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Historic West End ArtWalk

Historic West End is one of the most historic places in Charlotte.  Biddle Hall, which you can see from Five Points Plaza, was built in 1887.  Celebrate all that history but also look to the future with the murals and sculpture on this artwalk.  Start at and return to Five Points Plaza.


PARKING:  Available on the surrounding streets or in the Mosaic parking  deck

TRANSIT: Gold Line accessible 

Google Map of 5 Points Plaza and BFR Art

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Start at Five Points Plaza

Title: “Even Higher”

Location: 5 Points Plaza

Artist: J. Stacy Utley, Evoke Studio Architecture

Date: 2021

Media: Stainless steel

Artist Info: @jstacyutleyart,


Story: Sponsored by the City of Charlotte, the Arts & Science Council, and the Knight Foundation, this sculpture is the focal point for the Five Points Plaza. Artist J. Stacy Utley is a noted designer and artist with degrees in architecture and art. Utley partnered with Evoke Studio Architecture, a Durham-based architectural firm, to create this sculpture and the four additional gateway pieces along West Trade Street. Together, the sculptures form a “Faith Walk” which links the corridor and plaza and tells the story of Historic West End. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Free-standing sculpture
  • Abstract form

Make the Connection:

Awarded the project in 2018, the artists began an intensive process of community engagement by listening to the elders of this historic, long-established community. Through this process of conversations with leaders and residents, ideas around heritage, roots, and quilts inspired the artists. As you look upward, angular panels illustrate the ground-breaking walk of Dorothy Counts-Scoggins in 1957 to integrate Harding High School.  Additional panels show the Excelsior Club and Biddle Hall of Johnson C. Smith University. In an abstract version of a torch, viewers are inspired to continue the walk upward with these principles of excellence. 

Located in the plaza

Title: Utility Box Wrap

Location: 5 Points Plaza

Artist: J. Stacy Utley

Date: 2021

Media: Vinyl wrap

Artist Info: @jstacyutleyart, 


Story: Coming soon!

Make the Connection:

Coming soon!

Cross street to other side of plaza

Title: “Gather Together” 

Location: Five Points Plaza 

Artist: Michele Teujola Turner 

Date: 2004 

Media: Ceramic tile 

Artist Info: www.micheletejuolaturner.com  


Story:  Commissioned in 2004 by the Arts & Science Council, this ceramic installation has a new life after it was moved and reinstalled with the redesign of the Five Points Plaza in 2021.  Michele Teujola Turner is a storyteller and her primary medium of painted gourds connects to her exploration of African-American traditions.  Turner has work in the Mint Museum here in Charlotte and several other pieces of public art.       


Key Formal Elements: 

  • Polychromatic color scheme
  • Geometric shapes  

Make the Connection:

Turner draws inspiration from traditional quilting patters, African textiles, and uses Adinkra symbols in this work.  Adinkra symbols originally appeared in textiles, architecture and clay in West Africa.  Look for the spirals which symbolize that even the strong have to be humble.  And concentric circles which stand for greatness, charisma, and leadership.  For families, make sure you download our Historic West End Activity Guide for fun activities based on the art.   


Also note the seats which are made to look like African drums.   

Walk toward uptown and cross at transit shelter

Title: Transit Shelter 

Location: Gold Line Transit Shelter

Artist: George Bates

Date: 2021

Media: Stainless steel

Artist Info:  


Story: Coming soon!

Make the Connection:

Coming soon!

Walk toward West Complex

Title: “Manifest Future”

Location: 1600 West Trade retaining wall

Artist: Janelle Dunlap, Georgie Nakima, Sloane Siobhan 

Date: 2018

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @denise_thugstable, @gardenofjourney, @namasteloner 


Story: With support from the Knight Foundation and the Charlotte League for Creative Interventionists, three artists collaborated on this mural to reclaim and celebrate Black space in this parking lot of the former A & P. Curator Janell Dunlap worked with the sponsors and the community to identify the space for the mural and artists for the mural. Community workshops and painting days engaged and empowered residents through art. In this symbolic Afro-futurist style mural, the title, “Manifest Future” refers to seeing and making possible a future where Black voices and culture are embedded in decision making and ideas around progress. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Variety of different styles of the artists
  • Scale

Make the Connection:

Like many older, close-in neighborhoods, this area of Historic West End is gentrifying. Gentrification often translates to displacement for original communities and cultures. In 2000, almost 100% of these surrounding neighborhoods were African-American. But twenty years later, development is bringing new populations and forcing out the old community and at times, knowledge about its history. With their mural, the artists want to reclaim this space and increase access to art in areas that don’t traditionally have access to art.

