphis’s film and theatre history creating layers of history for the paintings to sit on. Ultimately I wanted to create something positive and beautiful that also told multiple layers of Memphis Film history in a way that reflects the communities surrounding Film Row."

Details about the event are available on Facebook. 

Read more about Lawrence's work on his website.

Artist Spotlight: Khara Woods

Khara Woods is a Memphis-based graphic designer whose work will be featured at the upcoming MEMFix event at Film Row on Saturday, September 24th from 11-5. Attend the event to take a stroll down Khara's crosswalks!

About Khara:

"I work as a freelance graphic designer designing logos and developing brands for a variety of clients. This year, for the first time ever, I rented a studio in the historic Edge district in downtown Memphis. I’m experimenting with paint and lettering. I have a keen interest in public art and I’d like to apply what I’m learning to projects that transform and reactivate spaces around my city to make living here, a little cooler."

Khara's Design:

"Inspired by the history of Film Row, I searched for iconic symbols and images associated with the film industry. I collected a bank of images like SMPTE color bars, clapperboards, film reel tins, which I felt would be easiest to translate into a design for a crosswalk. I was drawn to the simple geometric shapes found in these images. I chose bright shades of blue, orange and pink as my main colors. The recognizable shapes, patterns and bright colors should make the set of 5 crosswalks I've designed, the most fun and 'walkable' crosswalks in Film Row."

Khara's crosswalks in process--you'll be able to walk down the finished product at MEMFix this Saturday.

Details about the event are available on Facebook. Read more about Khara's work on her website.

Blight Out Summer Party: A Party With a Purpose

The Memphis UrbanArt Commission recently partnered with Advance Memphis and Innovate Memphis (also known as the Innovation Delivery Team) for a Blight Out Summer Party to celebrate recent efforts to address blight (neglected or rundown areas) in the Vance Avenue corridor in Memphis, Tenn.

Community residents and potential project donors were on hand for the celebration, which included music, face painting, arts and crafts and the unveiling of three artist proposals for addressing blight in the area. The proposals resulted from neighborhood meetings and design charrettes (intense design or planning activities) to identify the needs and desires of the community, as well as ways to transform or activate blighted areas through public art.

“We met with three age groups—school-age children, working adults and retired senior citizens,” said Kate Lareau, director of communications for Advance Memphis. “With each, we discussed how public art can work in a neighborhood and the different forms that it can take.”

During the party, attendees had the opportunity to vote on three proposals, which also will be posted on Advance Memphis’ website for viewing. Voting will continue throughout the week. Advance Memphis also plans to share the proposals with the Senior Living Center at Cleaborn Pointe to involve those residents in the selection process.

“By inviting them to give input about art and location, participants begin to feel a sense of ownership and see the potential for art to affect their space,” said Lareau.

Once the winning proposal is selected, UAC will work with the artist to develop and install the project. UAC also will share the process with interested residents and community organizations throughout Memphis, as well as develop a toolkit as a best-practice model that other local and national communities can use to engage their communities and effectively combat blight in their neighborhoods.

“People are learning that they can change what they see around them—that it's not a mystical process, but something they can make happen,” said Lareau.

For more information, please contact Allison Hennie at ahennie@urbanartcommission.org or visit advancememphis.org.