News

Permanent Lighting in Place for Ghost Ballet

28 June 2008

For Immediate Release
Contact: Allison Reeves
(615)254-6785
areeves@mercatuscom.com

Ghost Ballet for the East Bank Machineworks Glows at Night

NASHVILLE, TN, June 25, 2007— Ghost Ballet for the East Bank Machineworks, Nashville’s first work under the city’s Percent for Public Art Ordinance, now has permanent lighting fixtures that will give it a significant nighttime presence. The lights are set to be on concurrently with the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge lighting, from about dusk until midnight.

“The lights bring the sculpture to life at night,” said Norree Boyd, executive director of the Metro Arts Commission. “The east bank will now have a presence to echo the activity and vitality of the west side of the river and the downtown Broadway district.”

The sculpture, by artist Alice Aycock, was lit in October with temporary fixtures as the first phase of lighting design. Since then, custom-designed permanent fixtures have been fabricated and installed.

“One goal of the project, given the location of the site and its visibility from many vantage points in downtown Nashville, was for the artwork to have a presence both day and night,” said Sandra Duncan, the Metro Arts Commission’s public art program manager. “We are pleased that the final lighting gives the sculpture a place in Nashville’s nighttime skyline.”

The 100-foot tall, 100-foot wide and 60-foot deep sculpture sits on the remnant of a gantry crane once used to build and launch barges. The site, located on the East Bank Greenway, was selected as the most favorable site in Nashville for public art through a process beginning with hundreds of citizens participating in the Nashville Civic Design Center’s Plan of Nashville workshops.

Ghost Ballet for the East Bank Machineworks has been garnering substantial publicity on the national arts circuit, with features in prominent magazines such as Sculpture, Public Art Review, and Art in America. Most recently it was selected for Art in America’s Annual Guide issue as one of the featured public art projects of 2007.

About the Metro Arts Commission

The Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission is a commission of the Metropolitan Nashville Government, established to provide leadership that stimulates and advances the arts to enrich the human experience for the community. Additional information about the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission is available online at www.artsnashville.org.

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© 2008 Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission 800 2nd Avenue South, 4th Floor P.O. Box 196300 Nashville TN 37219-6300	Page revised: 30 Jun 2008 arts@nashville.gov (615) 862-6720 fax (615) 862-6731
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