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Welcome to Plaza Midwood!

This artwalk starts and ends at the seating plaza at the corner of Thomas Avenue and Central Avenue.  Follow the walking directions for each of the 16 artworks on this walk.  Be careful crossing the streets, take lots of pictures, tag the artist, and stop and have a drink or bite to eat.  Tag us @artwalksclt with your fun adventures!

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Start at Thomas Avenue Seating Plaza

Location: At the intersection of Thomas Avenue and Central Avenue 

Artist: Ruth Ava Lyons and Paul Sires

Date: 

Media: Mosaic tile and terracotta

Artists Info: @ruthavalyonsart, www.jpaulsires.com


Story: Thank goodness for good memories! Information was hard to find on this older project (since it was before social media…) but artists Paul Sires and Ruth Ava Lyons remembered a lot about the project they completed some years ago. The sculptures and seating area were commissioned by the Plaza Midwood Development Partners and the City of Charlotte. For the house, glass tesserae are set on a hand cast concrete and steel structure. The granite for the benches came from a NC quarry. And the terracotta capital sculpture has hand carved symbols. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Installation
  • Texture

Make the Connection:

So many symbols. The tree on the house connects to the pride of Plaza Midwood residents in their beautiful tree canopy. The hand “represents the power to hold positivity and creativity as a beacon that welcomes diversity” and you will find mill symbols on the capital sculpture. There’s also a time capsule filled with material from residents! What three items would you put in a time capsule today? 

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Look at side wall of Coultrane's

Location: 1516 Central Avenue wall of the Coultrane’s Char Grill

Artists: Matt Hooker, Matt Moore

Date: 2017

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @hookermedia, @puckmcgruff


Story: Matt Hooker and Matt Moore are icons of the Charlotte mural world.  Here, the artists celebrate the diversity and eclectic quality of the Plaza Midwood neighborhood with themes of fantasy, children, magic, and animals.  


Key Formal Elements:

  • Variety rules this post-modern collage
  • Polychromatic color scheme

Make the Connection:

Can you make out the letters on the left of the mural and figure out what they spell? What is one object in the mural that relates to the theme of families and children? How is the idea of creativity or transformation expressed by the artists in the mural?

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Peek around corner into the parking lot

Location: 1510 Central Avenue back wall in the parking lot at corner of Central Avenue and Thomas Avenue

Artists: Matt Hooker, Matt Moore, Nick Napoletano

Date: 2016

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @hookermedia, @puckmcgruff, @napoletanoart


Story: Large wall mural features a portrait of Brandy Alexander, a celebrated North Carolina drag queen, and uses her image to create awareness around the HB2 conflict and discrimination against the LGBT community. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Modeling or shading makes the face look three-dimensional
  • Floating necklace creates a sense of implied motion in contrast to her intense stare and solid stance

Make the Connection:

The use of iconography or symbols in this artwork is important. Who is Pat McCrory and what was his role in Charlotte?  Why is his portrait delicately included in the cameo earrings? How does the gender-neutral charm at the end of the pearl necklace relate to the HB2 issue? What may be the significance of the breaking shackles?

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Continue down alley beside Snug Harbor

Location: 1228 Gordon Street on the side wall of Snug Harbor

Artist: Shurkin

Date: 2014

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @themuralshop


Story: This large wall mural draws upon the timeless story of the Sirens in the Odyssey. A sailor is tied to the mast of his ship so that he cannot follow the call of the Sirens in the ancient Greek poem. 


Key Formal Elements: 

  • Large wooden boat is focal point for the image
  • Visual texture in the mountain, sky, and sides of the boat

Make the Connection:

Snug Harbor can sometimes refer to a safe or comfortable place. How does the story of the sailor resisting the charms of the Sirens refer to this business’s sense of place?

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On back of building along Pecan look up

Location: 1500 Central Avenue side wall and back wall on the electrical boxes

Artists: Wall Poems of Charlotte, Graham Carew, The Mural Shop

Date: 2016 

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @wallpoems, @muralshop, @grahamcarew


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. “Love Comes Quietly” is a poem by Robert Creeley, an influential American poet associated with the Black Mountain Poets. 


Key Formal Elements: 

  • Notice the asymmetrical balance of the text and the mural

Make the Connection:

Creeley was known for the emotions in his poetry. What emotions do you feel when you read his poem and see the art that accompanies it? How does the emotional quality of his work fit into the artwork’s surroundings? Also don’t forget to walk around the building to the Central Avenue side and look up to see the other part of the work. 

