We are excited to share that the ABC x NSC Soundwaves Gallery: THE HE(ART) OF NASHVILLE will include the Starting XI, a collection of 11 specialty art pieces commissioned by Nashville SC and created by local Nashville artists using soccer-related items. The original artworks will be unveiled throughout the 2025 Major League Soccer season and auctioned off at its conclusion with proceeds benefiting the Nashville SC Community Fund. Stay tuned in the coming months as we introduce the artists and their creations as they are added to the collection!
Nashville’s Blue and Gold
Leroy Dawson
Leroy Ramon Dawson
, a member of the Periscope Class of 2023, is a Nashville-based artist who is passionate about creating and sharing his work. His art is eclectic, with shifting tones, themes, and preferred mediums. “Leroy Draws Things” is at the core of his creative practice—he loves to draw! He also loves to create stickers, illustrate on canvases and papers of various sizes, customize apparel, and make his mark on other surfaces with pens, pencils, markers, and brushes. Leroy’s illustration “The Heart of Music City” is part of the Soundwaves Gallery: HE(ART) OF NASHVILLE exhibition.
Starting XI
The Starting XI will be displayed alongside THE HE(ART) OF NASHVILLE collection at the Soundwaves Gallery at GEODIS Park, an exhibition featuring 44 pieces from 44 local artists and celebrates the people, stories, and community spirit at the core of Nashville’s identity as a uniquely creative city. THE HE(ART) OF NASHVILLE was curated in partnership with the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville in collaboration with a three-person curatorial committee comprised of local arts leaders Michael J. McBride, Artist, Illustrator, Printmaker, Painter, and Instructor of Art at Tennessee State University; Amanda H. Hellman, Director of the Vanderbilt University Museum of Art; and Michael Mitchell (aka mikewindy), Artist and Art Education Coordinator at Tennessee State University.