INSPIRED BY MUSIC:

All I Am

Hunters Lane High School

Opened March 30, 2023

To create the exhibition All I Am, students from Hunters Lane High School, a Metro Nashville public school, and their art teacher, Kendra Bomar, collaborated with music therapist and songwriter Kyshona and visual artist Elisheba Israel Mrozik. Working together, they combined music and visual art into audiovisual expression.

During a group songwriting session with Kyshona, the class co-wrote the exhibit’s companion song, “Who We Are.” Mrozik watched that collaboration unfold in real time and made preliminary sketches to visually represent “Who We Are.” Students then chose existing songs that reflect an aspect of their identities or experiences. Next, they created visual art works to illustrate themes from these musical selections and their connections to them.

The title All I Am is intended to describe the full creative collaboration. The exhibition showcases the voices of bright, young Nashville artists and songwriters, supported by the mentorship of seasoned artists.

Listen to "Who We Are"

Who We Are

00:00  /  00:00

Meet The Artists

Kyshona

In both her professional career and personal songwriting, Nashville-based artist, songwriter, lecturer, and music therapist Kyshona has focused on imparting empowerment, encouraging hope, and giving voice to those who have felt silenced.
As a therapist, she’s connected patients with music and songwriting as a means of emotional expression and presented three TEDx talks about music’s therapeutic power. As a songwriter and recording artist, she’s created “a musical treatment for social ills, a unique prescription that only works if you listen,” according to No Depression (among the many outlets praising her 2020 album, Listen).
Since 2017, Kyshona has guided hundreds of students in finding their own voice through the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s flagship education program, Words & Music

Elisheba Israel Mrozik

Multi-disciplinary artist and award-winning tattooist Elisheba Israel Mrozik melds fine art with community purpose. Her wide-ranging body of work encompasses painting with mixed media and tattooing fine body art. She specializes in realism, illustrative realism, and anime.
A Tennessee native who has called Nashville home since 2007, Mrozik earned a BFA in Computer Arts from Memphis College of Art. In 2011, she became Middle Tennessee’s first licensed Black tattoo artist, and in 2011, she opened One Drop Ink Tattoo Parlour and Gallery with the goal of “providing ink for all.”  She is is a founding member of the North Nashville Arts Coalition, which promotes community and equitable access  opportunities for North Nashville artists.
Mrozik’s work has been exhibited at the Frist Art Museum, Fisk University’s Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery, on walls and buildings throughout Nashville, and on human forms around the world.

This Future

Artist: Elisheba Israel Mrozik

Inspired by “Who We Are,” written by students from Hunters Lane High School with Kyshona

The scholars from Hunters Lane High School are working to understand this world and their place in it. This Future was created to represent these students, fighting to hold on to an uncertain and flickering future, and the traumas endured from life in lockdown. Though their world is Instagram veiled, their grasp remains steadfast, and their hopes fuel the flames of a brighter future for us all.

Mania

Artist: Aniya Armstrong

Inspired by RAYE and 070 Shake’s “Escapism”
I created it because the song has a deep meaning to it, and I like how I can relate to it.

“left alone”

Artist: Alleaha Clemmons

Inspired by d4vd’s “Romantic Homicide”

It shows how aloneness may be good for someone or thing.

The Tree

Artist: Gerrik Hines

Inspired by Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (Ten Minute Version)”

Taylor describes the barren cold of the city she is in. I have taken inspiration from her lyrics and imagery and recreated the barren tree we see in the lyric video of the song, as well as the metaphorical red scarf.

The 20s

Artist: Nyrisa Taylor

Inspired by Anika Noni Rose’s “Almost There”

I created a 1920s jazz-inspired painting that is similar to the song “Almost There” in The Princess and the Frog. I didn’t want to use the same colors in the song and changed it to my own.

The College Dropout

Artist: Jordy Salvador

Inspired by Kanye West’s The College Dropout (Album)

I created this artwork to be a parody of Kanye West’s album The College Dropout and the feeling of growing up and graduating in a sometimes sad or sometimes hopeful way.

Struggler

Artist: Hunter Lebel

Inspired by Susumu Hirasawa’s “Gats”

I based this work off of the manga Berserk by the late Kentaro Miura.

It shows an image of the protagonist, Guts, putting a hat back on one of his companions.

Lonely TV

Artist: Nevaeh Hatley

Inspired by Billie Eilish’s “TV”

I created this because the song is a very sad format of singing, which is what I like. But one of the quotes is “I just wanna watch TV.” I wanted to draw a girl crying while listening to this song on TV. This song is very relatable to me. I feel general emotions towards this song and it’s one of my favorite songs to listen to and watch.

Existence

Artist: Sunary Norm

Inspired by Ollie’s “Me & Myself”

I created a watercolor painting of a female looking at the sky. She represents someone who’s distant and alone. Someone who’s struggling to find happiness. This person is the younger version of me. I did this art piece as reflection of my past self. It was a way to show my growth and how far I’ve come.

