Start at VAPA and walk around to back of building
Location: 100 E. 11th Street (back of VAPA building)
Artist: Matt Hooker and Matt Moore
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @hookermedia and @puckmcgruff
Story: As legendary figures in Charlotte’s mural arts scene, Matt Hooker and Matt Moore have important murals all over the city and this is for TalkingWalls. Their work is featured in our Mad About Murals artwalks, and our artwalks in Plaza Midwood, NoDa, South End and Uptown. Stylistically, their work does not easily fit into one brand. Their work is highly adaptable to site, their personalities, and message.
Key Formal Elements:
- Scale. Just consider scale for a moment
- Complements of yellow and purple create drama
Make the Connection:
So much is going on here. Based on a photograph of @alifeofclarity by @angelica.lobiondo, this portrait done in a black and white value scale celebrates strong women. The insertion of wolf eyes gives the portrait a fierce edge. Read the accompanying text on the mural and think about the message.
Along back of same building
Location: 100 E. 11th Street
Title: "Ego"
Artist: Ledania
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @ledania
Story: Internationally known mural artist Ledania is from Bogota, Colombia. She completed this mural for Talking Walls 2019. Her main themes of positivity, happiness, equality, love and self-expression are executed through vibrant colors and shapes.
Key Formal Elements:
- Polychromatic colors inside the letters
- Implied motion
Make the Connection:
Ledania gives you a self-help mural. Largely based on her own personal experience in Charlotte waiting on a wall to paint, she felt her ego getting in the way. What is pulling you down with your EGO? What can you do to cut those strings that prevent you from letting go of your EGO? As your self-help muralist, the artist wants you to let go of your ego and feel freedom. Have a good day!
Walk to Tryon & 11th then cross to McColl lawn
Location: 801 N. Tryon Street
Artist: Nick Napoletano
Date: 2017
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @napoletanoart
Story: Funded with a Cultural Vision Grant from the Arts & Science Council which stressed building community and financial support from AerialCLT business owners, the artist presents portraits of real women. This group of women is racially diverse and LGBTQ inclusive. The artist found his models with the help of Time Out Youth, a local organization that provides a safe space for youth and support for LGBTQ.
Key Formal Elements:
- Scale
- Complementary colors of blue/orange simplify the background
Make the Connection:
Napoletano illustrates humanity in his hyper-realist portraits. The simple background of limited colors allows you to focus on the exceptional details in the portraits. Notice the modeling or shading of each of the faces. Find the highlights on each one and then begin to appreciate the many different shades of color represented in each face.
Walk 1 block to the side of Charlotte Ballet
Location: 701 N. Tryon Street
Title: "Delight in Dancing"
Artist: Pichiavo
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @pichiavo
Story: Two Spanish artists form the internationally known group Pichiavo. Their first mural in Charlotte is a commission for Charlotte Shout in collaboration with Talking Walls. The artists are well known for their unique combination of classical art and contemporary urban street art. This Classical Greek goddess of dance Terpsichore comes complete with wet-drapery style clothing and a lyre (a musical instrument) in a contrapposto pose.
Key Formal Elements:
- Contour lines of the drapery
- Variety of the graffiti colors
Make the Connection:
The artists have a distinct work style. First, a solid layer of color is applied as a base coat. On the large wall, the base color is blue. On the smaller perpendicular wall, the base color is pink. Next, splotches of additional colors are added, upon which the graffiti is painted. Site-specific simples, or bubble-style lettering, are added for this mural. Find some words that relate to this site. With the wall completely covered in graffiti, the artists then begin a delicate white washing of the form of the figure and add details that give the figure volume.
Walk to 401 N. Tryon St **Not visible due to construction
Location: 401 N. Tryon Street
Title: "Continuum"
Artist: Ben Long
Date: 1998
Media: Fresco
Artist Info: www.benlongfineart.com
Story: North Carolina native Ben Long was commissioned by the former NationsBank to create this fresco. The fresco painting method was known to the ancient Romans and was prevalent during the Renaissance. Fresco painting involves painting into wet plaster directly onto the wall and is ideal for creating murals. Long has several other fresco commissions in uptown Charlotte including the Bank of America Corporate Center, the CMPD building on Trade Street, and First Presbyterian Church.
Key Formal Elements:
- Implied lines of the figures pointing
- Space – the shape of the composition is a dome
Make the Connection:
Drawing on the traditions of illusionistic ceiling painting from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, Long uses heavily foreshortened figures and linear perspective to create the illusion of depth and an opening to the heavens. Individual vignettes or groupings of figures tell stories along the circumference of the dome. Can you find the self-portrait of the artist standing at an easel? Also included is a portrait of Hugh McColl, former chairman of the Bank of America and long-time patron of Long’s art.
