Art professor Austin Peay draws playful animals to encourage people to vote

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As Election Day approaches, you won’t have to look far to see campaign signs in yards throughout Middle Tennessee. But there’s another sign, usually associated with a playful animal, that sends a very different message.

This message comes from the art studio of Paul Collins. Collins teaches art at Austin Peay State University but commutes from his home and art studio in Nashville’s South 12th Ward.

He came up with the idea of ​​drawing colorful characters encouraging people to go vote during some of the hostility surrounding the 2020 election. “I just read the political news and I go crazy,” Collins said. “I thought, oh, I’ll do a cardinal, because a cardinal is a messenger who just says ‘vote.’ So I made a cardinal sign and put it up in my neighborhood, and I just thought I’d do it once a day until the election.”

Collins carves each creature by hand. He does the same with the drawn picture. “I try to make everyone truly unique,” ​​Collins said.

The only thing his creations have in common is the call to go vote. “What’s important to me is that they just say vote and not who to vote for,” Collins said. “I can’t determine the outcome, but it really bothers me that so few people are voting.”

Price? Absolutely free. Collins raises money for materials by selling some of her other artwork online. GoodWood Nashville also donated some plywood for the project.

After the first launch of 2020, people began to notice and love Paul’s creations. “Just reached out mostly through Instagram and asked for a sign and then asked what their child’s favorite animal was. You know these things. It was really fun,” he said.

So far, Paul has complied with all the requests, although it is becoming more difficult every day. “There are 443 of us, but who’s counting?” Collins joked. “It’s a huge job.”

When Paul finishes one of his signs, they end up on his porch to pick them up. From there they ended up in the South 12 area, south to Granny White Park and north to Clarksville. “When people ask for a sign, I ask them to send me a photo. So I have a lot of pictures of them ending up in them and I really like them,” Collins said.

For Paul, seeing his bizarre wildlife all over Midstate is worth all the work and annoyance from his wife. “My wife finished this project, she kind of finished this project,” he said with a laugh.

Because as Election Day approaches, he wants his message to be clear. “I think we will create a better union and better policies and achieve better results if we all work together,” he said.

If you’d like to admire Paul’s work even more or request a sign, visit him Instagram page.

Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at [email protected].
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A trip to see some of our neighbors’ best Halloween decorations.

There are only a few days left until Halloween. Americans are expected to spend about $12 billion on candy, costumes and jewelry this year. Over the past few years, it seems like more and more people are going out of their way to decorate their homes. Forrest Sanders had the opportunity to visit several communities in the middle of the state to see some of these Halloween decorations.

-Lelan Statom