Project Overview

Tile Murals | Dave Wells Community Center

“The NIA artists worked with students from Guthrie Elementary School throughout the project.”

The NIA Artist Collective's artwork at the Dave Wells Community Center inspires youth to think positively and to believe in themselves. The uplifting mantras and imagery wrap around the community center echoing the founding principles of the facility. These ceramic tile murals take their themes from the surrounding neighborhood and feature some of the landmarks and residents of the area. The NIA artists worked with students from Guthrie Elementary School throughout the project.

About the Artist

NIA Artist Collective

The NIA Artist Collective was first established in 2001 in Memphis, TN by artists Lester Julian Merriweather, Frank D. Robinson, jr., Vitus Shell, Jerry Lynn, and Terry Lynn. Swahili for “purpose,” NIA provides an outlet for artists of African-American descent to collaborate with and mentor one another in artistic skill, self-promotion, and supporting themselves as artists. The group has included more than 40 artists over the past 14 years, all connected to Memphis in some way. Notable shows outside of Memphis include Church Inc. Contemporary Religious Visions at the Hiram Van Memorial Gallery in Nashville, Tenn., Sugar Ditch Rich at the Tunica Museum in Tunica, Miss., and Southern Trees Bear Strange Fruit at the Langston Hughes Center in Buffalo, N.Y. and the Savacou Gallery in New York City.