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Walk left down Pecan toward Peculiar Rabbit

Location: 1212 Pecan Avenue, the former Peculiar Rabbit Restaurant

Artists: Mike Wirth, Dustin Moates

Date: 2018

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @southerntigercollective


Story: Large, outdoor, story and a half mural on the side of a popular restaurant features a friendly rabbit inviting you in for a drink. 


Key Formal Elements: 

  • Primary colors of red, blue, and yellow
  • Strong use of outline in the figure of the rabbit

Make the Connection:

Check out the swirls and movement in the blue and yellow background of the artwork. The artists use the famous Vincent Van Gogh painting “Starry Night” for inspiration. According to Google Art, there are more searches for “Starry Night” than for any other painting. What is your favorite painting?

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Continue walking along Pecan Avenue

Location: 1801 Commonwealth Avenue

Artist: Ashley Graham

Date: 2018

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @grahamarts


Story: Playful, fun monkeys and luscious fruit flow around two sides of the Smooth Monkey smoothie shop. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Highlights present on the fruit
  • Warm colors of the bananas and the oranges contrasts with the cool colors of the blueberries and raspberries

Make the Connection:

Notice how the monkeys are rendered in a greyscale, or the use of only black and white. Think about how that choice by the artist impacts how you encounter the other parts of the composition. 

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Cross Commonwealth, Walk to Okra Yoga

Location:  1912 Commonwealth Avenue, side wall of Okra Charlotte yoga studio.

Artists: 

Date: 2018

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @dr.rickamortis, @you_are_jah


Story: The artists created a mural with the quote, “Before I die, I will live” on one side and a meditating seated figure on the other. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Symmetrical balance of the seated figure in the circle 
  • Line – traditional use of outline in letters along the side

Make the Connection:

The meditative figure is cleverly arranged around a pipe on the exterior on the building. The locations of the seven chakras of the body are depicted vertically down the pipe. Chakras are various points in the body used in ancient meditation practices. What other imagery connects this piece to the yoga studio and wellness center?

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Cross Commonwealth at Thomas, continue on Commonwealth

Location: 2007 Commonwealth Avenue

Artist: Mike Wirth

Date: 2019

Media: Acrylic paint

Artists Info: @mikewirth, with @the_wizard_jeffries


Story: After the unexpected death of much-loved patron Jon-O, the Common Market asked artist Mike Wirth to paint a mural as a way to honor his memory and offer healing to his friends and community. Wirth reached out to a friend of Jon-Os and with the help of James, many who knew Jon-O were able to help with the mural.


Key Formal Elements:

  • Symmetrical balance
  • Grey scale of the figure

Make the Connection:

The life of Jon-O is celebrated in this full spectrum of color mural. From left to right, the colors create a rainbow of love. Unique aspects of the life of Jon-O from playing chess and cards to some of his frequent sayings floating in the paisley shapes, allow friends and family to remember his exuberant life. 

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Walk to Plaza and Commonwealth corner, turn left

Location: 1201 The Plaza

Artist: Christine Dryden

Date: 2019

Media: Printed vinyl

Artist Info: @christinedryden.art 


Story: Through a Placemaking Grant from the City of Charlotte, the Plaza Midwood Neighborhood Association sponsored eight artists to cover traffic signal boxes in the neighborhood. Like the Amplify Charlotte project by Laurie Smithwick in South End, the signal wrap project takes utilitarian boxes and turns them into art. Beauty meets function!


Key Formal Elements:

  • Polychromatic colors
  • Abstract

Make the Connection:

Artist Christine Dryden uses a project with her students at Chantilly Montessori School as inspiration for her art. The collage project created images of Charlotte landmarks in the style of Eric Carle, the illustrator of the famous children’s book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Can you find a favorite place for pizza in the neighborhood, Fuel Pizza? 

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Look to your left

Title: Giddy Goat Coffee Roasters mural

Location: 1217 The Plaza

Artist: Darion Fleming

Date: 2020

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info:@daflemingo


Story: Giddy Goat Coffee Roasters couldn’t really have a fish mural on the outside of their new coffee business. So, they commissioned the artist who completed the former mural on this wall to create a new one. And boy are we glad. Artist Darion Fleming covers this massive wall with colorful, decorative coffee plant imagery but what really steals the show is the grey-scale close up of the hands holding the cup of coffee. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Visual texture of the skin, wrinkles, hair on the hands
  • Strong use of outline

Make the Connection:

How well do you know coffee? 


According to legend, coffee plants were discovered by a herder who noticed his goats became more active after they ate the plants. 

The US imports more coffee than any other nation. 


The coffee bean is not really a bean. It is a seed. It comes from the Arabica or Robusta plant and its fruit, as you see in the mural, is rounded and red in color. 


