"Bloom"
Location: 3200 N. Davidson Street side wall
Artist: Osiris Rain
Date: 2017
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @osirisrain
Story: “Bloom” is a 46-foot by 10-foot mural by artist Osiris Rain with assistance from Nick Napoletano. Originally the mural included a branding logo for Stella Artois, but the current rendition reflects changes. A signature component of many of Rain’s murals are his grey-scale human faces.
Key Formal Elements:
- Dominant colors are warm hues of yellow, orange, and red
- Delicate use of the cool color blue around the lotus flower creates a focal point
Make the Connection:
Iconography of the lotus flower is shared by many ancient religions. As the focal point of this image, the lotus flower has potential symbolic meanings. How may the lotus flower be symbolic of rebirth in this location? Also, can you locate the crowns, which symbolize of the city of Charlotte? And can you see the letters Charlotte spelled out in the mural?
Trash Receptacle
Location: At the corner of 35th Street and N. Davidson Street
Artist: Grace Stott
Date: 2020
Media: Ceramics
Artist Info: @stott_pots
Story: NoDaRioty, the arts committee for the Historic North Charlotte Neighborhood Association, partnered with the City of Charlotte and the Neighborhood Matching Grants Program to commission artists to design existing trash receptacles. A call to artists was sent out and eight artists were chosen to produce their designs.
Key Formal Elements:
- Free-standing sculptures
- Texture
Make the Connection:
Eight artists and eight different designs. Artist Grace Stott places ceramic faces on three sides of the receptacle and adds lots of colorful neighborhood connections on the fourth side. Be on the lookout and see if you can find all eight in the business district.
Medallion and Benches
Location: 3204 N. Davidson Street Center of the Earth medallion and benches in 3200 block
Artists: Ruth Ava Lyons and Paul Sires
Date: 1980s
Media: Mosaic tile embedded in concrete
Artist Info: @ruthavalyonsart, www.jpaulsires.com
Story: Ruth Ava Lyons and Paul Sires are artist legends in Charlotte. The artists found studio space in the NoDa area in the early 1980s, invested in properties, and started the artistic renaissance of the area. Their gallery was called Center of the Earth Gallery and located in this shopfront.
Key Formal Elements:
- Symmetrical balance
Make the Connection:
The artists also completed the mosaics on the benches in front of the shopfront. Both artists use a great deal of natural forms in their work. Lyons works mostly in two-dimensional mixed media paintings. Sires works as a sculptor mostly in marbles and granites.
Street Paintings
Location: Loading zone in the 3200 block of N. Davidson Street
Artist: Osiris Rain
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @osirisrain
Story: This project was a partnership between the Charlotte Department of Transportation and Sustain Charlotte for the OpenStreets704 biking celebration in Spring 2018. CDOT removed the parking lanes to create a loading zone and to ease congestion in front of the fire department.
Key Formal Elements:
- Repetition of patterns
- Warm, secondary color of orange forms the main area of the flower
Make the Connection:
During the OpenStreets704 festival, the artist provided stencils so that members of the community were able to contribute to painting the flowers and be a part of this community art project.
Wall Poem
Location: 3204 N. Davidson Street Wall Poem
Artists: Wall Poems of Charlotte, Amy Bagwell, Graham Carew, The Mural Shop
Date: 2016
Media: Acrylic paint
Artists Info: @wallpoems, @emotiontapes, @grahamcarew, @mural shop
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. “Untitled” is a poem by William Harmon, a North Carolina native and retired professor of poetry at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Key Formal Elements:
- The repetition and uniformity of the letters suggest the ocean on a calm day
- Cool color blue suggests water
Make the Connection:
Read each line carefully. Are they all the same? Do the words you can see have any relationship to each other?
Canoe is an anagram of ocean. An anagram is a word formed by rearranging the letters of another word. Are there any other ways these two words are related?
Can you make a connection between this poem and Harmon’s service with the United States Navy in Vietnam?
Mural
Location: 3204 N. Davidson Street painting beside the Wall Poem
Artist: William Puckett
Date: 2012
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @mr_puckett
Story: William Puckett’s political painting celebrates Barack Obama’s 2012 candidacy for President of the United States.
Key Formal Elements:
- Primary colors of red and blue
- Strong vertical lines of red stripes suggest power and strength
Make the Connection:
The idea of appropriation is central to contemporary art works. Appropriation in art is the use of existing imagery in new works. Puckett draws upon some imagery in the iconic “Hope” Obama poster design by Shepard Fairy, which was also created in 2012. Perhaps Puckett also makes a connection to Faith Ringgold, a prominent African-American artist and her work done during the Civil Rights Era. Do you feel that art loses any of its originality if artists borrow from historical sources?
