Neighborhood Pride Rises from Phoenix Hill

Phoenix Hill lies east of downtown Louisville and a bit southwest of Butchertown.  Framed by I-65 to the west, E. Main St. to the north, Baxter Ave. to the east, and E. Broadway  to the south, Phoenix Hill is well known for its diversity.  Now the neighborhood is an important part of the NuLu development in the East Market District west of downtown and east of The Highlands. It is considered part of East Market Street art gallery district and is home to many artists who have set up shop. Like Butchertown, Phoenix Hills is the also site of exciting new housing and business developments, but one of the most exciting trends in the neighborhood is the Creativity Rising Public Art Project. 

Funded by a $5,000 Kentucky Arts Council “Arts Build Communities” grant, Councilman David Tandy’s office, and private donors, Creativity Rising is managed by the Phoenix Hill Neighborhood Association, Curator Aron Conaway, and the Center for Neighborhoods.  The project has commissioned 12 local artists to create works throughout the neighborhood which commemorate the neighborhood’s rich history and often installed at buildings central to the community. The goal is to bring art to the people in the process.

Originally, the works were planned to be placed on public propriety but regulations got in the way, so most  exhibits are located on private property.

Whether you like or hate the individual works, the exhibits are pure Louisville.

Exhibit 1 – 1017 E. Broadway, Skull Alley – Breaking Away – Artist: Andy Cook

This functional biker rack sculpture  features a 3-dimensional phoenix with a tail that looks like a skull breaking away from a 2-dimensional squares.  This combination of art with a useful rack is an interesting commentary on development in Phoenix Hill and Louisville, which have become known for its support of biking.

Exhibit 2 - 500 Block of S. Clay - Home, Sweet Home – Artist: Denise Furnish

Home, Sweet Home, often needlepointed on samplers, has been recreated in polypropylene webbing and sewn into a chain link fence near the UofL Medical Center, which has  a large and growing campus in the area.  The project is envisioned as gift to the neighborhood – the residents of Phoenix Place apartments and the homeless visitors of St. John’s Center.

Exhibit 3 – Alliance Machine Tool, 524 Baxter Ave. –6 Day Bike Races - Artist– Sean Garrison

Six Day Bicycle Races at Phoenix Hill Brewery is a painting that honors a popular sport in the late 19th century and a popular attraction in the Old East End. The brewery was closed during Prohibiiton and torn down 1938. During its heyday, a park next door was a social center and site of a bowling alley, dance floor, and bar where Bohemian and lager Phoenix beer was served.  Patrons could sit outside and see downtown Louisville.

Exhibit 4 – New Directions Housing Corp. 100 E. Liberty St. – Msyitc Truths –Artist Russel Hulsey

Msyitc Truhts is a sign that explores language and poetry through unconventional spelling of the line "The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths."

Exhibit 5 – The Green Building, 732 E. Market St. – Serenity Seat Shrine  #1 – Gwen Kelly

Considered a “games-of-life” piece, the sculpture invites passers by to sit down and reflect on themselves.

Exhibit 6 –400 Block of S. Wenzel St, at the Cain Center Parking Lot. – Gold Throne– Thaniel Ion Lee

The artist considers the work, a golden wheeled chair, a monument to his travels in the city.

Exhibit 7 – Kicking Rocks – Liberty Green Community Center, 500 E. Jefferson St. T- Artist: Thea Lura

Representing the resident s of Phoenix Hill enumerated in the 2000 Census, over 4,000 gold-painted pebbles in a glass ajar are displayed at a central gathering spot at Liberty Hill, a mixed-income residential compluex..

Exhibit 8 – The Lounge, 947 E. Madison St. – They’ve Got Stars on Thars –Artist: Lisa Simon

Emulating the iron brick ties that shore up unstability in brick walls of buildings built in the early 20th century, colorful ceramic stars grace The Lounge on E. Madison.

Exhibit  9 – Various locations - Phoenix Hill – Portraits of a Neighborhood –Artist: Skylar Smith

Locations throughout the neighborhoods are marked with signs prompting you to dial a number to hear a recording of neighborhood history recounted by residents.

Exhibit 10 – 834 E. Chestnut  (tree) – 37 Tree Rescue –Artist: Rodd Smith

A raft installed on a tree on E. Chestnut St. commemorates the water level of the flood of 1837.

Exhibit 11 – Beacon – Signarma, NE Corner of Market and Campbell St – Artis:  Brook White

A huge  chandelier celebrates the importance of art glass in the area, while representing  the water of the Ohio River and fiery passion of Phoenix Hill.

Exhibit 12 – Fresh Grasp – Phoenix Hill Townhouses, SE corner of Campbell and Marshal – Artist::Mary Yates

A pieces of social commentary about the “food desert” where healthy produce often does not  make it low income communities, Fresh Grasp has images of fruit surrounding a tree to underscore the need to “branch out” in how food is distributed. It promotes the need for the community to bring affordable, healthy food to low income communities.

For a good look at an important piece of Louisville history and the future of the NuLu district, visit Phoenix Hill. 

Louisville Housing Stats 9/10