Father, daughter team up on Mid-south Coliseum murals
Like the building, the artworks recall Memphis’ past; artists hope it can have a promising future
If you've been to a Tigers football game this year or joined in on the tailgating before the Southern Heritage Classic, you might have noticed a series of murals on the outside of the Mid-south Coliseum. h The six-panel piece, the work of Memphis father-daughter artist duo Theo James and Nisa Williams, was installed in August, just in time for football fans to see. h “The main purpose of us doing what we were doing was to bring eyes to the Coliseum,” James said. “I just hope that one day in the future we'll see that something comes to fruition, that it culminates in something good for the city.”
A nod to the past
The murals hark back to Memphis' past – from basketball glory depicted by Larry Finch and civil rights movement triumphs represented by Constance Baker Motley – to the potential future Memphians possess.
Marvin Stockwell, co-founder of the Coliseum Coalition, said the organization had raised $5,000 for the creation of murals to help draw attention to the building, which has been closed since 2006.
With construction underway on the Liberty Park development just a few yards away, he said one of the lingering questions is what will happen to the Coliseum. It's a question he hopes more people will ponder as they see the murals.
Stockwell, whose daughter is friends with Williams, saw a mural of Ida B. Wells at Crosstown High that Williams and other classmates had painted and was impressed. Knowing Williams and her father, he asked if they'd be interested in working on a project at the Coliseum.
Williams and James took a tour of the arena. Afterward, they went outside to look at where the murals would be placed, and ideas Williams and James proposed matched up exactly with the vision the Coliseum Coalition had, Stockwell said.
From there, things progressed through several months of back and forth, sketches and idea bouncing, Williams said. She and her father started painting the six panels in May.
This was the first time Williams and James had worked together on a piece, which Williams said was a good experience. James said it was grueling at times to work in the summer heat.
“At the same time, I mean it was a good experience to be able to do that and work with my daughter,” he said. “My hat goes off to her, she's a really hard worker. It was a really pleasant experience. I think it was cooler than what most people can say they did with their kids over the summer.”
A place for creativity
Both said that with the wealth of artistic and musical talent in Memphis, it was important to provide a variety of spaces to host and nurture artists.
“We don't really have a mid-sized” venue, Williams said. “There's the (Levitt) Shell and the (Fedex)forum ... and then nothing.”
Williams, a senior in high school, doesn't have the same nostalgia for the Coliseum her father and other generations of Memphians do. But the 17-yearold said she thinks Memphis has lost out on the ability to create artistic hubs and she hoped the Coliseum had the possibility to be a place for collaboration for local artists and bring attention to the creativity of creators in the city.
Her father agreed, adding reaction to the murals has been positive.
"Not just because of the artwork, but I think a lot of people would concur that they want eyes brought to the Coliseum because it's just a resource that we need to use for the city,” he said. “I think it would be a good thing to help build a community, it gives us something to bond over.”
Stockwell said when the Coliseum Coalition spoke with residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the fairgrounds, almost everyone said the same thing about what they want to see happen with Liberty Park, with the Coliseum and any other future development.
“They want to be welcomed in,” he said. “They don't mind if tourists like it, too, but they want the fairgrounds reimagined with Memphians in mind.”
Corinne S Kennedy covers health care, economic development and soccer for the Commercial Appeal. She can be reached via email at Corinne.kennedy@commercialappeal.com.