Walk to 7th, cross Tryon
Location: 300 N. Tryon Street located on side wall down E. 7th Street
Artist: Caitlin McDonagh
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @caitlinmcdonagh
Story: Canadian artist and illustrator Caitlin McDonagh painted this mural as part of “Dripped on the Road” for Talking Walls 2019. “Dripped on the Road” is a traveling artist residency program based out of Brooklyn. For several weeks resident artists and mentors travel and camp in an RV in national parks, give talks to universities, and paint murals.
Key Formal Elements:
- Flowing lines
Make the Connection:
McDonagh is interested in folklore, fables, and fairy tales. And giving your imagination a workout. Follow the flowing ribbons in her composition through the trees, human-bird figure, eyes, and moon. Now tell your own story about what is happening here.
On same building
Title: “Man Feeding Poor Man”
Location: 330 N. Tryon Street along 7th Street side
Artist: University Park School students under direction of “Allen “Big Al” Carter
Date: 1992
Media: Acrylic paint
Story: American artist Allen “Big Al” Carter (1947 – 2008) was a prolific artist and educator and his art was widely exhibited and collected during his lifetime. While visiting Charlotte, the artist painted at different local sites and even participated in a panel discussion with local artists titled, “Public Murals Through Community Building.” Can you we this discussion now please?
Key Formal Elements:
- Use of outline and contour lines
- Focal point is the basket of fruit·
Make the Connection:
1992 is so very long ago in the history of community murals and public art in Charlotte in general. To put it in perspective, the oldest other mural included on an ArtWalk is from 2008. The Public Art Commission in Charlotte started overseeing a public art program in 1993. Many thanks to Charlotte is Creative for posting historical research on this piece. This information was provided by Karen Beach and a 1992 paper “A Report on an Arts Administration Internship with Spirit Square Center for the Arts” by Karen L. Thompson.
On same building
Location: 111. E. 7th Street
Title: "Perspective"
Artists: Ann Duarte and Sydney Duarte with assistance from Nick Napoletano
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @traveling_gypsy, @duarte_designs
Story: This is a mural by the mother and daughter team of Duarte Designs, a relatively new mural artist team here in Charlotte as of 2019. As artists, they are interested in spreading positive messages of love, laughter, and hope. This mural was commissioned by Charlotte Center City Partners.
Key Formal Elements:
- Scale
- Limited palette of purple tones and some yellow accents
Make the Connection:
With the simplicity of a gray-scale figure and limited colors, the artists use this vertical, four-story mural to spread their message of happiness. With the Dr. Wayne Dwyer quote “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” and their upside-down figure, their message is to see things differently. I feel happier already.
At corner of 7th and Brevard
Location: 328 N. Brevard Street
Artist: Wall Poems of Charlotte, Scott Nurkin, The Mural Shop
Date: 2015
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @wallpoems, @themuralshop
Story: Wall Poems of Charlotte is an effort to integrate poetry into urban areas of the city. The organization has completed over a dozen installations featuring the work of North Carolina poets. “Bus Stop” is a poem by Donald Justice, a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and educator who studied at the University of North Carolina. This installation was funded by the Knight Foundation with support from the building’s owner, Levine Properties. The Treolar House, as the building is known, is a rare residential building in uptown Charlotte. It was built in 1887 by a prominent business man who came to the area from England to work in gold mining.
Key Formal Elements:
- Installation
- Repetition of key phrases of the poem on three walls of the build
Make the Connection:
Much of the writing by Justice centers around memory or reimagining the past in some way to make a connection. In beautiful language the poem invites the reader to linger for a moment. Imagine those “black flowers.” Engaging with this building, one of the few remaining historic structures in uptown Charlotte, encourages the viewer to both slow down, and to anticipate the future a block away at the light rail stop. If the poet was painter, he would be Edward Hopper.
On back side of building in parking lot
Location: 225 N. Caldwell Street
Artist: elcompafino
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @elcompafino
Story: Local tattoo artist @elcompafino was hired by the developer of the Brooklyn Lounge to complete this wall of the building.
Key Formal Elements:
- Unity provided by the cool color of blues and purples
- Geometric shapes
Make the Connection:
The owners of this building intend to open a lounge and are taking the name of the former historic African-American neighborhood, Brooklyn, which was completely torn down during urban renewal in the 1960s.
