Free Range Art

Daybreak Arts colors outside the clichés

This summer, three remarkable artists are set to bring sometimes-overlooked creative visions to the gallery experience in Downtown Nashville. As part of the curated Art Between the Avenues series, nonprofit artist collaborative Daybreak Arts will activate Gallery 64 inside the historic Arcade Arts venue, re-imagining the space as three immersive mini-galleries that promise to entertain and engage gallery-goers. ScreenshotCorp Posters by BandyBlueBandy as Budd LuddSidney Sparkle

The displays amplify the creative voices of Sidney Sparkle, Blue and Bandy — three artists whose personal journeys through homelessness inform their distinctive artistic styles and stories. Daybreak Arts curated this groundbreaking show to highlight how art can become a vehicle for survival, transformation and profound human connection. The organization is dedicated to utilizing the arts to create income and connection for those who’ve experienced homelessness.This show is the latest display in a mini-trend of local exhibitions by artists who’ve lived on Nashville’s streets, beginning with the excellent “Do You Know How Good You Are?” show by Room In The Inn artists at Julia Martin Gallery in June.

How Good?

Recently, artists from Room In The Inn created a gallery titled “Do You Know How Good You Are?”

You Belong Here

In early May, ICE arrested 196 people in Nashville where they stopped almost 600 people in areas of Nashville with heavy Latino populations.

80-Year-Old Lynn McFarland on Why She Wouldn’t Leave Her Seat

Eighty-year-old Lynn McFarland was arrested and carried out of a Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee meeting at the Tennessee State Capitol on April 1 after the group passed a bill that would give power to local school boards to deny enrollment to undocumented students or charge them tuition to attend. Tennessee State Troopers carry Lynn McFarland, 80, out of a Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee on April 1. Photo by Alvine

McFarland said when she showed up to protest that day, she didn’t plan on planting herself in a seat and getting physically removed by Tennessee State Troopers. But the thought of cooperating with punishing children was enough to make her stay in her seat when protestors were asked to leave the gallery. A small group stayed in their seats when asked to leave, but eventually also left their seats.

Cover Story

On Feb. 11, students and their parents filled the Cordell Hull Building to denounce a bill attempting to deny education to undocumented immigrant children. On Feb. 5, the daughter of a World War II veteran demonstrated as part of Fifty Capitols, Fifty States, One Day, an effort to fight fascism across the country. Various other actions have happened as the legislature gathers: housing rights actions, trans rights, calls to keep education equitable, protests against genocide in Palestine and more.