Title: EastSide Pride
Location: 3124 Eastway Drive
Artist: Rosalia Torres-Weiner
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @redcalacastudio
Story: Local artist Rosalia Torres-Weiner is an “artivist,” which means she combines her art with her activism. In one of the first projects tied to redevelopment of the Eastway Crossing Shopping Center, the artist celebrates EastSide Pride. Her mural both reflects and contributes to the spirit of the community. See the Western boot in the mural on the far right? Check out El Potrero Western Wear in the shopping center! The smiling sun on the far left? A reference to Eastland Mall.
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Love the EastSide? If so, you have a lot of company. EastSide Charlotte is enjoying population growth, redevelopment, and a surging interest in established, close-in neighborhoods. Check out www.charlotteeast.com, a non-profit advocacy board dedicated to “supporting the people and places that make East Charlotte great.” Follow their Instagram @charlotteeast for an insightful look into the area’s past and future. In Torres-Weiner’s mural, the sun, flowers, and leaves, suggest the natural beauty of the landscape. The mural’s many colors reflect East Charlotte’s diverse population.
Title: EastSide Pride
Location: 3124 Eastway Drive
Artist: Sharon Dowell
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @sharon_dowell
Story: Only a few months after Torres-Weiner completed her colorful, nature-filled mural, Sharon Dowell and assistant Irisol Gonzalez completed a companion EastSide Pride mural. The message is similar, but the sleek modern lettering of a Helvetica-like type, suggests a more abstract vibe.
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Dowell is often inspired by objects in nature or real life, but as an abstract artist she breaks down those elements into multi-faceted images. This mural is inspired by bridges, which symbolize connectivity. Beneath the lettering flows the strong structural elements of bridge building. The Eastway Drive and Central Avenue intersection is a busy one, and functions as a crossroads through, and a bridge that connects the surrounding communities.
Title: Open Door Studio Mural
Location: 3124 Eastway Drive
Artist: Wendy Blue
Date: 2022
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @blueoctopus78
Story: The murals keep multiplying here at Eastway Crossings Shopping Center thanks to the property management team. For this artwork, the property managers held an open submission for artists and local artist Wendy Blue was chosen.
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Follow the mural from right to left. From Queen Charlotte on the right, to the ice skater on the left, there are several connections to local businesses both in the center and past businesses in the area. From chef hats, traditional designed tablecloths, and film, can you guess which longtime businesses the artist is highlighting?
One Hint: What was in the middle of the former Eastland Mall?
Location: 3046-A Eastway Drive
Artist: Sharon Dowell
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @sharon_dowell
Story: EastSide resident Sharon Dowell painted another mural in the interior of the Eastway Shopping Center. In addition to muraling across the city, Dowell maintains a fine art studio practice. Murals by Dowell are included on our South End ArtWalks and uptown Mad About Murals ArtWalk.
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With the strong focal point of the crown and “QC,” Dowell draws your attention to the active, energetic, movements of our city. Abstracted beams, trusses and facets of light bring the signature Dowell style of layering to brighten the wall outside of Bart's Bottle Shop.
Title: Painted Utility Box
Location: 3124 Eastway Drive
Artist: S. Broder
Date: 2021
Media: Acrylic paint
Story: Eastway Crossing Shopping Center continues to become your destination for art, um, shopping. Working with the Northwest School of the Arts (NWSA), students were invited to submit concepts for painting a utility box. A panel of tenants and community members gathered as a jury and chose three finalists. From those three finalists, a vote was taken, and S. Broder was chosen. Broder completed this while as a 7th grader at NWSA.
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Color and shape take center stage in this artist’s design of flower power peonies against a blue background of stars and the moon. Like artists before her including Georgia O’Keefe, Broder investigates a strong connection to nature with her close-up views of peonies. Broder told project manager Abbott that the imagery of peonies comes from the ones in her back yard and bring her a sense of calm. Nature in the middle of a parking lot. Art does it all!
Title: “Love, Always Hopes”
Location: 3646 Central Avenue
Artist: Kent Youngstrom
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @kentyoungstrom
Story: “Kindness is cool” artist Kent Youngstrom painted these two walls united at the corner. Artist, graphic designer, and illustrator, Youngstrom brings attention to the mission of Project 658 with his mural. Project 658 is a non-profit, Christ-centered ministry serving at risk families particularly within Charlotte’s international and refugee communities. The name Project 658 comes from the Bible verse John 6:58, “This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this will live forever.” (New International Version)
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Many contemporary artists are offering up “happiness psychology” in art. “Happiness psychology” supports well-being, wholeness, positivity, and the “good life.” It is derived from the Greek work eudaimonia – which in Aristotelian ethics translates into human flourishing, or the highest human good, which is human good that is desirable for its own sake, not as a means toward another end. Here Project 658 works to restore hope to residents in need, through wellness, job training, sports, and community programs.
Title: “Commural”
Location: 2934 Shamrock Drive
Artist: Cheeks
Date: 2024
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @cheeks
Story: This mural has a great story! Cheeks is a local muralist with a well-known graffiti signature, his smiling fish. Cheeks has completed murals for Talking Walls, for Luminous Lane Uptown, in Optimist Park, and in Myers Park. But he’d been eyeing this wall for some time and finally got permission from the owner of the building to paint a mural. He crowd funded for painting supplies and for idea of what to put in the mural. The community response was overwhelming with over $300 raised and over 100 suggestions for what to include in the mural. So Cheeks named it the “Commural.”
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Starting with suggestions like “an octopus on roller skates,” “runner,” “hearts,” “crown,” and many others, Cheeks drew each potential addition in his sketchbook while considering how to incorporate them all. The daffodils are a connection to a sweet story about a neighbor who shared her flowers. Make sure you catch the old Eastland Mall logo, flowing boba tea, and all the fun mix of characters.
