project overview
Douglass Park Mural | Neighborhood Art Initiative
Finalists: Brandon Marshall, Jamond Bullock + Eric Okdeh, Kiersten Williams, Toonky + Siphne
Selected Artists: Jamond Bullock + Eric Okdeh
Budget: $50,000 (includes four finalist honoraria of $500 each)
project concept
UAC and The City of Memphis, in partnership with The Time Is Now Douglass Redevelopment Corporation, are seeking an artist to create a mural that speaks to the pride of the community, engages neighborhood youth, and pays tribute to Douglass’s rich Black history.
The selection committee has expressed interest in a mural that:
Pays tribute to the name of the community, its founders, and the African American ancestors who are celebrated annually in the park on Juneteenth
Celebrates Douglass’s pride and longevity, the value of the land, and the establishment of a neighborhood built from slavery to ownership
Feels warm and welcoming to neighborhood youth who are active in the park
Compliments and considers nearby existing public art
The selection committee has selected four finalists for the installation based on their portfolios, application materials, professional qualifications, and demonstrated ability to meet deadlines. The commissioned artist will be selected based on the strength of their proposal, which will be presented to the selection committee.
site specifics
The Douglass Park Pool House is located at 1616 Ash Street, Memphis, TN 38108. Other nearby landmarks and institutions include Douglass High School, Douglass HeadStart, Douglass Community Center, and Douglass K-8 Optional School. The selection committee is interested in a mural that spans several amenities within the park including the exterior walls of the pool house building, the four Douglass Park basketball goals and an exterior wall of the community center to tie all three spaces together. The design elements linking the spaces should feel cohesive and are not expected to cover the entire wall in any location. Artists are encouraged to consider all of the activities that are hosted in the park and at the community center as well as the involvement of youth in these spaces.
background
About Douglass:
Douglass was founded by William Rush-Plummer and named after Fredrick Douglass. It is a community on the north side of Memphis that borders Hyde Park and Hollywood and is surrounded by railroad tracks to the north, south, and west. It is a neighbor to the Binghampton and Nutbush communities.
William Rush-Plummer was born into a life of slavery as the only son of a white slave master and a slave from Africa. William’s mother demanded that William Jr. not be given the Rush family name, so their son was given the hyphenated last name of Rush-Plummer. When slavery in the South was abolished slaves were promised 40 acres and a mule. Although many newly freed slaves did not receive the promise, William Rush Sr. gave his son 40 acres in North Memphis. He turned his land into a community and named it after Fredrick Douglass, a man he had come to admire. William Rush-Plummer was ordained in his young adult years and began to develop the land after his family was released from slavery. He began opening many churches on his land including St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church (Need More Missionary Baptist Church), St. Stephens MB Church, St. John MB Church, St. Charles MB Church and at least three other local churches that were later sold to local Pastors and their congregations.
With children as the neighborhood’s focus, the Douglass community is home to Douglass Head Start, Douglass K-8 Optional School, Douglass High School and The Douglass Community Center. The Original Douglass High School was built in 1938, but after burning to the ground and a relocation, the current Douglass High School can be considered one of the oldest but newest Memphis City Schools with a state-of-the-art 1,500-seat varsity gym, a 1,100-seat auditorium, a football field with a walking path in the middle of Douglass Park, and baseball field at the northeast corner of Douglass Park.
Douglass Park, located behind the original and new Douglass High School, is where many children have come together since the 1960s for the Day Camp during the summer months. In Douglass Park, many children from the community were taught how to play such sports as basketball, swimming lessons, tennis, children's theatre, arts, and crafts, and they competed against other Parks in Memphis. In the fall and winter months, Douglass Community Center is where children and those within the community learned indoor sports, arts and craft, straight pool, bumper pool, table tennis, card, and board games, basketball, Girl and Boy Scout Troop meetings, piano lessons and they competed against other community centers in the City of Memphis. Still today, you will find children filling the center and the park each day. Additionally, celebrations such as Juneteenth are held in Douglass Park. Since 1993, residents have gathered with out of state visitors and locals to celebrate the holiday.
About TTINDRDC:
The Time Is Now Douglass Redevelopment Corporation (TTINDRDC) consists of concerned residents committed to restore, revitalize, and redevelop the Douglass, Bungalow, and Crump communities through charity and volunteerism to an economically viable, self sustained community that results in people living in a self-sufficient, enriched, and rewarding community.
About UAC’s Neighborhood Art Initiative:
UrbanArt Commission launched its first Neighborhood Art Initiative as a Pilot Program in 2019 through support from the Assisi Foundation and totaling $120,000. Five public art projects were awarded to neighborhood associations, CDCs, community groups, non-profits, or arts organizations leading the development of public art in their spaces: Cherokee Heights Civic Club is creating five signs to mark the entrances of their historic South Memphis neighborhood. These permanent aluminum signs will carry the club’s motto, “We Care”, along with original designs relevant to the history of the community. At the Carpenter Art Garden in Binghampton, NAI will support a successful mural apprenticeship program in its second year. South Memphis Alliance and other neighborhood partners will convene soon to decide on how more public art can be added to the Soulsville area. In North Memphis, the NAI has furthered the work of the HUG Park Friends through Jamond Bullock’s colorful mural wrapping the pool area. In Orange Mound, artist Yancy Villa-Calvo, as a continuation of her engagement efforts through the Memphis 3.0 comprehensive planning process, installed the mural on Whitten Bros. Hardware store in late November 2019 with Melrose High School (RedZone Ministries) students.
The second round of Neighborhood Art Initiative was launched in November 2020 in partnership with the City of Memphis’ Percent-for-Art Program with the intention of funding a plethora of projects on city property in multiple neighborhoods within each City Council District over the course of consecutive fiscal years. There are 4 public art projects are in the works through UAC partners: Gestalt Schools (Hickory Hill), Mallory Heights CDC (Mallory Heights), The Time is Now Douglass RDC (Douglass), Uplift Westwood CDC (Westwood).
selection committee
Kathy Temple, UAC’s Neighborhood Partner: The Time is Now Douglass RDC
Rita Houston, Douglass Resident
Ericia Holland, Douglass Community Center Director
Susan Maakestad, UAC Artist Representative
Melissa Dunn, UAC Artist Representative
Roger Ekstrom, Parks Representative
John Truong, City Engineering Representative (non-voting)
Adrianna Moore, Memphis Parks’ Community Engagement Administrator (non-voting)
