Chattanooga is home to an impressive number of street art projects. I especially enjoyed the large-scale, immersive, installation-style pieces I found all around the Downtown Chattanooga area. All were easy to access, once I found them, with my wheelchair. I love when a city shows such a strong commitment to art for all. Which one would you want to visit?
RADIANCE
I think all of the public art in Chattanooga is radiant… especially this piece, “Radiance” by artists Jason Kelly Johnson and Nataly Gettegno. This piece was built in 2021 and was designed with an organic form and fold after fold of stainless steel, to create a place to “enjoy the play of light, shadow, and reflectivity”.
UMBRELLA ALLEY
Who can resist taking photos when you see an alley topped with colorful umbrellas?
I couldn’t find any history of this installation in Chattanooga. While I’ve seen photos of others like this around the world, this is the first time I’ve seen one in person. It was easy to park in a metered space along the street, and then walk or roll right in. So I would call this “very accessible”. The umbrellas are suspended from a grid with small lights and dangling icicles mixed in, so this space looks pretty day or night.
URBAN CHANDELIER
Urban Chandelier is a public art piece over a narrow pedestrian alleyway in Chattanooga. The artists used 850 carbon fiber rods and over 6,000 styrene light-reflecting triangle pieces to create this piece. Created by the Office Feuerman group and artists William Feuerman and Dane Voordehake in 2016, this piece was initially only going to be on display for 12 months as part of an initiative called Passageways. Luckily, it’s still here. You can find this at 709 Cherry St. While this alley is narrow, I was able to roll through and explore it without any major issues.
CITY THREAD
CITY THREAD is a giant, zig-zagging structure that transforms an alleyway in Downtown Chattanooga. It was created by artists out of Syracuse, NY and the way the green structure weaves around the space, it breaks it down into smaller “urban rooms”. This is a well-loved installation in Chattanooga and often serves as a space for city-run programs.