project overview
HEIGHTS LINE GATEWAY SCULPTURE | The Heights
Artist: TBD
Total budget: $90,000 (includes three finalist honoraria of $1,000 each)
Upcoming benchmark/update: Artist Selection
Next committee meeting date: May 2024
BACKGROUND
About The Heights and The Heights Line:
About The Heights neighborhood:
In the 1830s, the Heights neighborhood was east of Memphis and largely controlled by the Pope Cotton Plantation. In the late 1880s, Shelby County acquired the western side of Holmes Road (Lamphier and neighboring streets) for the Shelby County poor farm, work house, and insane asylum. Today you can see these small identical buildings, now private homes. In 1905, the Raleigh Street Car Line fostered development of bedroom communities for those who worked in Memphis. The streetcar line ran along Broad Avenue from Memphis to Binghampton, turned north along National Street, and continued east after crossing the Wolf River. Access to public transportation sparked commercial and retail development along Summer, National, Highland and Macon.
The Heights is an inclusive neighborhood term to include residents of Mitchell-Heights, Highland-Heights, Graham-Heights, and Brinkley-Heights. This is a diverse neighborhood (51% Black, 17% Hispanic, 15% White non-Hispanic, and 12% additional Ethnicities). The Heights has primarily English and Spanish speaking residents with a growing immigrant community originating from Mexico, Honduras, Vietnam, Yemen, and more. Some notable community members include Penny Hardaway and Elliot Perry (Treadwell High alums) .
About Heights Line:
The Heights Line is a 1.75-mile multi-use path and linear park located in the median of National Street between Summer Ave and Bayliss Ave, connecting to the Hampline and Wolf River Greenway. This is a neighborhood-led initiative to create the longest linear park in Memphis along a former trolley line. The project will provide a much-needed public space amenity in North Memphis and connect disinvested historic neighborhoods to nearby parks, urban centers, and transit routes. It is designed to narrow lanes and decrease speeds making it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Heights Line will also provide the first urban connection between two of Memphis’ premier greenways– the $60 million Wolf River Greenway and the 13-mile Shelby Farms Greenline.
Local residents began work in 2017 by reclaiming excess road capacity and building a temporary demonstration of Heights Line. Completion of the permanent installation of the first phase from Summer Avenue to Macon is expected in Spring 2024.
From: https://www.heightsline.com/
About The Heights CDC:
The Heights CDC builds community through just housing redevelopment and a commitment to serve with and learn from our neighbors. This non-profit was incubated by Binghampton Development Corporation and serves the neighborhoods north of Summer Ave.
Although its primary focus is on rehabbing blighted properties, the Heights CDC seeks to revitalize the community by building relationships with residents, supporting community leaders, and creating shared green spaces.
Entrance to Heights Line, corner of Summer and National St
SCOPE OF WORK
Corner of Summer and National St
UAC and The City of Memphis, in partnership with The Heights CDC, are seeking an artist to create a gateway sculpture that speaks to the pride and history of the community, engages neighborhood youth, and pays tribute to The Heights diverse demographics.
The selection committee has expressed interest in a gateway sculpture that:
Consider the both historical and current context of the Heights neighborhood
Includes student engagement in the creation and/or installation process
A desire for one wow sculpture that delineates the space (when people see it they know they have now entered the Heights/Heights Line)
Invites all of the neighborhood to the space (Heights Line is a place to come together rather than a place to divide)
Incorporates solar-panel lights (to add both beauty and safety during the evening hours)
Fits into the neighborhood architectural landscape
Design Proposal from Brandon J. Scott
Proposal from Brandon J. Scott
SELECTION COMMITTEE
Marcha Allen- City of Memphis Parks Division- Deputy Director (non-voting)
Ray Atkinson- City of Memphis Bikeway and Pedestrian Program Manager, Engineering Division (non-voting)
Jasmine Avila- Heights Resident
James Chambers- The Heights CDC- Operations Manager, Heights Resident
Sasha Collins- Heights Resident, ButterCream Dreams- Baker/Owner
Vernice Foster- Heights Resident
Paulina Garibaldi- Heights Resident
Justin Gibbs- City of Memphis Parks Division- CSA Representative (non-voting)
Sarah Gilmore: Heights Resident; The Heights CDC- Director of Community Engagement (Community Partner)
Michael Gong- Heights Resident; Kingsbury High- Teacher
Jay Harris- Cxffeeblack Barista; Artist, Heights Resident
Emily Holmes- Heights Resident; Emily Holmes- Photographer/Owner
Colin Kidder- Sculptor, Heights Resident
Mike Lemm- City of Memphis Engineering Division (non-voting)
Jared Myers: The Heights CDC- Executive Director
*Public Vote: Collected public votes will serve as one additional selection committee vote for the final selected artist following the submission of proposals from project finalists.
About Artist:
Brandon J. Scott
Brandon James Scott is a figurative painter, sculptor and art educator, living and working in Memphis, Tennessee. Scott is originally from Tallahassee, FL, and was raised in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale where he attended art immersion schools from grade three through high school. Throughout high school, Scott worked as a junior art instructor at Young At Art Children’s Museum conducting outreach, tours and art classes. Scott graduated high school from Dillard Center for the Arts, where he was mentored and prepared thoroughly for both art college and a career in the arts.
Scott went on to obtain a Bachelors in Fine Arts from Memphis College of Art and a Masters in Art Therapy from New York University. In 2004 after graduating, Scott moved to Brooklyn, NY where he worked as a graphic designer doing rebranding and design in Manhattan’s financial district for four years. In 2008 Scott left design to open a tattoo shop in Brooklyn that he owned and operated for four years. In 2013, Scott began working in New York City Schools. He felt he’d found his calling as an educator and worked for six years in Brooklyn, NY as an art teacher and content leader. Through teaching, Scott developed a deep interest in the social-emotional development of children. Thus, he entered the Art Therapy program at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development, where he was awarded the Century 21 scholarship. He also completed a summer semester in Florence, Italy where he worked at a parish run summer camp along with three cohorts. After graduating in 2021, Scott returned to Memphis.
He currently works as an art educator and public artist, concurrently attending the University of Memphis for a Masters in teaching. In 2024, Scott was awarded the New Public Artist Fellowship by the Urban Art Commission, in partnership with the University of Memphis and the Tennessee Art Commission. The award includes the installation of a sculpture that will remain on campus for a year. Scott designed a resin and cement bust honoring Miriam DeCosta, the first Black professor at the University of Memphis, and is set to be complete in August, 2024. In the summer of 2024, Scott was Awarded The Heights Line Project for which he designed an art installation that will also serve as a rest area for The Heights Line, a 1.75 mile pedestrian linear park in Memphis,TN. This project is set to be complete in the winter of 2025.
Scott continues to both teach K-8 art in Memphis City Schools and work as a public artist. He is beginning to build pathways between his passions for education and public art by providing opportunities and stipends for students to assist in art projects. He hopes to someday create an organization that educates, trains, mentors and also hires youth for public art and carpentry.
