What’s happening: Several months after community members celebrated the grand opening of the
Orange Mound Library & Genealogy Center – a $17 million redevelopment of the historic Melrose High School building that includes a new library and genealogy center, and eventually 28 senior living apartments – the UrbanArt Commission
has announced their selection for an on-site sculpture installation.
What’s planned: Artist Daniel Moore of Phoenix, Ariz. was selected after answering a national call for artists issued by the
UrbanArt Commission (UAC), chosen by a selection committee that includes several members of the Orange Mound community itself. His metal sculpture, composed of two monolithic pillars with several references to Orange Mound and Melrose High, will be installed onsite at a date yet to be announced.
FacebookDaniel Moore's Orange Mound-inspired sculpture.
What it is: The sculpture incorporates many local references into its design, including multi-generational silhouettes in Melrose High School colors; a double helix design referencing the Genealogy Center; and an Osage Orange pattern. The number 39 references the first plot of land sold to Miss Alice Seggins; Orange Mound is recognized as the city’s first neighborhood built for and by formerly enslaved Black Americans.
What it says: "This is my heart right here, Orange Mound, Tennessee. There will never be a place like Orange Mound,” reads a quote from hometown hero Larry Finch, which will run alongside the sculpture. “Everything in this city starts and ends in Orange Mound."
Meet the artist: Daniel Moore opened
The Oxide Studio in Phoenix in 2010, where he began to pursue his interest in three-dimensional sculptures fashioned through welding and metalwork. Several public art installations of Moore’s can be found throughout Arizona, as well as communities throughout the U.S., including Oklahoma City and Augusta, Ga.
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