Spirit of Nashville Book Release Party October 1, 2007

Anderson Design Group, INC. releases "Spirit of Nashville TM: The Art and Soul of Music CitY"

Art Opening and Book Signing Tuesday, October 9

Nashville, Tenn. - September 14, 2007 - "Spirit of Nashville TM: The Art and Soul of Music City," a 120-page coffee table book scheduled to hit store shelves on Monday, October 1, features a collection of 59 classic poster designs and the stories behind them created over the last four years by Joel Anderson and his team, Anderson Design Group, Inc. (formerly known as Anderson Thomas Design), honoring the history and charm of Nashville's landmarks, restaurants and cultural icons. On Tuesday, October 9 at the Nashville Public Library (615 Church Street in downtown Nashville), Anderson and several of the artists on his team will be on-hand to celebrate and autograph books at the release party. The free event is open to the public from 4:30 P.M. - 7:00 P.M at the library's Courtyard Gallery (inside on the 2nd Floor) and offers free one-hour parking with validation (enter on 6th or 7th Street). A portion of all sales will go to benefit the Friends of Nashville Public Library, a 501(c) 3 organization that supports the work of the library by advocacy and education, financial support for programs and projects, gift administration and voluntarism. "We are delighted to host the 'Spirit of Nashville' TM exhibit. The timing of the exhibit couldn't be better--it complements and enhances the grand opening events and inaugural season for the library's new Special Collections Center, a place where history comes to life through photographs, maps, printed materials and oral history," says Pam Reese, Community Affairs Administrator for the Nashville Public Library. "The exhibit honors so many of the landmarks, institutions and traditions that make our city special; the art in this collection speaks directly to the library's mission to preserve and share across generations the history and culture of Nashville." For more information, please visit http://www.library.nashville.org/ or http://www.spiritofnashville.com/ to reserve an advanced copy of the book. The first 500 orders will receive a signed and numbered edition of this historic work.

You may not recognize Joel Anderson when you see him sipping coffee at Fido near his studio on West End, but his award-winning limited edition gallery prints are becoming as familiar as the poster designs of Hatch Show Print and synonymous with the culture of Nashville, Tennessee. Anderson's artwork, which he describes as "a labor of love, bordering on mad obsession," captures the essence of Nashville featuring everything from the Belle Meade Plantation and the Parthenon to the Loveless Cafe and the Nashville Ballet. After living in Dallas, New York, Sarasota, El Salvador, and Curaçao, Anderson fell in love with Nashville and felt his arrival in 1986 was "strangely like coming home." His artwork and obsession reflect his love for what he calls "the best city in whole world," his adopted hometown, Nashville.
Artist, Abe Goolsby works on a design, “Tennessee State Capitol,” © 2005 “Spirit of Nashville” ™
Anderson's work began with the idea of showcasing Nashville to their out-of-town clients and friends through the creation of a promotional calendar. As one of the mid-south's leading design firms, Anderson Thomas Design decided the best way to stop people in their tracks was to create classic poster designs in the tradition of the Golden Age of Poster Art, a period which lasted from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. They teamed with one of Nashville's finest and oldest printers, McQuiddy Printing, to create 1,000 copies of a giant 18" x 24" limited edition calendar featuring 14 illustrations. "We ran out of calendars in a few weeks. People were calling from as far away as Canada, calendars were being cut up and framed to hang in offices, prints were showing up on eBay®," explains Anderson. "We realized we had stumbled onto something big--and so the 'Spirit of Nashville' TM collection was born."

"Many of the places celebrated in the collection are not only historically important to the city, but for sentimental reasons, they are monuments to wonderful moments in Nashville life: happy kids slurping milk shakes at Vandyland; glittering evening walks in Riverfront Park with friends; magical honeymoons at Union Station; glorious experiences of musical bliss at the symphony hall or at the Bluebird Cafe--these all serve as inspiration for our art and for this book," says Anderson. "Spirit of Nashville TM: The Art and Soul of Music City," features 59 full-color illustrations, accompanied by the writings of newspaper reporter and journalist, Angela Patterson, historic photos from the Nashville Public Library's Special Collections Center and Metro Archives, as well as personal stories, musings and memories from residents yielding an artful tapestry commemorating life throughout the ages in historic "Music City, USA."

ABOUT ANDERSON DESIGN GROUP, INC.:

Anderson Design Group, Inc. (formerly called Anderson Thomas Design) was founded in 1993 by Joel Anderson and David Thomas. This award-winning graphic design studio based in Nashville, Tennessee has produced logos, packaging, book covers, posters, web sites and marketing materials for clients such as Capitol Records, Golden Books, Hasbro Toys, National Geographic, Time Warner, Universal Studios and many others. Owner Joel Anderson has been in the design and advertising business for over 20 years, since graduating from Ringling School of Art & Design. Anderson Design Group, Inc. may be best known for creating the "Spirit of Nashville" TM collection, the critically acclaimed print collection that celebrates the "Art and Soul of Music City."

Beyond its efforts in design, Anderson Design Group, Inc. continues to embrace the Nashville community through sustained charity donations. Currently, it supports nearly 50 organizations by supplying free prints for use in fundraising efforts, as well as makes annual donations to the Nashville Alliance for Public Education (an organization that helps sustain under-funded school programs), Hope Clinic for Women (an organization that provides assistance for women in crisis pregnancies) and House of Mercy (a shelter for battered women).

Anderson Design Group, Inc.'s design and illustration portfolio can be seen at www.andersondesigngroup.com.

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For more information contact:

Kaleidoscope Media

(615) 321-3211

Shelly Mullins ([email protected])

Angie Gore ([email protected])

Official Website: http://www.andersondesigngroup.com