Focus on work by Georgie Nakima

Title: “Tree of Life,” “Faith,” “Unity” and “Reclamation”

Location: 1600 West Trade retaining wall

Artist: Georgie Nakima 

Date: 2018

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @gardenofjourney 


Story: The program for the mural includes different themes around the idea of celebrating Black culture. Georgie Nakima is an established studio art and street artist painting nationally in mural festivals and artist residencies. Some of her earliest murals in Charlotte have now been lost so this is an important record of her early work. Nakima’s work celebrates African culture through the use of symbols and references to textile patterns, while also connecting to the artist’s study and love of biology and plants. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Geometric shapes and patterns
  • Bilateral symmetry of “Reclamation”

Make the Connection:

Nakima’s work makes a connection to the patterns and symbols known as Adinkra from the Asante people of West Africa. And there’s often a reference to  plants, symmetry, and spirals, which all show the inter-connectness of our universe. Look closely at the “Reclamation” panel to find patterns, biology, and then look at “Unity” to see how the artist incorporated a spiral form.  

Focus on work by Sloane Siobhan

Title: “Ancestry,” “Creativity,” and “Group Work”

Location: 1600 West Trade retaining wall

Artist: Sloane Siobhan 

Date: 2018

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @namasteloner 


Story: Artist Sloane Siobhan grew up in Charlotte and was a recent graduate with a BFA from Appalachian University when she started this project. While her work had been included in a group show here in Charlotte, this was her first major mural commission. Siobhan completed a mural for Charlotte Shout in 2019 that is uptown. She is primarily known for her work in oils and this was her first experience using spray paint.


Key Formal Elements:

  • Oh, the highlights in her portraits
  • Implied motion of her figures

Make the Connection:

Siobhan is known as a studio artist for her stunning, realistic, and lush portraits and in this mural, each of her panels includes a portrait. Please take note of the incredible highlights and shadows on each of the figures that the artist created using a spray can. Yes, using a spray can for the first time. Notice how Siobhan’s panels are more realistic than the abstract panels of Nakima but how each tells a story rooted in Black culture.

On side wall of former A&P store

Title: “NC8 Greats”

Location: 1600 West Trade Street

Artist: T’Afo Feimster, Abel Jackson

Date: 2020

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @tafoarts, @artbyabel


Story: T’Afo Feimster and Abel Jackson collaborated on “The Great Escape” across the street and again on this mural. Jackson is a noted mural artist with murals in NoDa and uptown and Feimster has been involved in preserving Black culture for several decades in Charlotte. The mural was commissioned and funded by the Duke Endowment, Johnson C. Smith University, and Historic West End Partners.


Key Formal Elements:

  • Grey-scale portraits
  • Saturated colors of background

Make the Connection:

Each of these portraits is of an African-American musician with roots in North Carolina. Thelonius Monk was a self-taught pianist and born in Rocky Mount. Pianist and singer-song writer Nina Simone was born in Tryon. John Coltrane, saxophonist and jazz musician was born in Hamlet. Saxophonist Maceo Parker was born in Kinston. Max Roach, a drummer with a connection to bepop drumming, was born in Pasquotank County. Black Mountain is the birthplace of Robert Flack. George Clinton was born in Kannapolis and Chuck Brown was born in Gaston County.

Continue to other side of building

Location: 1600 West Trade Street

Artist: Marcus Kiser and Jason Woodberry

Date: 2020

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @marcus_kiser, @jason_woodberry


Story: Artists Marcus Kiser and Jason Woodberry, along with artist Quentin Talley, produce  a project called Intergalactic Soul. Intergalactic Soul is an installation and exhibit that traces the adventures of two young, black astronauts traveling through space confronting social justice issues as a person of color. Both Kiser and Woodberry are multimedia artists and combine elements of fine arts, comics, graffiti and technology in their art. This mural was created in partnership with the Knight Foundation and Historic West End. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Limited color palette
  • Symmetrical balance with the astronaut and the text

Make the Connection:

The artists balance the past on the right with the future on the left. On the left, the astronaut, a connection to Afro-futurism, floats freely amongst the nebulas and stars. Why do you think the artist rendered the astronaut upside-down?


