Bring Tennessee Spirit into Your Home March 09, 2024

Tennessee holds a special place in our hearts, as this is our home state, where all of the magic happens at Anderson Design Group. While we’ve made countless vintage travel posters to show our love for the Volunteer State, we felt inspired to write about some of our favorite places we’ve visited here, places that embrace the true Tennessee Spirit.

Johnny Cash Art

Johnny Cash is a music legend and an icon of Music City. We even have our own Johnny Cash Museum right in the middle of downtown Nashville.

Admirers of the country music greats, we saw fit to create vintage travel poster art for Johnny, featuring the museum and some of his iconic lyrics.

Art of the Nashville Zoo

Welcome to the Nashville Zoo, Music City’s center for fantastic animal species. And let’s not forget, the Nashville Zoo is much more than just a zoo. This organization is also actively involved in species conservation.

For example, the zoo works on conservation projects to preserve rainforests in South America and Southeast Asia. Such efforts help protect countless animal species.

Belmont University Art

Belmont University was founded over 125 years ago and is Nashville’s cultural, historical, and educational icon. Since its opening, the university has educated hundreds of thousands of students.

Seeking to capture some of the history and nostalgia of Belmont University in vintage travel poster art, Anderson Design Group handcrafted a retro Nashville art poster of the university’s famous Bell Tower. What better way to depict a historic icon like Belmont than in vintage poster art?

Nashville Hot Chicken, in Poster Art!

Did you know that Nashville is famous not just for its music but also for its spicy hot chicken? That’s right, beginning with the opening of Prince’s Hot Chicken almost 100 years ago, Nashville was immediately put on the map as a hot chicken hotspot! In the following decades, “Nashville Style” hot chicken took off here in Music City, setting a national, even global standard for hot chicken dishes.

And while Prince’s might still be the “king” of Nashville spicy chicken, it’s pretty easy nowadays to find a decent spicy chicken meal in just about any Nashville neighborhood.

Lipscomb University Art

Welcome to Lipscomb University, an institute of higher learning dedicated to tempering students’ commitment and curiosity into applicable knowledge and skills they can use in adult life. The school is a faith-based institution as well as a research institution.

The university offers 176 fields of undergraduate study, as well as over 60 graduate degrees and certificate programs. The Clock Tower is one of the university’s most visible focal points, so Anderson Design Group chose it to represent Lipscomb in the ADG Spirit of Nashville Collection.

Art of the Country Music Hall of Fame

Welcome to the Country Music Hall of Fame, a true Nashville icon and a must-see for anyone visiting Music City. The Hall is packed with legendary items and memorabilia of country music, as well as special commemorations of each member of the Hall. Induction for the Hall began in 1961, with the first musicians honored being Jimmie Rodgers, Fred Rose, and Hank Williams.

Today, thousands of visitors stroll among the Hall’s corridors each year, learning about the history of country music and admiring the legends who created and nurtured this art form.

Art of Fall Creek Falls State Park

Known for being one of Tennessee’s largest and most-visited state parks, Fall Creek Falls State Park is a favorite Volunteer State attraction. Of course, Fall Creek Falls is the park’s gem (and the most-visited site).

This beautiful, 256-ft. tall waterfall cascades huge sheets of water over a sheer edge and into a deep gorge below.

Art of Broadway Nashville

It doesn’t get more Nashville than Broadway! The Spirit of Nashville collection was our maiden voyage into the world of poster design.

Since 2003, we’ve created over 160 designs depicting what we love most about Music City, several of which include Broadway depictions.

Frist Art Museum Poster

The Frist Art Museum is Nashville’s most prestigious center for the arts. It opened in 2001, and the magnificent Art Deco building that comprises it features new art every six to eight weeks.

The museum has over 30 interactive art viewing stations, a cafe, and a gift shop.

Art of Cheekwood

It’s probably the nicest garden in Tennessee (although we admit we may have a bias).

Cheekwood Botanical Gardens is a wonderful place to stroll in Nashville while enjoying the beautiful curated flower beds, trees, shrubs, and walking paths.

Belle Meade Plantation Art

An icon of the Old South, the Belle Meade Plantation is a must-see for tourists and residents alike.

We enjoyed depicting it, the Belle Meade Theater, and Belle Meade Bourbon in vintage poster art.

Art of Trevecca Nazarene University

Welcome to Trevecca Nazarene University, a private Christian liberal arts college in Nashville. Founded in 1901, the university maintains a collegiate body of about 3,000 students annually.

The university is known for its arts programs, athletics teams, and its graduates’ ongoing success and accomplishments.

A Taste Of Nashville

In addition to great music, Nashville has become well known for the fantastic variety of food in both classic establishments and brand new top-ranked restaurants. One of our personal favorites is the Bar-B-Cutie Smokehouse (see the poster below).

Nashville is now an iconic foodie destination, not just for its specialties in southern cooking, but for its international cuisine as well. When we're looking for a new restaurant to try (or to see what's on the menu at one of our tried-and-true favorites) we always refer to Nashville's own foodie periodical, the Eater Nashville.

