William Edmondson was the first African American artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1937. He was a self-taught limestone sculptor who carved tombstones and garden ornaments at his workshop, which sat outside of his house in the Edgehill neighborhood of South Nashville. Although he had no intention of being a career artist, Edmondson became a trailblazer.
For the last 20 years the site where he had worked and lived has been used as a community park in Edgehill. William Edmondson Homesite Park and Gardens formed in 2018 when the city tried to sell the property and their mission is to foster a creative, vibrant and safe public space for all of Nashville to enjoy. The fourth annual William Edmondson Arts and Culture Fest (We Fest) happening this Saturday is a free, family-friendly event looks bring to the forefront the importance of William Edmondson and his work.
“When I heard that they were planning on selling Murrell School, which sits right next to where William Edmondson’s house was,” said Brenda Morrow (President of the William Edmondson Homesite Park and Garden and the Edgehill Apartments Resident Association), “we collected over 2,000 signatures and went to budget and finance hearing, planning meetings and council meetings. For us, the festival brings to light his life, what he did, what he meant to the community. Most of all is something that the young people can look up to. They can be proud of the fact that a world-renowned artist lived right there. The fact that these children never knew anything about William Edmondson, but now they can walk through that park, they can see tree tags and we have what we call a Hero’s Arboretum and his tag is on the two oak trees that he planted. No one should try to sell it. That’s nothing compared to the importance of the history and the legacy that he has left.”
“He’s considered to be the most important self-taught sculptor of the 20th century by artist historians and yet, in his own backyard and across town, he was little known,” Vice President of the William Edmondson Homesite Park and Gardens Mark Schlicher said. “We started the festival to do a couple of things, one is to highlight his legacy and have it serve to inspire, but also to provide a platform for underserved artists. Nashville is known as Music City, it’s a city that sings, but it’s also a city that carves, paints, builds, sculpts. We want to bring the people and the artists together in celebration and inspiration. William Edmondson is the perfect vehicle to do that because his appeal is universal.”
Additional event opportunities in the next week:
Thursday night (Oct 23), WNXP Trivia is back at the Blue Room. Friday night (Oct 24) Lupe Fiasco performs at Skydeck on Broadway and Headliners featuring 2’Live Bre, Daisha McBride and Tim Gent is at Eastside Bowl. Also on Friday you might make the Wilby album release show at the Blue Room, and Be Your Own Pet begin their two-night residency at Soft Junk. Get back to the Blue Room for another album release show on Saturday (Oct 25) with Henry J. Star performing The Soft Apocalypse and that same night King Princess performs at Marathon Music Works.
