The Mural Begins…
Drone footage by Josh Boggess of the blank canvas, ready for the new mural by Jonathan Bidwell.
You’re invited to watch the painting process of our new mural that celebrates realism and painting in gestural and impressionistic marks that are rarely found at this large scale, bringing a fine-art aesthetic to publicly accessible art.
Our northernmost exterior wall of our expanded facility on North White Street is a perfect canvas for a mural as it is nestled in a primary entry point to our historic downtown and Main Street district.
Throughout the five years we worked on our capital expansion, we saw the installation of a mural on the north wall as a sort of capstone project. I am thrilled that grant funding from Lyndhurst Foundation enabled us to hire artists to develop creative concepts for this significant project. It is exciting to see this long-term project come to life.
To bring this mural project to life, we used a Request for Proposal (RFQ) process, which is an industry best practice for public art, initiating an inclusive and widely communicated search for artists. Interested candidates were asked to submit their resumes, a statement of interest, and sample work.
Ultimately we received twenty-eight submissions from local and regional artists and even several out-of-state artists. A panel of local artists, civic representatives, property owners, tourism professionals, as well as our own staff and board members reviewed and ranked the submissions to narrow the pool to three finalists.
Then, we contracted the three finalists - Jonathan Bidwell (Chattanooga), Kate Buuck (Knoxville), and SEVEN (Chattanooga) to create design proposals. The designs from each artist were displayed for public input during The Arts Center’s Grand Opening and 45th Anniversary celebration on September 8, 2025.
These artists were selected because of the creativity and vision evident in their proposals. Each proposal was compelling and would have made a dynamic display on our wall.
We chose to work with Jonathan Bidwell because his design was aligned with our desire to surpass a temporal postcard approach and create a stunning piece of art for our community and visitors to enjoy for decades to come.
Jonathan Bidwell is a painter working both in his studio as well as on location for murals and fine art endeavors. He studied graphic design, illustration, and drawing/painting at East Carolina University in North Carolina. He has installed murals in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina with clients such as Art Creations, EPB, and McCallie School in Chattanooga, and Center for Craft Creativity & Design in Asheville, NC.
In his own words, Bidwell set out to “honor the agrarian history of the area and look to the future by portraying youth to remind us of who is coming next, and to consider where art, and life, may take them.” [The painting] is an image of peace, serenity, and contemplation grounded in AACA’s mission to experience the arts.
The mural project - from the Request for Proposals, to the three contracted designs, to the materials, equipment, and artist fees for the final installation is funded by a grant from Lyndhurst Foundation.
We’ll post updates on our social media pages throughout the installation. Use #myartscenter to follow the progress on this project!
