NoDa Fat City Mural ** Removed 1/20
Location: 3123 N. Davidson Street side wall at Fat City Lofts
Artists: OBSOE, REBUS, ALOHA, JAFAR
Date: 2008
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @joeyobso, @bigtroublestudios
Story: On the side wall of Fat City Lofts condominium complex, four artists created a mural with connections to the former Fat City Deli. Look closely at the N. Davidson Street facade and you can see the historic storefront of the iconic neighborhood deli and music venue incorporated into the new building. The deli’s original side wall was covered in graffiti but was destroyed during a severe storm.
* As of 1/2020 this mural is painted over in anticipation for another mural. Stay tuned.
Key Formal Elements:
- Heavy use of outline
- Polychromatic color scheme
Make the Connection:
Fat City Lofts developers used a unique process to choose the artists for their project. Knowing that they wanted to honor the graffiti art heritage, they designed a ballot with images of graffiti examples by local artists. Voting took place during a NoDa gallery crawl night when they distributed the ballots. Rather than pick just one artist however, the developers settled on all and paid for their painting expenses. The artists branded themselves as #bigtroublecollective.
NoDa Mural ** Removed 3/20
Location: 453 E. 35th Street side wall of The Blind Pig
Artist: Rosalia Torres-Weiner, with David Merck
Date: 2014
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @redcalacastudio
Story: Artist and activist Rosalia Torres-Weiner is a native of Mexico. Commissioned by The Blind Pig, a popular NoDa bar, this mural juxtaposes episodes from NoDa history with images of its new emergence as an arts area.
** As of 3/20 this mural is painted over in anticipation for a new mural to be painted.
Key Formal Elements:
- The large scale of the white spindle of cotton and the artist’s hand and paint brush balance each side of the painting
- Note the one-point linear perspective of the streetscape
Make the Connection:
On the left side of the mural, Torres-Weiner draws upon Charlotte’s textile manufacturing history. In the early 20th century, North Charlotte became Charlotte’s largest mill village. Highland Park Manufacturing Company Plant No. 3, just down the road, housed 30,000 spindles and employed over 800 laborers. Torres-Weiner skillfully draws attention to the oppressive working conditions in the mill with the bent-over woman laborer surrounded and engulfed by white cotton spindles. Is the artist making a statement connecting mill history and the emergence of the New South skyline above it? Oh, and yep, it is another water tower.
NoDa Fibonacci ** Removed 8/20
Location: 3221 N. Davidson Street side wall of former Solstice Tavern
Artist: Jonay di Ragno
Date: 2017
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @jonaydiragno
Story: This mural is part of a collaboration between three artists and Brand the Moth, a local non-profit creating community-based public art projects. Jonay di Ragno completed the mural on the far left of the side wall. Di Ragno describes himself as an Abstract Expressionist artist and was raised in both Spain and the Caribbean. Fibonacci refers to the Fibonacci Sequence, a mathematical series of numbers. The numbers are often expressed in nature and are seen to have divine or perfect meanings.
Key Formal Elements:
- Focal point in the center of the spiral
- Loose, expressive splashes of warm and cool colors
** This mural was removed as of August 2020 and a new mural was painted in its place.
Make the Connection:
Di Ragno uses the familiar form of the spiral. The spiral is one of the oldest known symbols in art and is often associated with suggestions of life, death, the rising and setting of the sun, and creation. Here the loose bands of the spiral draw you into the center to suggest an energy source and connect to the name of the former Solstice Tavern. This mural has its own Instagram @noda_charlotte_mural_fibonacci. Take your picture and post it!
NoDa Mural ** Removed 8/20
Location: 3221 N. Davidson Street corner of former Solstice Tavern
Artist: Georgie Nakima
Date: 2017
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @gardenofjourney
Story: This mural is part of a collaboration between three artists and Brand the Moth, a local non-profit creating community-based public art projects. Georgie Nakima completed the mural at the corner of the building. Nakima’s background in math and the sciences is often expressed in her work through the use of geometry, patterns and nature.
Key Formal Elements:
- Geometric patterns evoke African art
- Saturated use of warm colors of the sun creates focal point of the goddess
** This mural was removed as of August 2020 and a new mural was painted in its place.
Make the Connection:
Nakima has the toughest task of the three artists in this collaboration with the job of connecting the other two around the corner of the building. She connects to the side wall painting through the use of some circular patterns but opts for a strong and dominant goddess figure at the corner to balance the equally strong profile to the right of the door by Napoletano. What similarities can you find that connect or unify all three of these separate paintings?
NoDa Mural ** Removed 8/20
Location: 3221 N. Davidson Street front wall of former Solstice Tavern
Artist: Nick Napoletano
Date: 2017
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @napoletanoart
Story: This mural is part of a collaboration between three artists and Brand the Moth, a local non-profit creating community-based public art projects. Nick Napoletano completed the mural on the front facade facing N. Davidson Street. Classically trained and educated both in the United States and Italy, Napoletano works in Charlotte and other cities all over the country.
