Overton Park's Art Museum Is Now a Working Foundry

"We've been walking by the gallery for many, many years, and we always enjoyed it, and as my husband got older we often would stop and sit here and enjoy the view." A Shelby County resident told WREG this on September 27, the day the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art closed its Overton Park building. The Brooks had been in Midtown since 1916. On December 6 it reopens downtown at Front Street and Union Avenue as the Memphis Art Museum.

Three weeks earlier, a different museum had opened in the park. The Metal Museum held its public grand opening on Saturday, September 5, in the former Memphis College of Art building. The Daily Memphian reported that regular hours began September 11. So if you live near Overton Park, your art museum has changed in kind. It used to be a place to look at finished work. Now it's a place where metal is heated, poured and hammered on a weekly schedule, and the fall calendar is built around that schedule.

What Moved Into the Old Art College

The new campus at 1930 Poplar Avenue has a blacksmith shop, a foundry, fine-metals and enamel studios, and a dedicated demonstration area. Grand-opening coverage also describes outdoor sculpture, classrooms, a library and a fabrication yard. WREG reported that visitors walked the sculpture garden and looked into the foundry on opening day. The Memphis Flyer reported a gift shop and a café.

The two opening exhibitions both look back on the move:

• "From the Bluff to the Park: The Metal Museum's Collection Through Time" is on the second and third floors through March 21, 2027.
• "Strike! Pour! Create!: Works by Metal Museum Apprentices" is on the first floor through January 31, 2027. It features work by more than 20 apprentices.

The apprentice show explains why this building feels different from the one that just closed. The people who make the work are in the building, using the shop. James Vanderpool, the museum's assistant director of foundry and design, told WREG he loves being able to "de-mystify the process and kinda show people what we do every day." He said the metalwork demonstrations will happen regularly at the new location.

Timing a Visit Around the Forge

A gallery works the same way at 11 a.m. and at 4 p.m. A working shop doesn't. When you go makes a big difference here, and the museum's own visit page has the details.

Regular admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors 62 and older, $6 for military, $6 for students with ID and $5 for ages 5 to 17. Children four and under and members get in free. The schedule creates a choice. Thursday is the free day for Tennessee residents. The forge demonstrations only happen Friday through Sunday.

Getting there takes some planning too. The museum says parking in Overton Park is limited and must be in designated spaces, and it can get especially tight during events or busy times. On foot or by bike, you reach the museum along the park's paths, and MATA Route 50 serves the park. On a weekend when the Shell, the Greensward and the museum all have something going on, walking in is the simplest option.

The Museum's Programs Now Run on the Park's Calendar

The clearest sign of the change is on the Overton Park Conservancy's event calendar. Metal Museum programs now show up there next to bird walks and 5Ks. Even before the doors opened, the Overton Park Shell's free fall series had listed a Metal Museum Metal Night on September 4. Here is what's scheduled from now into mid-November, with museum programs and other park events in date order.

October 2 and 3

• The Shell's Orion free series has Drivin N Cryin on Friday, October 2, from 7 to 9 p.m. On Saturday, October 3, a Hispanic Heritage Celebration runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with Los Kumbia Brotherz, DJ Mala Leche, Horacio Méndez and Danza Azteca Xochiquetzal.
• Also on October 3, the Metal Museum holds a S.T.E.A.M. Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.
• The Evergreen Historic District Association's first Evergreen Street Fair runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Overton Park Avenue. It's free and includes music, food and drink vendors and a Kids Zone. The rain date is Sunday, October 4. Overton Park Avenue is closed from Willett to Angelus from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

October 9 through 11

• A free Songbird Stroll into the Old Forest runs October 9 from 8 to 9 a.m.
• On October 10, Metal Museum Storytime runs from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. That evening, Opera Memphis plays the Shell from 7 to 9 p.m.
• The free series ends Sunday, October 11, with Shakespeare at the Shell's Love's Labor's Lost, listed from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The Shell allows coolers, blankets and lawn chairs. Tents and umbrellas aren't allowed, and shows can be canceled if the lawn is too wet.

Later in October

• The free Memphis Mushroom Festival fills the Greensward on October 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with guided walks, cooking classes and vendors.
• The museum's Forged Connections speaker program runs October 22 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
• The Memphis Renaissance Festival is in the park October 31 and November 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

November 5 through 8

• Repair Days, the museum's annual fundraiser, comes to the Overton Park campus for the first time, Thursday through Sunday. You bring in metal objects to be repaired.
• Community Day is Saturday, November 7, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It's free and includes live metalsmithing, music, food trucks and an iron pour. Artists melt iron in a cupola furnace until it glows orange, then pour it into molds, and you can cast a piece of your own.

The museum describes its iron pour as "loud, hot, unforgettable."

Repair Days is the event that would have felt the least likely in the old Brooks building. The museum is asking people to bring in a broken gate latch or a bent family heirloom. That only works if the museum's shop is close to where people live, and now it is.

What Happens on the Bluff, and What Comes Next in the Park

The riverfront campus at 374 Metal Museum Drive is listed as closed to the public. WREG reported that its last public day was July 31. It also reported that event rentals would continue there and that the museum plans a new experience on the Bluff campus in January 2027. September coverage in the Memphis Flyer said the original grounds are expected to host artist residencies.

In the park, the Conservancy is asking for public feedback on what comes next. In a survey posted September 27, it lists the Overton Park 9 golf course and clubhouse renovation, the new Old Forest trail and new sidewalks along Poplar Avenue as work already completed. The proposals focus on Rainbow Lake and East Parkway.

• Rainbow Lake: The Memphis Zoo gave the Conservancy the land between the lake and the forest, where temporary exhibits used to be. That adds 13,000 square feet to the roughly 80,000 square feet around the lake today. Proposals include removing the lake's concrete bottom for a natural, planted edge, building boardwalks, rebuilding the playground and replacing the pavilion with a larger building. Two pavilion designs are up for comment.
• East Parkway: The pavilion there is the park's oldest surviving structure and needs repairs. The playground hasn't had a major renovation in decades. The survey also asks whether the park should add a second pavilion, along with new walking trails and seating modeled on the old concrete picnic tables.

These are proposals. The Conservancy says the survey takes 5 to 10 minutes.

If you'd like to talk through how changes like the Metal Museum's move are shaping the blocks around Overton Park, I'm always happy to compare notes over coffee or after a Friday demonstration. Christina Morris is glad to help you understand what's happening close to home. Let's Connect.