On the right, Woodberry presents his “LHAXX.” Woodberry invented a sort of signature text or hieroglyphic language which he calls “LHAXX.” It is named after Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells contributed to groundbreaking medical research after they were harvested from her body without her permission or knowledge. 


Woodberry’s hieroglyphs are a representation of a famous quote by James Baldwin, noted African-American novelist, playwright, poet and racial activist. Note: to watch a video and translate the text in the mural, find the signage and download the free app.

Walk to the I-77 Underpass

Title: 

Location: West Trade Street Underpass

Artist: Jamil Dyair Steele

Date: 2022

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: 


Story: Coming soon!

Make the Connection:

Coming soon!

Walk up to 1545 West Trade Street

Title: “Mosaic Village”

Location: 1545 West Trade Street

Artist: Abel Jackson with Big Trouble Studios

Date: 2020

Media: Acrylic paint 

Artist Info: @artbyabel, @bigtroublestudios


Story: Muralist Abel Jackson paints a welcoming gateway mural to West End. Jackson revives an older composition he painted that would have been lost with new construction and highlights iconic buildings from the Biddleville neighborhood. Biddleville, one of Charlotte’s oldest surviving black neighborhoods, is celebrated with references to Johnson C. Smith University, reminders of its thriving, culturally elite black population, and references to its past and future.  


Key Formal Elements:

  • Lines of perspective guide you to the center of the arch
  • Symmetrical balance with the historic trolley and the new light rail car

Make the Connection:

The Johnson C. Smith University stone gateway arch provides a focal point as each of the historic buildings radiate out from the arch. Originally called the Biddle Institute and founded in 1867 to “train leaders for newly freed black populations,” Johnson C. Smith is Charlotte’s historically black college. The white stucco Excelsior Club on the far right was the first black social club in Charlotte where many black musicians played to standing room only crowds. In the middle of the composition, the Grand Theatre, a black-only movie house, the Old Mount Carmel Baptist Church, one of many churches designed by noted Charlotte architect Louis Asbury, and Biddle Hall’s brick clocktower rise up to meet the sky. On the left, Garr Memorial Church is painted with their iconic “Jesus Saves” sign which used to be visible from I-85. Each side of the composition is anchored by transportation as seen in the historic trolley which came to Biddleville in 1903 and the current new light rail car. 

On next building

Title: JCSU Arts Factory mural

Location: 1545 W. Trade Street

Artist: Hasaan Kirkland 

Date: 2013

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @kirklandhasaan

Story: Long time educator, curator, and artist, Hasaan Kirkland was an arts faculty member at JSCU when he and his students completed this mural. It is on the side of the Arts Factory building which then housed the dance, graphic design, film, video production, studio arts, and theatre arts. Kirkland, now teaching in Seattle, describes his style as expressionism and neo-abstract.  

Key Formal Elements:

  • Extensive use of line and contour lines (look at the bull)
  • Lack of negative space

Make the Connection:

The focal point of this piece is the bull which is larger in scale and the center of the mural. The golden bull (Smitty) is the mascot of JCSU, and here he is surrounded by representations of all of the arts taught at the university. Note the date of 2013. This is so early in mural history in Charlotte. 


Originally this mural was covered in color but over time, it has faded. Especially the yellow which was the original color of the bull. Why does this happen? Ultraviolet light causes chemicals in certain dyes to fade and reds and yellows are often the first to fade. 

In small park with fence out front

Title: The Great Escape

Location: 1635 Trade Street

Artist: Abel Jackson, T’Afo Feimster

Date: 2014

Media: Acrylic paint on wooden panels

Artist Info: @artbyabel, @tafoarts


Story: “The Great Escape” is a series of eight painted panels about the Underground Railroad by Charlotte artists Abel Jackson and T’Afo Feimster. The exhibit is presented by LATIBAH (Life and Times in Black American History), the Collard Green Museum, and Historic West End. Originally, LATIBAH and Collard Green Museum founder, T’Afo Feimster, received a grant from the Arts & Science Council to prepare the panels for exhibition in his museum space. When that space was lost, the panels were moved to this small pocket park with the assistance of Historic West End. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Narrative format that tells a story

Make the Connection:

“The Great Escape” is based on the Underground Railroad, a network of secret places and people used by enslaved and formerly enslaved African-Americans to escape into free areas. From the beginning panel, where we see the woman at the plantation to the final panel of welcoming into Philadelphia, the artists tell a story of escape, peril, fear, tragedy, and courage. Check out the separate “The Great Escape” ArtWalk to learn more about each panel. 

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