Trash Receptacle Art
Location: Various locations around NoDa Business District
Artists: Pam Imhof, Ken Knudtsen, Luvly, Jason Lee Parker, Brenda Pokorny
Date: 2020
Media: Various
Artist Info: @theleftbrainedartist, @kenknudtsen, @luvlymoon_, @tinker_bird_, @bapokorny,
Story: NoDaRioty, the arts committee for the Historic North Charlotte Neighborhood Association, partnered with the City of Charlotte and the Neighborhood Matching Grants Program to commission artists to design existing trash receptacles. A call to artists was sent out and eight artists were chosen to produce their designs.
Key Formal Elements:
- Free-standing sculptures
- Functional art
Make the Connection:
Eight artists and eight different designs. Tinker Bird placed the letters N-O-D-A in both English and American Sign Language on his trash receptacle at the corner of N. Davidson and 36th Street. With a nod to the spiritual, Brenda Pokorney created beautiful mosaic mandalas on hers across Davidson Street. Look for art by Ken Knudtsen, Luvly, and others. See if you can find all eight in the business district.
Mural
Location: 3306 N. Davidson Street side wall at Salud Beer Shop
Artist: Nico Amortegui
Date: 2012
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @nico_malol
Story: Artist Nico Amortegui is a native of Colombia. His Abstract Expressionist style of art has parallels to several historic artists. With his emphasis on abstract figures, use of line, and incorporation of elements of graffiti, the work of Amortegui connects with that of Picasso, Basquiet, and Lam.
Key Formal Elements:
- Strong use of outline in all of the figures
- Abstract figures
Make the Connection:
Salud is the name of this popular beer shop. Salud is the Spanish word for cheers, or bless you, and is used as a toast for people raising their glasses. Cerveza is Spanish for beer. The artist includes several references to the name of the business and beer in his mural. Together the figures, the dog, and the musicians all communicate the joy of having a beer with one’s friends.
Mural
Location: 3306 N. Davidson Street side wall at Salud Beer Shop
Artist: Nick Garris
Date: 2013
Media: Acrylic paint
Story: In a second mural on the side wall of Salud Beer Shop, Artist Nick Garris celebrates this art-supporting business.
Key Formal Elements:
- Symmetrical balance
- Strong use of outline and contour lines in “faces” of beer bottles
Make the Connection:
Two beer bottles with faces and arms tilt slightly outward to frame a sign for the beer shop. Their “hands” raise a toast to connect with the meaning of salud. Why might the “eye” of one of the beer bottles be falling out?
Sculptures
Location: 3310 N. Davidson Street sculptures of water tower, faces, and paper airplanes at Mercury Apartments
Artist: Lauren Puckett
Date: 2016
Media: Stained glass and metal
Artist Info: @thepucketteers
Story: Artist Lauren Puckett designed three separate sculptures for this apartment complex. Look for the airplanes at the front entrance at 3310 N. Davidson Street, the water tower at the end of the driveway, and the faces along East 36th Street.
Key Formal Elements:
- Free-standing sculptures
- Primary colors used for the faces
Make the Connection:
The iconic NoDa area water tower is re-created in a smaller scale and marks a sense of place for this project. Along with the faces rendered in different colors and the planes, perhaps the artist is celebrating both the history of this place and idea of growth. How do you think the sculptures communicate this idea of history and growth?
Mural
Location: 511 E. 36th Street front wall of Neighborhood Theatre
Artist: William Puckett
Date: 2015
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @mr_puckett
Story: Built in 1945, the Neighborhood Theatre was originally called the Astor Theatre. At one time, it was an African-American theatre and by the 1960s it was showing X-rated films.
Key Formal Elements:
- Polychromatic color scheme
- Use of white outline around the animals
Make the Connection:
Puckett uses a variety of animal forms in this large, flowing, bold mural. The artist intends for this mural to represent the dynamic forces of the future and change, while preserving the past. What elements of the mural represent change to you? What elements of the mural represent the past to you?
Sculpture
Location: 514 E. 36th Street sculpture out front of Smelly Cat Coffee
Artist: Theron Ross
Date: 2011
Media: Metal
Artist Info: @theronross
Story: Playful sculpture in front of Smelly Cat Coffee House draws attention to the business and it is a bike rack that acts as a functional element of the streetscape. This project was a collaboration between NoDaRioty, the arts committee of the Historic North Charlotte Neighborhood Association and the Neighborhood Energy Challenge Grant. “Pimp my Rack” allowed Ross, a metal-worker and blacksmith, an opportunity to create six artistic bicycle rack designs. Five are still located in the neighborhood.