Poster Art Collections Where You Can Find Tennessee Art

Each of the following collections features Tennessee art. Just click on the highlighted text in each section and scroll through the art!

You’ll find Tennessee art and so much more.

American National Parks

Did you know America’s most-visited National Park is in Tennessee? Great Smoky Mountains National Park is included in this collection, including art from all the National Parks.

Inspired by the iconic WPA-commissioned artwork of the early 1900s, our National Park poster series is meant to conjure nostalgia through design, to celebrate our American heritage and the gift of unbridled nature with pencil, brush, and stylus. The talented artists of Anderson Design Group are finishing what the WPA began, hand-illustrating original travel poster designs for all of our National Parks (with new angles and perspectives added all the time). Whether you're creating a bucket list or wanting to remember the family road trip of a lifetime, these handcrafted works by Anderson Design Group are perfect for any living or office space, rustic cabin, or uptown suite. Note: We donate a portion of our profits to the National Park Foundation each year. Your purchase helps to protect America’s National Parks!

American National Monuments and Natural Wonders

This collection depicts beautiful places in many U.S. states, Tennessee included.

Though often overshadowed by the illustrious 63 National Parks, America’s National Monuments, State Parks, and other natural wonders are worth visiting. Inspired by the success of our critically acclaimed National Park poster series, the artists of Anderson Design Group have been applying the same passion, technique, craftsmanship, and care to each illustrated poster design in this new series dedicated to favorite American scenic places. We are always adding new designs, and we hope you enjoy the art as much as we enjoy creating it!

American State Pride

We know a thing or two about State Pride. As proud natives of the Volunteer State, we like wearing our Tristar hearts on our sleeves (and walls).

This collection includes a couple of Tennessee posters!

With the State Pride Collection by Anderson Design Group, we have handcrafted a bold, iconic design for each of this beautiful country’s 50 states. Featuring bright colors and a memorable image for each locale, this poster collection provides a stylishly bold way to show off your roots. These prints pair nicely with our best-selling American Travel series as well!

American Travel

There are so many travel destinations in Tennessee that it’s difficult to keep track! We included several in this collection, as well as travel destinations in all 49 states!

In 2010, our poster art team at Anderson Design Group began creating travel posters of our favorite American cities illustrated in the style of “The Golden Age of Poster Art” (early to mid-20th Century). Since then, we have created over 500 different designs celebrating the history and charm of America’s most beloved cities, natural wonders, and destinations. We always create new posters, so if you have a suggestion, let us know, and we will consider adding it to our to-do list!

Art of Knoxville, Tennessee

Good ol’ Rocky Top! These poster art designs celebrate Knoxville, Tennessee’s sights, sounds, and tastes.

Decorate your space with East Tennessee icons like the magnificent Tennessee Theatre and the JFG Coffee Company. The cuddly creatures from Knoxville Zoo will draw a smile and add a touch of whimsy to any nursery or doctor’s office. Offering nostalgia and 865 pride, the Spirit of Knoxville collection will fill any room with Smoky goodness!

Southern Delight

There ain’t nothing like the South, and we’re in the middle of it here in Tennessee.

If you grew up saying or hearing iconic southern phrases, you can decorate with them! Our hand-lettered designs will get your Southern friends smiling and your Yankee friends asking just what the heck “grits” are. Whether you’ve just moved down South or live as a (freezing) exile up Northeast, we’ve got some down-home drawl for your walls to get you dreamin’ of home.

Spirit of Nashville

This collection embodies Tennessee’s spirit, highlighting everything we and our customers love about Nashville and the surrounding communities.

The Spirit of Nashville collection began as a promotional calendar for our “big city” clients in 2003. The calendars’ 18×24 prints were an instant hit and allowed us to showcase our hometown. With many historic sites, parks, restaurants, music venues, and an iconic (and ever-changing) skyline, the hard part was choosing which “Music City Moment” to draw, paint, and hand-letter next! Creating the Spirit of Nashville line was a collaboration of 17 different ADG staff artists, each with a unique perspective of this fantastic city.

Spirit of Nashville Hockey Fan Club

It’s Playoff Time in Music City! This collection has all your favorite art of the Nashville Predators.

As rabid fans of the hometown hockey club, we felt it was our civic duty to create a cheeky new series of designs that every Smashvillian would love. Some are parodies of our classic Spirit of Nashville prints. Others are notorious fan chants made popular by the rowdiest hockey fans in the world. We even created a mascot—a scrappy-looking catfish known as Fang Fish. Show your Preds Pride by decorating with these hard-hitting designs. Don’t forget to toss a catfish for us!

The Spirit of Tennessee Lives on in Vintage Poster Art

Whether you’ve been to Tennessee before, you live here, or the Volunteer State is on your bucket list, our team of artists has created hundreds of original Tennessee illustrations fashioned after the vintage poster art and vintage travel art of the early and mid-20th Century. Enjoy decorating your home or office with these beauties; each design is available as a vintage poster, framed print, canvas, mini canvas, metal sign, as postcards, or as notecards.

Until next time, happy decorating!

Ren Brabenec
-Anderson Design Group Staff Writer