The Art Garden
10 Year Anniversary video sharing about the beautiful work being done on Carpenter St.
The Art Garden - 2012
The Art Garden is our original outdoor creative space. This once vacant lot is located on the direct walking path between the neighborhood school (Cornerstone / Lester Prep) and the major housing development ("Red Oak" apartments).
It all began when our founder, a retired art teacher began bringing art supplies to the empty lot. From that moment, children began gathering every Tuesday afternoon for drop-in art programs. These free classes offered opportunities to create, build relationships, and experience performances after school. Everything you see in the Art Garden (stage, murals, mosaic, play set) has been built by Binghampton youth under the guidance of local artists.
When we started, the Art Garden was just an empty lot.
In 2012, there was no plan beyond this single lot. Afternoons were spent in conversation at these picnic tables, where the idea of what an "Art Garden" could be was planted. Young Binghampton artists have utilized arts-based community development to build a program that reflects the desires of the neighborhood. A single garden box turned into a community vegetable garden. From a single mosaic deer to a sculpture garden. A painting on a wood fence to a mural training program. The Art Garden gives creatives a space to connect.
In the past decade, CAG has hosted hundreds of local and national artists, leading small group art classes or performances on our stage. The Art Garden is also where we celebrate holidays and traditions annually, inviting any person who has ever had an experience at the Art Garden to re-connect.
CAG shows the great need for long-term connections and building relationships over time. Many participants who started coming in 2012 are still visiting, now with their brothers and sisters. Older teens say they wouldn't have known each other, even though they live in the same neighborhood, if not for the Art Garden.
The Art Garden continues to be a meeting place for the youth and community members of Binghmpton and surrounding neighborhoods.
Blooming in Binghampton Festival sponsored by Knowledge is Flower and Carpenter Art Garden (Spring 2026) held in the Art Garden.
Blooming in Binghampton Festival (Spring 2026) was held in the Art Garden. It was a day honoring the arts, health, and wellness.
Over the years, we kept growing and expanding our vision of what the Art Garden could contain.
We held our program called, “Art Tuesdays,” which were free art classes every Tuesday for the neighborhood children.
Student Spring Showcase (2026)
Community members came out to support the Student Spring Showcase (2026) held in the Art Garden.
Kids love swinging in the hammocks sprinkled throughout the Art Garden. (Summer 2026).
Youth from all over Memphis come and enjoy the Art Garden’s classes and camps. (Summer 2026)