Key Formal Elements:
- Complementary colors of yellow and violet produce a dramatic effect
- Symmetry is provided with the orange sun at the left and the yellow sun at the right thus linking Nakima’s and Napoletano’s work
** This mural was removed as of August 2020 and a new mural was painted in its place.
Make the Connection:
This painting is an exploration of contrasts. The stability and anchor of the stationary portrait of the young woman is contrasted with the free-flowing movement of the bluish, purple ribbons. Perhaps that is a metaphor for the neighborhood. Look closely at the ribbons. Small, outlined symbols are scattered in the ribbons. Their designs came from a social media call put out by the artist. Napoletano’s interest in “Augmented Reality,” or AR is evolving and eventually these murals will move.
NoDa Mural ** Removed 9/20
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
** This mural was removed in September 2020.
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?
NoDa Paste-Up ** Removed 3/21
Location: Corner of N. Davidson and 36th Street
Artist: Poet Was Taken
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint and paste up
Artist Info: @poetwastaken
Story: Los Angeles-based street artist Poet Was Taken combines stencils, paste ups, and text to create a type of guerilla lovefare. All in the color PINK. NoDa just had a poetwastaken take over and three pieces were created in the central business area and one new mural was created at CanJam across the railroad tracks.
Key Formal Elements:
- Limited palette
- Installation
** As of 3/21, this artwork was removed.
Make the Connection:
The quote here comes from a popular line from the movie, “Mean Girls” and is illustrated with a paste up. The paste up technique allows a graffiti artist to put up a rather detailed design quickly using a piece of paper and wheat paste which is an adhesive made from wheat flour. It is a temporary installation and will disappear in some months depending on the weather and conditions.
Noda Mural ** Removed 8/21
Title: Evening Muse Mural
Location: 3227 N. Davidson Street
Artist: Stencil Spray, Jbird.the.vandal
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info:@stencilspray, @jbird.the.vandal
Story: Commissioned by the owner of Evening Muse, a live music venue, @jbird.the.vandal and @stencilspray painted this mural as an homage to music. @stencilspray is founding member of the Tough Ass Crew, an artist’s collective and @jbird,the.vandal is one of their artists. Step around the corner and pop into their gallery located at 3225 N. Davidson Street. You can see more of these two artist collaborations at CanJam CLT, one of the next stops on the artwalk.
Key Formal Elements:
- Complementary colors of yellow and purple
- Asymmetrical balance
** As of 8/21 this mural was removed.
Make the Connection:
The owner and the artists brainstormed about a mural of a musician from the Carolinas. Dizzy Gillespie, born in South Carolina, is pictured in one of his iconic poses. Pouched cheeks and bent instrument, Gillespie is known for his musical innovations, creation of Bebop music, and as a trumpet virtuoso. Enjoy the art of stenciling on this large wall!
NoDa Utility Box ** Removed 6/21
Location: Yadkin and 35th Street
Artist: Poet Was Taken
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint and paste up
Artist Info: @poetwastaken
Story: Los Angeles-based street artist Poet Was Taken combines stencils, paste ups, and text to create a type of guerilla lovefare. All in the color PINK. NoDa just had a @poetwastaken take over and three pieces were created in the central business area and one new mural was created at CanJam across the railroad tracks.
Key Formal Elements:
- Limited palette
- Installation
** As of 3/21, this artwork was painted over.
Make the Connection:
Text in art is not a new thing. You can go back to the early twentieth century to see text in art by Picasso, in Dada and Surrealist art, and even more contemporary examples like Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger. So, yea, it’s a thing.
Each street art installation by this artist has some sort of text written as lines of love poetry. The text celebrates love or a message of love in some way. But there may be a hint of something else appearing in the language. Think it over.
Uptown "Helix/R" ** Removed 9/18
Location: 101 Independence Center
Artist: John Rietta
Date: 1983
Media: Polished stainless steel
Story: American artist John Rietta created this large, abstract sculpture for the plaza of the new twenty-story Independence Center. The site was the original location of Independence Square, where Mecklenburg County was established in 1763, and the town of Charlotte was created in 1768. Independence Center replaced the historic skyscraper called the Independence Building that was erected in 1906 and demolished in 1981.
Key Formal Elements:
- Highly polished texture of the steel
- Shape - curved and delicate shapes of the sculpture contrast with the geometric solidity of the building
** As of 9/7/2018, the sculpture was removed by the development company completing renovations of the plaza. It's location is unknown.
Make the Connection:
Abstract art of the 1970s and 80s sometimes is critically referred to as “plop art.” “Plop art” is a pejorative term used to describe art made for government or corporate plazas that lacks any connectivity to its site, therefore appearing to have been “plopped” down without context. Is there some way to connect this sculpture to its location by considering its potential meanings?
Uptown Mural ** Removed 3/20
Location: 101 N. Tryon Street
Artist: John Hairston, Jr.
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @jagolactus
Story: Artist John Hairston, Jr. grew up drawing superheroes, comics, and cartoons. His Instagram name is a combination of his name and Galactus, a Marvel supervillain. This mural was completed during a live painting competition at the end of Talking Walls, a city-wide mural festival held in 2018. His mural won the competition and became the featured artwork for Charlotte Shout. Charlotte Shout is a celebration of art, music, and ideas that coincided with the commemoration of Charlotte’s 250th anniversary and was held in May 2019.
