The acronym “ABC” is perfect for a project that breaks art down to (and builds it up again from) blocks. Mayor Karl Dean leads a roster of Nashville celebrities and public figures in painting and decorating boxes, which will then be arranged into a ginormous “stack box painting” and displayed in a billboard-sized photo inside the Sommet Center. Who better to lead this exercise in thinking outside the box than Myles Maillie, the local artist who’s spent his career challenging the idea that art cannot be accessible or amusing (and assembled one of the coolest yards in Nashville doing it), aided by creativity expert Whitney Ferre? The creative impulse extends even to the cocktails and the hors d’oeuvres supplied by Levy Restaurants. A $100 “Paintbrush” ticket gets you the chance to paint and keep your own box; $25 admits you to the reception, with proceeds going to the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville.
Thu., Aug. 27, 5:30-7:30 p.m., 2009