Key Formal Elements:
- Three-dimensional, free-standing sculpture
- Clever use of negative space
Make the Connection:
The sculpture was recently yarn bombed by fiber artist Jessica Allen @desertroseknittco. Yarn bombing is a type of graffiti or street art that uses colorful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fiber arts. Be on the lookout for other items that have been yarn bombed in NoDa.
Murals
Location: 3221 Yadkin Avenue walls of the NODA Company Store
Artists: Matt Hooker, Matt Moore
Date: 2016
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @hookermedia, @puckmcgruff
Story: Artists Matt Hooker and Matt Moore researched the history of the North Davidson Street area for inspiration. NoDa has transitioned from rolling farmland during the American Revolution, to a major textile center during the 20th century, to one of Charlotte’s art and entertainment centers today.
Key Formal Elements:
- Entire mural rendered in grey-scale tones
- Variety created through the contrast of light and dark
Make the Connection:
The history of NoDa plays a starring role in these murals. Starting on the front wall, the artists draw connections to farming, and include a portrait of American Revolution leader General William Lee Davidson. Around the corner, can you locate the reference to the Highland Manufacturing Co. Mill No. 3 which opened in 1903? The mill produced mostly gingham fabric. Can you find where the artists included gingham? There are also humorous references to the criminal element that oral histories tell us existed in NoDa over the course of its history.
Mural
Location: End of alley along side wall of NoDa Company Store
Artist: Osiris Rain
Date: 2017
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @osirisrain
Story: This piece of art transforms a concrete block wall that houses garbage behind this business.
Key Formal Elements:
- Highlights located on the eyelids, forehead, and chin
- Geometric patterns create contrast with organic lines of figure
Make the Connection:
The owner of this business turned a potentially unattractive garbage collection area into an opportunity to showcase art. On your walk, see if you can imagine other spaces that could benefit from an artistic intervention.
Street Mural
Location: 516 E. 35thStreet
Artist: Ruth Ava Lyons
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @ruthavalyonsart
Story: The City of Charlotte loves murals. Their Urban Design Center and the Office of Sustainability are supporting local artists and filling Charlotte’s streets with murals this summer. Artists from the City’s Placemaking Artist Pool are installing street murals that capture the impact of COVID – 19 and the resiliency and sustainability of our city.
Key Formal Elements:
- Asymmetrical balance
- Focal point of the black dandelion
Make the Connection:
According to Lyons, “the dandelion symbolizes our ability and determination to proliferate in the most difficult circumstances and places.” As an artist, Lyons draws much of her inspiration from nature and in this case from a lowly weed. A weed that never gives up, shows up in all the wrong places, demands attention and then becomes an ethereal seed to grow somewhere else. A beautiful lesson for our times.
Mural
Location: 510 E. 35th Street wall at 510 Expert Tattoos
Artist: Tom Michael
Date:
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @uglytom
Story: Large eagle with fully spread wings covers half of a side wall of the tattoo studio. Blue and white fluffy clouds fill in the rest of the areas.
Key Formal Elements:
- Implied motion of the bird in flight
- Asymmetrical balance with the focal point behind the eagle at the point where the red sunbursts begin
Make the Connection:
The eagle can be symbolic of many things in art. Going back to the founding of the United States, the eagle can be a symbol of power, courage, independence, and freedom. How does the choice of subject matter for this mural relate to the business?
Dumpster Mural
Location: Directly behind the building located at N. Davidson Street and E. 35th Street and across from 510 Expert Tattoo
Artist: Osiris Rain
Date: 2017
Media Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @osirisrain
Story: Neighborhood arts leader, Paul Sires commissioned artist Osiris Rain to paint a mural on the private dumpster Sires installed behind the building he owned. Rain painted one of his trademark portraits in grey scale and covered one side with flowers. Recently, the mural got an addition from @poetwastaken. Check out the poetry of this Los Angeles based street artist!
Key Formal Elements:
- Realistic highlights on the tip of the nose and forehead
- Cool colors of the blue background contrast with the warm colors of the flowers
Make the Connection:
Shortly after this piece was completed, it generated a good bit of controversy. Apparently, city zoning regulations require a fence or screening to hide a dumpster from public view. Articles in the paper and news segments debated whether the city should enforce this zoning regulation or issue a waiver and allow the mural to remain. Since it would take 2 years to get a hearing from the city, official are waiving the $50 per day penalty until a solution is found. Do you think the city should issue a waiver or enforce the rules? Why?