Soon, everyone who passes the University of Tennessee Health Science Center at the intersection of Madison Avenue and Dunlap Street will see UTHSC’s pride in being part of the UT System displayed in 35-foot bright orange and white letters.
UTHSC will be the site of the third mural in the UT System’s “Everywhere You Look, UT” awareness campaign. The campaign emphasizes the statewide reach and impact of the institutions in the UT System through a series of murals proclaiming those words and located in prominent spots across Tennessee that have been donated by friends and alumni of UT.
The UTHSC mural is being painted this week on the south-facing wall of the Van Vleet Cancer Center Building, located at 3 North Dunlap, at the corner of Madison and Dunlap, and is expected to be seen by an estimated 2.2 million people a year. Tapped by the UT System to paint the murals, artist Troy Freeman, owner of FreeSky Studios, Inc., in Springfield, Illinois, will be in Memphis for several days completing the project. Freeman was selected through a competitive bid process.
In addition to showcasing the UT System, the Memphis mural will help call attention to UTHSC’s status as the state’s flagship, public, academic health care institution, responsible for educating and training 75 percent of Tennessee’s dentists, 40 percent of the state’s pharmacists, 40 percent of the state’s physicians, and the majority of doctorally prepared nurses in the state.
The “Everywhere You Look, UT” campaign kicked off with a mural on a water tower in downtown Knoxville on property owned by UT Interim President Randy Boyd. The 15-foot-wide, 30-foot-high water tower generates an estimated 6.4 million impressions a year.
The second mural was unveiled in Sharon, Tennessee, last summer 7 miles south of UT Martin on a massive grain bin owned by Robinson & Belew, Inc., a family run business that ships corn, soybeans, and wheat grown in the area around the world. Three generations of that family have strong ties to UT Martin. The site is seen by as many as 1.9 million people a year.
Two additional murals are set for production in April at either end of the state. One will be painted on the side of Flippin Law Group, a downtown law office in Humboldt in West Tennessee. The 50-foot-wide, 15-foot-tall mural is expected to be visible to about 1.2 million viewers a year. Owner Floyd Flippin, a native of Milan, Tennessee, is a two-time UT Knoxville graduate and an active alumnus.
Also next month, a mural is set for a historic downtown pharmacy in Roane County. It will be painted on the side of Chase Drugs & Clinical Services in Harriman in East Tennessee. Since its founding in the late 19th century, several of the owners have had strong connections to UT and the UTHSC College of Pharmacy. The mural, 30 feet wide by 16 feet high, is expected to be seen by 5 million travelers year.
“We are excited to celebrate the third mural in our ‘Everywhere You Look, UT’ campaign,” Boyd said. “The Van Vleet Cancer Center building is an impeccable canvas that exemplifies the tremendous impact that UT Health Science Center has on this community and across the state.”
For more information about the “Everywhere You Look, UT” campaign or to submit recommendations for future sites, please visit https://everywhere.tennessee.edu/murals/.