6 INSIDE OUT Nashville: Paper Portrait Lanterns In April, the faces of more than 139 Middle Tennesseans were featured on 3 x 4.5-foot paper lanterns and temporarily on display in the medians and sidewalks along Deaderick Street. This unique installation, from the corner of Sixth Avenue down to Third Avenue at the Metro Courthouse Plaza, was unveiled in a domino effect coinciding with the lunch break of Nashville’s TEDx (the acronym stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, which was held in TPAC’s Polk Theater. Later that same day beginning at nightfall, the lanterns began to glow (they were lit by solar-powered bulbs) during April’s First Saturday Art Crawl. The State Museum collaborated with Tennessee artists Kristin and Alfonso Llamas and photographer Daniel Perry to bring this global project to Nashville. The Paper Portrait Lantern Installation was Nashville’s official action in the TED INSIDE OUT Global Art Project, originally created by street artist JR, who received a $100,000 TED grant in 2011. This installation is considered the largest, threedimensional street art event ever created in Nashville. Similar TED street art initiatives have occurred in 100 countries around the world featuring more than 120,000 portraits. Each lantern had a solar-powered light for illuminating the black-and-white portrait cubes. Private funds were raised from 65 donors on crowd-funding site Indiegogo to underwrite production of the 35 lanterns which lined Deaderick Street on the first Saturday in April. The project was produced in partnership with the Metro Beautification and Environment Commission, Metro Public Works, and the Metro Parks Department.
State Museum Staff Helps Create Tennessee Judiciary Museum The Tennessee Judiciary Museum opened in the State Supreme Court Building during the final month of 2012. The opening of the museum marked the 75th anniversary of the Supreme Court Building, which was dedicated in 1937. TSM’s Collections Department provided advice on selecting objects and guidance about how the space inside the Law Library would work to highlight important documents and objects related to Tennessee’s courts. Several items are on loan from the State Museum’s collection and are on view at the Judiciary Museum. TSM’s Exhibits Department also assisted in the new museum’s development through the design and production of the large-scale graphics that serve as backdrops for some of the alcoves. “We could not have done the project without the partnership of the State Museum,” said Susan Knowles, president of S.W. Knowles & Associates and project manager. According to Mike Catalano, the Clerk of the Appellate Courts and President of the Tennessee Supreme Court Historical Society, “The mission of the museum is to educate the general public, as well as school students and leadership groups which visit the building, about Tennessee’s courts by telling stories of the judges, lawyers and litigants.” There is no admission charge to the Judiciary Museum, which is open on weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon. The Supreme Court building is located at 401 Seventh Ave. At the corner of Charlotte Avenue in downtown Nashville.