From the desk of the UAC

November 3, 2008 Contact: Elizabeth Alley, (901) 454-0472 For Immediate Release

Mobile Forge Comes to Normal Station Neighborhood

Memphis, TN – The UrbanArt Commission and artist-blacksmith John Golightly are hosting a Community Day to give area residents the opportunity to create a piece of art for the Black Bayou Fence. Golightly will bring his mobile forge to the project site on Goodman Street between Park Avenue and Douglass Avenue, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturday, November 8. Neighbors can get a tutorial on forging steel and make their own cotton plant, which will be added to a decorative panel in the fence.

The construction by City of Memphis of two pedestrian bridges over Black Bayou in the Normal Station neighborhood allowed for a public art project to be installed in the area as part of the City’s Percent-for-Art Program. Local artist-blacksmith John Golightly was chosen to create a fence that runs along Black Bayou. The fence includes five decorative panels, including the one that Golightly is working with community members to create. Four of the five decorative panels are installed, as well as standard sections that were hand-forged by Golightly.

For more information about Black Bayou Community Day, the City of Memphis Percent-for-Art Program or the UrbanArt Commission, please contact Elizabeth Alley, Director of Public Art, at (901) 454-0472.

The UAC’s mission is to create a dynamic, vibrant, nurturing community through art and design.