Sugar Rush

Artist: Nicole Ivanovici

Inspired by Lemon Demon’s “Fine”

I decided to go with the joyous feel of the song I chose and went on to depict a collage of things that make me feel the same way. Those things range from things I appreciate on a visual level to things that make me happy on a deeper level. Although most of the things in my artwork don’t directly relate to the song itself, the feeling of the song is present in the subjects of my piece.

Why iii Love the Moon

Artist: Destiny Farrow

Inspired by Phony Ppl’s “Why iii Love the Moon”

I made this piece to show people how I feel about life and the people around me. This song talks about how many people don’t seem to realize just how easy they have it, and they don’t understand that it’s important for you to treat people the way they want to be treated. They say that they prefer to spend time with the moon because at least it won’t disappoint them.

A Walk in the 60s

Artist: Jessica Berber

Inspired by the Decemberists’ “Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect”

My art is a painting of a woman looking at a long, empty street. The art is supposed to depict the feeling the song gives me. It makes me imagine I’m walking down a street during fall on a breezy day. The time period feels like the 60s and I’m wearing bell bottom pants. I knew I had to make an art piece on this song because it gives me comfort.

Where This Flower Blooms

Artist: Sofia Rodriguez

Inspired by Tyler, the Creator’s “Where This Flower Blooms” ft. Frank Ocean

I took inspiration from the song title and some of Junji Ito’s work. From this one manga panel that has a girl with a second ugly face, I kept the scars and placed a flower to obscure the second place. I felt like the song title was kind of a way to find beauty in different things or different from others. Not everyone thrives in the same environment.

Space Man

Artist: Ramon Ricard

Inspired by Tom Scharpling’s “Comet”

I created a visual representation of him flying through space. I drew a big, bright orange sun in space with many stars around it. Then I have the singer flying in space like a comet because that’s how he feels. He feels like a lone comet, “A wandering spirit tearing its way through the cold atmosphere.” That is why he is alone in space in my artwork.

Our iDENTICAL aCHING sOULS

Artist: Alexa Campos

Inspired by Mac DeMarco’s “For the First Time”

The focus is on a guy looking back at his lover walking away. I find breakups beautiful. Only then can two people truly be vulnerable with each other and express emotions with a depth you’ll never truly feel again until you see your lover once time has passed, as if it was for the first time.

Forbidden Fruit

Artist: Tommy Danner

Inspired by J. Cole’s “Forbidden Fruit” ft. Kendrick Lamar

I created an image that I think that fits the song and what the song talks about. It’s about acquiring something that is desirable and amazing. However, this will eventually lead to rough times because you got this treasure. So I drew an apple with a crown to relate to the Garden of Eden, and Eve taking the apple. I then drew a devil figure under to tie the dark aspect to the forbidden treasure.

gone

Artist: Micah Cole

Inspired by Space Jesus and Dirt Monkey’s “Sofa Surfin”

My inspiration is coming from the lyric,”If I can’t leave Earth, then I’ll at least roam the surface.” In my artwork, I switched out the people’s bodies for plants. I then chose to use a messy black look for the outline of the couch and lamp. This is representing the normal world they are trying to escape. The colors and designs in my art represent EDM music in their minds.

Sunset Freedom

Artist: Lily Smith

Inspired by Florence + the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over”

It’s a girl running away from her responsibilities to start a new life. This song has a deep meaning. The writer wrote it about her experience with domestic abuse and how she manages to live in spite of it. I created this piece because I have struggles of my own. While the song is about domestic abuse, I deal with anxiety and depression pretty much every day, and this song brings me joy.

The Heart

Artist: Phoebe Norris

Inspired by Mark Ronson’s “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” ft. Miley Cyrus

I created this album cover based on the song “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” by Miley Cyrus strictly because the lyrics in this song are relatable to my life situation at the moment and the way she is bluntly telling you that the world can be dangerous and hurtful. In my eyes, the meaning behind this song is that everything around us might hurt us, but it doesn’t hurt the way a heart feels.

my era

Artist: Kiara Davidson

Inspired by SZA’s “Good Days”

I picked “Good Days” because it symbolizes past relationships and how they have hurt me. I have grown and changed, and I hope that they have not damaged me as much as they may have. While things are hard and the bad has happened, I know there is good and all time happiness waiting for me in my fate, my good days, because my past, sadness, worries, and fear do not make me and did not break me.

The Golden Days

Artist: Ke’Yandre Hall Young

Inspired by G Herbo’s “PTSD” ft. Juice WRLD, Chance the Rapper, and Lil Uzi Vert

It is about me and the things that happened in my life that I’d wish to forget: heartbreak, old family members, the old and younger me. This is why I miss the old me. I was so energetic and full of wonder, and I miss it because I am no longer that little sweet boy people miss. This artwork will help show the current vision of myself.

2022 Student Art Exhibit

 

To create Breathe in Deep. Sing out Loud!, eighth grade students from Isaiah T. Creswell Middle Magnet School of the Visual and Performing Arts collaborated with music therapist and songwriter Kyshona and visual artist Elisheba Israel Mrozik, combining music and visual art into audiovisual expression.

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