Title: Street Mural
Location: 3601 Central Avenue
Artist: Makayla Binter
Date: 2021
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: makaylabinter_
Story: Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte received a Placemaking Grant from the City of Charlotte to fund a mural and community beautification at their site. For their mural they commissioned Makayla Binter. Binter, a recent Davidson College graduate, exploded on the Charlotte art scene during 2020. Her abstract expressionist style grounded in her study of the figure and exploration of Black female imagery is bold, colorful, and intense. She is currently represented by Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art and is a major creative in Charlotte.
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Binter took inspiration from the logo of the Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte, a non-profit that works with the community on education, food security, and training. But she translated the familiar stained-glass panels into a modern, abstract vision perhaps representing the new mission of this former church in a changing community. Her rectangular forms echos those of her mentor Frankie Zombie, another artist in Charlotte who commissioned Binter’s first murals. All which serve to welcome you to this community gathering place.
Location: 2407 Central Avenue at Mecklenburg Valve
Artist: Denton Burrows
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info:@dentonburrows
Story: Denton Burrows is based in Manhattan and is the co-founder of Dripped on the Road, a traveling artist residency program. He’s won numerous awards, painted all over the country (49 states) and is a public art entrepreneur.
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The original composition for Talking Walls are the three profile views of a figure. Each is made up shapes of colors against the black background. Organic and flowing, it brings to mind the Renaissance painter Giuseppe Archimboldo’s style of creating portraits with shapes of fruit. Just a little art history… Fun fact: the owners of Mecklenburg Valve liked his mural so much that they commissioned him to come back and paint the rest of the wall.
Title: The Butterfly Project at Manolo’s Bakery
Location: 4405 Central Avenue
Artist: Rosalia Torres-Weiner
Date: 2012 with refresh in 2020
Media: Mixed media
Artist Info: @redcalacastudio
Story: Artist and Activist or “artivist” as the artist calls herself, Rosalia Torres-Weiner often tells the stories of Latinx people through her art. As a Mexican immigrant herself, she uses her art to document stories of displacement and immigration and to bring about positive change in the community. Note the 2012 date for this mural. This work is among the earliest murals painted in Charlotte. The artist had just left her corporate career as an illustrator and this was her first outdoor mural. Recently, the artist refreshed the colors and the kites to make them stand out even more along Central Avenue. The kites are made of awning material, and the metal frames for the kites were fabricated by sculptor Theron Ross.
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Part of the artist’s Papolote Project (Butterfly Project), this mural is dedicated to the children in Charlotte who have been affected by deportations. Each kite incorporates fabric to symbolize clothing left behind by a relative who was deported. The mural is intended to acknowledge the pain of deportation, and to honor suffering of the children who are left behind.
Title: Our Lady of Guadalupe
Location: 4715 Central Avenue
Artist: Rosalia Torres-Weiner
Date: 2016
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @redcalacastudio
Story: “Artivist” Rosalia Torres-Weiner painted the side of local business Tacos El Nevado with the iconic image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to honor Mexican and Mexican-American heritage. Our Lady of Guadalupe is a national symbol of Mexican identity and is celebrated each December with a mass and a feast in the Catholic tradition. Locally, the artist and the business host an annual celebration at the mural to commemorate the feast.
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According to 2019 Census data, approximately 14% of the City of Charlotte population, or 150,000 people, are of Hispanic origin. Since 2010, the Hispanic population in North Carolina has grown by 25%. Central Avenue, which is home to restaurants of many cultures, is now an international artery that runs through the middle of Charlotte.
Check out www.historysouth.org and some of historian Tom Hanchett’s writings on the food culture of Central Avenue. Then take yourself out to lunch!
Location: 3600 N. Sharon Amity Road at Compare Foods
Title: “Our World is Our Gift”
Artist: Irisol Gonzalez
Date: 2021
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @irisolgonzalezart
Story: Irisol Gonzalez is a 2021 fellow of the League of Creative Interventionists and her community project was to paint three Latinx murals around Charlotte. This first mural is located at Compare Foods. The artist held community painting events with over 100 people participating in painting the mural. Gonzalez completed the Brand the Moth META residency program in 2018 and has painted several murals since then. She often brings her love of nature and the environment and her signature, stunningly detailed designs to her murals.
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As an immigrant, Gonzalez wanted to show the beauty of being Hispanic and provide representation of Hispanic culture in Charlotte murals. On the left side, pictures of places and memories celebrate Hispanic culture, while to the right those memories become moments in the present. Look for the memorial portrait of community member Don Adrian. Local artist Carla Aaron-Lopez painted the text of a poem from a local poet.
Title: Ervin Mural
Location: 4037 East Independence Blvd
Artists: Eva Crawford, Hilary Siber
Date: 2022
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @evacrawfordart, @hilary_siber
Story: Artists Eva Crawford and Hilary Siber created this amazing 5500 square foot mural over the course of six weeks during the hot summer of 2022. The Ervin Building was built in the 1960s by homebuilder Charles Ervin and was an iconic building for the East Side as it sat on the side of then Independence Boulevard. With renovations to the building, the developer commissioned a mural along the retaining wall.
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Combining two different artistic styles is never a guarantee for success but here Crawford and Siber hit a home run with their mural. Crawford is more known for her delicate, realistic portraits and Siber is known for her graphic, abstract patterns. Together they illustrate elements of Charlotte’s history from each decade. Take special note of the portrait of Dorothy Counts on the day she integrated nearby Harding High School in the 1960s. And note the portrait of Charles Ervin at the beginning of the mural.