20 Years of the Spirit of Nashville Poster Art!
The Spirit of Nashville poster art collection began as a promotional calendar for our "big city" clients in 2004. The twelve 18" x 24" prints we created to mark the months in the calendar were an instant hit and gave us an opportunity to showcase the city we call home.
Understandably, with so many historic sites, parks, restaurants, music venues, and an iconic (and ever-changing) skyline here in Nashville, the hard part in designing the calendar was narrowing down which "Music City Moments" to draw, paint, and hand-letter!
From a Wall Calendar to a Poster Art Collection
Given that we had literally hundreds of illustration ideas for the calendar (but could only feature twelve) and given how popular the calendar was we decided in 2004 to publish one of our first-ever poster art collections, which we called the Spirit of Nashville.
Creating the Spirit of Nashville posters involved a collaboration of 17 ADG staff artists, each with a unique perspective of this fantastic city. And the saga continues! The majority of the posters were created between 2003 and 2010, but every year, ADG artists who live and work in Nashville find inspiring and wonderful features about the city to showcase in original art. Today, the collection has over 200 original posters featuring everything we've come to love about Nashville, the Athens of the South.
The Spirit of Nashville, a Sneak Peak
What can you expect to find in an art collection dedicated to Music City U.S.A.? To name a few:
Johnny Cash Art
Art of the Nashville Zoo
Belmont University Art
Nashville Hot Chicken, in Poster Art
Lipscomb University Art
Art of the Country Music Hall of Fame
Art of the Parthenon
Art of Broadway Nashville
Frist Art Museum Posters
Art of Cheekwood
Belle Meade Plantation Art
Art of Trevecca Nazarene University
Radnor Lake State Park Art
Art of Downtown Nashville
The above is just a sampling of all the icons of Nashville featured in the Spirit of Nashville collection. Check out the collection to see over 200 posters of Music City!
Here's to Another 20 Years of Poster Art!
ADG has been creating art since 1993, but it was the Spirit of Nashville poster art collection (first published in 2004) that set the tone for ADG's direction towards vintage poster art, travel art, art of American cities, original illustrations, vintage advertising art, and so much more.
In the words of ADG founder and creative director Joel Anderson:
“Everything you see on our site is original art, created with care by our team of artists at Anderson Design Group (a family owned business) and produced by American printers who take great pride in their work. As artists and craftspeople, we are passionate about preserving the time-honored traditions and techniques of artists from the 20th Century. We pick up where masters from the Golden Age of Travel Art and Illustration left off, continuing this tradition with a whole new body of travel posters for our generation. We travel all over America (especially the National Parks) for adventure and inspiration, but we love our hometown: Nashville, Tennessee. Each day, we get up and go to work, using our talents to create affordable, accessible wall decor that makes us smile. Our goal is to connect with others by producing high-quality prints, books, and gifts that beautify everyday life. When you buy one of our creations, you provide opportunities for artists, print-makers, book binders, paper vendors, shipping partners, and many others who take pride in working with their hands. Every print, postcard, and book we produce is printed in the USA.”
Here's to another 20 years and beyond of making poster art in Nashville! The team has created over 3,000 original illustrations and designs to-date. Think we can get to 6,000 by 2044?
Here's to finding out!
-Ren Brabenec
Anderson Design Group Staff Writer
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