The Gulch Before Patagonia

On that day in 2017, we saw Chris Zidek (his portion on the right) painting his portion of this collaboration with Nathan Brown

When Colt’s Chocolates was in The Gulch, it was just down the street from this mural. As founder Mackenzie Colt once said to me, “We Were in The Gulch before it was The Gulch.” Back in 2017, we went to Colt’s Chocolates to, well, get some chocolate when we saw Chris Zidek working on his collaboration with Nathan Brown. Thankfully, my wife went to talk to him, and he pointed us to Guido Van Helten’s grain silo in The Nations .

While Colt’s Chocolates has since moved (part of the gentrification of The Gulch with rising rents?), The Gulch is still a good place to wander and check out some murals, most famously The Wings (it doesn’t need more love, so I’ll let you google “Nashville Wings Mural”).

From what I understand, this mural has since been repainted by Zidek and Brown…and now a Patagonia is in this building.

PS: Want a Nashville treat…try a Dark Chocolate Colt’s Bolts

Artist: Nathan Brown, Chris Zidek

Address: 601 Overton St, Nashville, TN 37203

 

The Day the Idea Started

We were SO lucky to get tipped off by fellow mural artist Chris Zidek (“The instructions that went something like ‘Go to the Nations and look up…you’ll see it” was so on point) on Aussie artist Guido Van Helten’s painting of a massive Grain Silo in The Nations.

I had gone mural chasing a few times before. On this day in Nashville (in 2017), my wife and I had a morning to ‘kill’ before we hopped on a flight home. I did some research and we started to go see some murals.

We had a few fortuitous things that happened that day. 1) we saw some awesome murals, 2) we kept seeing another couple doing the same thing, 3) We met Chris Zidek working on his collaboration with Nathan Brown on the now Patagonia store, and 4) Chris told us about Guido Van Helten’s mural on a Grain Silo!

We were lucky enough to see Chris and Nathan’s work being painted, but Guido’s was one of a kind! It helped us affirm that there is some fantastic free mural art and that people enjoyed it.

After a few years of doing research wherever I went (ever been to Jackson, MI for it’s Bright Walls…WOW!)…I realized that there needed to be a better way of discovering.

So here we go, MuralStoke is my side project to the mural arts community. I’m hoping it becomes the discovery tool that chasers like me are looking for and the platform that the artists deserve to give them the love they deserve.

Artist: Guido Van Helten

Address: 1499 51st Ave N, Nashville, TN 37209