Around corner of same building
Location: 225 N. Caldwell Street
Artist: Nick Napoletano
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @napoletanoart
Story: Classically trained and educated both in the United States and Italy, Nick Napoletano works in Charlotte and cities all over the country. His work often features hyper-realistic portraits and communicates social or political messages grounded in humanistic beauty.
Key Formal Elements:
- Scale
- Implied motion
Make the Connection:
This is complicated. Originally, in my conversations with the artist, the artist intended to complete four murals based on Maslow’s Pyramid of Human Needs, a theory of psychology. Also, there was to be an acknowledgement of the past history of this site which included a tragic shooting in the night club several years ago. After a contract dispute (art is business too), only two murals were completed by Nick Napoletano. However, viewers are always thrilled by the details of human figures by Napoletano so enjoy these massive, moving, living figures.
Follow Rail Trail to 9th
Location: 301 E. 9th Street at Charlotte Lab School
Title: "Night Driving"
Artist: Wall Poems
Date: 2016
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @wallpoems, design by @cffrank, painting by @themuralshop
Story: Wall Poems of Charlotte is an effort to integrate poetry into urban areas of the city. The organization has completed over a dozen installations featuring North Carolina poets. “Night Driving” is a poem by William Matthews, an American poet who received his MFA from the University of North Carolina. This installation was funded by the Knight Foundation with support from the building’s owner, Levine Properties.
Key Formal Elements:
- Symmetrical balance along the corner wall
- Implied motion
Make the Connection:
How important is the corner of the building here? Matthews’s poems are often described as understated and graceful and at only four lines that is true for this poem. His themes of life cycles and the passage of time are perfect for this corner location between a school and the light rail line. Why?
Continue on Rail Trail to underpass
Location: Just past the 9th Street Station at underpass
Title: "Halcyon Idyll I and II and "Coexist"
Artist: Sharon Dowell
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @sharon_dowell
Story: Federal Transit Administration Circular 9400.1A encourages the inclusion of art in transit systems. According to the circular, "Good design and art can improve the appearance and safety of a facility, give vibrancy to its public spaces, and make patrons feel welcome." In other word, design matters. For the Blue Line, up to 1% of design and construction costs was set aside to create public art. CATS Arts in Transit program hired artists as part of design teams and often the resulting art is integrated into the architecture.
Sharon Dowell painted five separate facades on the 11th Street underpass along the pedestrian trail and the I-277 underpass.
Key Formal Elements:
- Saturated colors
- Asymmetrical balance
Make the Connection:
Dowell’s work revels in abstract and bold, colorful patterns. Grounded in realism and observation, the imagery here flows from architecture, construction, industrial sites, and plans.
While modern in design, Dowell actually uses a very old technique for transferring her design to the vertical facades. The “pouncing” technique was used by many Renaissance artists to transfer fresco designs. Most famously, Michelangelo used this technique for the Sistine Chapel ceiling. From a digital design, to-scale paper versions are produced, and holes are punched along the main design lines in the paper. Then the artist takes a small bag of powdered charcoal and lightly dabs at the holes so that the charcoal passes through the holes to create the design. Dowell then paints using the transferred designs.
Back to 9th and walk toward College St
Location: 618 N. College Street
Artist: Nick Napoletano
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @napoletanoart
Story: In this super-scaled mural completed for Talking Walls, Napoletano features a female mural painter carrying her can of paint and a roller. She overlaps blue and pink painted dots arranged in a pattern similar to the Ishihara Color Blindness eye test. In the far-right corner, a man in a gray suit uses grey paint to cover up the mural. The site of this mural is important. In this area of town, many homeless congregate on the sidewalks and the parking lots. While he was painting, Napoletano spent time listening to their stories.
Key Formal Elements:
- Scale
- Symmetrical balance
Make the Connection:
Napoletano’s mural is dripping with symbolism and message. As an avid supporter of women’s empowerment, the artist gives us a larger-than-life size woman artist as the heroine of this mural. How does seeing the woman artist impact your understanding of the word “Equity” written in the color-blind test dots? What do you think of the actions of the gray-suited man in the bottom right?
** Make sure you try out Uptown Interactive! Scan the QR code on the wall.
On front of building
Location: 618 N. College Street
Artist: Gleo
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info @gleo_co
Story: Street artist Gleo comes from Cali, Colombia and works internationally. She completed this mural for Talking Walls 2019. As an artist Gleo is interested in issues of identity, women, and exploring global social issues.
Key Formal Elements:
- Symmetrical balance
- Warm colors of red, orange, and pink
Make the Connection:
Identity. Where do we come from? How do we fit in? The artist fills her composition with sensuous, large flowers that surround the main focal point of the mural, the divided face. How does the divided face connect to the issue of identity?