Over 400 million cups of coffee are consumed each day in the US. 

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** Removed 8/20

Location: 1217 The Plaza, side wall of the former Sushi Guru restaurant

Artist: Darion Fleming

Date: 2018

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @da.flemingo


Story: On a large side wall of the restaurant, a massive fish entices you to dinner.


Key Formal Elements:

  • Color – primary colors of red and blue make up the fish
  • Space – Lack of negative space brings the fish to the forefront


** NOTE:  This mural was removed in August 2020.  New work is in progress!

Make the Connection:

The artist creates a humorous connection to the type of restaurant formerly located in the building. How specifically does he design the fish?

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Walk to light, cross to the Harris Teeter

Location: 1704 Central Avenue

Artist: Tom Thoune

Date: 2013

Media: Mosaic tile

Artist Info: @tom_thoune


Story: This was the site of the original grocery store opened by W.T. Harris in 1936. This store was the first full-service supermarket, first air-conditioned store, and the first to stay open until 9 pm on a Friday. So many innovations! Harris merged with Teeter Food Market in 1960 to form Harris Teeter. Industrial art deco building design is featured as a connection to existing art deco buildings along the Central Avenue corridor. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Texture

Make the Connection:

Artist Tom Thoune gathered pottery pieces from community members to make his mosaic medallions along the sides of the building. Each of the seven medallions references a different part of the grocery store. Make sure you see the bike racks designed by Shaun Cassidy for a nice art deco touch!

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Walk toward uptown on Central Avenue

Location:  1600 Central Ave on front wall of Pizza Peel

Artist: Darion Fleming

Date: 2018

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @da.flemingo


Story: This mural is a part of the 2018 Talking Walls Festival, a week-long celebration of murals and street arts. During Talking Walls, 17 artists live-painted murals across the city. Local business sponsors supported the effort and the artists with walls to paint. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Outline and contour lines in the skeleton
  • Limited palette – warm colors and the use of black and white

Make the Connection:

Darion Fleming is a young, talented artist who got his first start relatively recently designing cans of beer for local breweries. He quickly moved to a much larger scale designing walls for Catawba Brewery and Divine Barrel. With his two major murals in Plaza-Midwood, he’s exploring subject matter of animals but with a twist. In his mural at Sushi Guru he slices his fish. Here he shows the viewer the body of the snake but allows his snake to escape out of the frame of his mural. Does this heighten the awareness of this slithering snake or merely seem like a design decision? Or both? 

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Check out other side of Pizza Peel

Location: 1600 Central Avenue

Artist: Niki Zarrabi

Date: 2019

Media: Acrylic paint

Artist Info: @nikizarrabi


Story: Atlanta-based Niki Zarrabi painted this mural for Talking Walls 2019. Zarrabi, an Iranian-American mixed-media artist, works in both a smaller studio scale and very large outdoor mural projects. 


Key Formal Elements:

  • Green and reddish-pink hues work as complements
  • Organic shapes

Make the Connection:

Zarrabi explores a type of vanitas or imagery that suggests the fragile and fleeting quality of life. She is also interested in portraying power in typically feminine images. What details of the mural suggest the idea of the transience of life? How does the artist use feminine subject matter to suggest power?  

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** Removed 10/20

Location: Central Avenue and Thomas Avenue

Artist: Kelly Rose Creations, Ashley Jane  

Date: 2020

Media: Fiber arts

Artist Info: @kellyrosecreations, @fromyarntostitches


Story: Two fiber and textile artists cooked up this fun new piece in Plaza Midwood. HaHa. See what we did there. Part of the We Craft CLT artist collective, these two artists collaborated to create the backing and the cup of coffee and plates of breakfast in front of Zada Janes. 


Key Formal Elements:

· Texture of the yarn

Make the Connection:

Plaza Midwood has been yarn bombed! It had to happen. All the cool neighborhoods have them. Yarn bombing is a type of graffiti or street art that uses colorful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fiber arts. A temporary art installation, it creates visual interest and connects to the business located at the corner. 

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Cross Central, Cross Thomas and look on street

Location: 1301 Thomas Avenue

Artist: Dakotah Aiyanna

Date: 2020 

Media: Acrylic paint 

Artist Info: @dakotahaiyanna


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:

  • Focal point of the pink flower
  • Cool colors of the blues and greens mix with the warm reds

Make the Connection:

For multidisciplinary artist Aiyanna, COVID was a time for introspection and more time for connecting with nature. In this street mural, she borrows a version of the iconic “You can do it” imagery but replaces a head for a flower. Perhaps her message is that if we remove our ego and become closer to nature our strength will grow. 

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