Arts Depicts Community's Spirit
A community arts partnership between the City of Murfreesboro, local schools and the MTSU Department of Art unveiled a new sculpture on the Gateway Island in a special ceremony at noon Friday (5/31/2013).
The project began when the Gateway development was in its infancy, with a public art design competition between area students. At that time Lauren O. Hughes was a student at Siegel High School. Her interlocking infinite rings reading "Imagine," "Home," "Progress," "Unite," "Community" and "Hope," will be formally presented with a reception on the Murfreesboro Greenway System’s Gateway Island.
Hughes is now an MTSU pre-med student, earning her second degree, with a minor in art.
L-R ID: MTSU's Eric Snyder and Michael Baggarly, along with winning student designer Lauren Hughes.
Michael Baggarly, an associate professor of art at MTSU who has exhibited works at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville as well as in New Zealand and Mexico, was chosen to translate the design into an artistic and technical reality.
Gateway Island can be reached by traveling Medical Center Parkway west to Gateway Boulevard, then taking a right onto Kennedy Drive and another right onto Williams Drive. More parking will be available at the Greenway's West College Street Trailhead at 1902 W. College just past the railroad overpass.
To finalize the design for the Gateway Island sculpture, the City Hall Art Committee "worked closely with city administration, the parks department and Baggarly to incorporate elements of the student design while also addressing safety and aesthetic issues," said MTSU's Eric Snyder, chair of the art committee and director of the university's Todd Art Gallery.
Mayor Supports the Arts
“It’s been an arduous but thorough process to get this accomplished. The support and guidance provided by Murfreesboro's Mayor Tommy Bragg (pictured below), the city manager’s office and by the park’s department has been invaluable to the art committee.”
Plans are now underway for a new process to place other works of public art along more sections of the Murfreesboro Greenway System, Snyder said.
Thanks City Hall Art Committee
Special thanks to the Murfreesboro City Hall Art Committee for coordinating this competition as well as the monthly shows in the City Hall Rotunda. L-R Photo ID Below: Lee Anne Carmack, Ashley Sterns, Eric Snyder, Michael Baggarly, Lauren Hughes, Lee Ann Walker, and Patricia Tenpenny. All of the persons pictured in this photo are members of the City Hall Art Committee with the exception of Michael Baggarly and Lauren Hughes. Committee member Charles Clary is not pictured.