Key Formal Elements:
- Asymmetrical balance
- Lack of negative space
** As of 3/20 this temporary mural was removed.
Make the Connection:
In this energetic and colorful composition, the artist gives us a larger than life superhero surrounded by symbols of Charlotte. For instance, can you find a sly reference to a hornet or the handlebar top of the Duke Energy building? Notice the many dogwood blossoms dotting the canvas. The flowering blossom of the dogwood tree was designated as the North Carolina state flower in 1941. Look around the 4 corners of this intersection to find one more iconic symbol of Charlotte in the mural. Hint: It tells time.
Uptown Painting ** Removed 3/21
Location: 227 West Trade Street inside the Carillon Building (Hint: Look at the elevators)
Title: "Wall Drawing 684"
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Date: 1991
Media: Acrylic paint
Story: Conceptual artist Sol LeWitt was commissioned by the developers of the office building. LeWitt’s work features a floating cube on a gold background, which takes up most of the space at the end of the atrium above the elevators.
Key Formal Elements:
- Line - analytical use of line and a grid
- Space - illusion of a three-dimensional cube using linear perspective
** This painting was removed as of 3/21.
Make the Connection:
LeWitt works in a very unconventional way. Conceptual artists believe that the idea or concept is the art. LeWitt writes very detailed instructions for his work which is then executed by his assistants. What do you imagine his instructions looked like for this work?
When you purchase a Sol LeWitt, you only purchase the right to reproduce the painting for a set amount of years. When that period of time is up, the artwork is removed.
BLM mural on Tryon Street
Location: N. Tryon Street between 3rd and 4th Streets
Artist: Multiple
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info in order of letter: B - @dammitt_wesley, L - @dakotahaiyanna, A - @part_t1m3, @shin.tytsumaki, @najiarts, C- @artbyabel, K - @2gzndcountin, L - @arko.clt, @owl.clt, I - @thekylemosher, @tragiczack, V - @fk.creative, @lovoniaparks, E - @kmuiii, S - @marcus_kiser, @jason_woodberry, M - @gardenofjourney, A - @matthewclayburn, T - @frankie.zombie_, T - @chdwckart, E – @jagolactus, R - @daricalamari
Story: Two weeks after the death of George Floyd, protests continued in Charlotte and all over the world. But the City of Charlotte, Charlotte is Creative, Brand the Moth, and Black Market Charlotte collaborated to plan something special. Modeled after the yellow Black Lives Matter mural in Washington, DC that seemingly sprang up overnight, artists gathered on the morning of Tuesday, June 9 and painted through the day to complete Charlotte’s Black Lives Matter mural.
Key Formal Elements:
- Variety
- Scale
Make the Connection:
Curators Sam Guzzie and Dammit Wesley, invited 17 artists to design each letter of the mural. While highlighting the Black Lives Matter movement, this design allows for continual and unique connections through the variety of letter designs by each artist. Through this celebration of color, shape, text, ideas, and line, this response offers education, choice and action.
Note: The City of Charlotte closed the street to create a pedestrian plaza for several months but it is reopened. Do not step into the street to take pictures.
Plaza Midwood Mural ** 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.
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?
Plaza Midwood Mural ** Removed 9/20
Title: "Elemental" Mural
Location: 1226 Central Avenue
Artist: Georgie Nakima
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @gardenofjourney
Story: Georgie Nakima is a Charlotte-based artist who completed this mural for the inaugural Talking Walls Mural Festival in 2018. Three larger-than-life-size female faces boldly occupy the main space of the mural along the side wall of the hair salon. Nakima creates strong and fierce women in her art as a way to empower women of color and all womanhood.
Key Formal Elements:
- Complementary color scheme of the orange background and blue figures
- Use of light blue outline at each edge
** As of September 2020, the mural was removed.
Make the Connection:
The women in her mural suggest the cultural aesthetic of Afrofuturism and its emphasis on examining African culture and technology. Think Black Panther. Nakima’s background in math and the sciences is often expressed in her work through her use of geometry, patterns and nature which connects her art to ancient artistic cultures. Which features of the faces demonstrate strength to you? Which features look futuristic?
PM Yarn Bomb ** 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
** This yarn bombing was removed in 2020.
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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South End Yarn Bomb ** Removed 3/20
Location: Charlotte Rail Trail
Artists: Kia Jones, Amy Reader, Sydney Sogol
Date: 2015
Media: Yarn
Artist Info: @amyreaderartist, @sydsthread
Story: This is another Charlotte Rail Trail project and was funded through an Art Place America grant. The artists are three fiber artists. Reader was a local artist who just moved to Portland, OR, Sogal is Durham based.
** As of 3/2020, the yarn bombing was removed as part of the construction at this site.
Key Formal Elements:
- Texture
- Pattern
Make the Connection:
Yarn bombing is a type of graffiti or street art that uses colorful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fiber arts. The artists were inspired by the textile history of South End and the movement of people and cyclists on the Rail Trail.
South End Mural ** Removed 11/20
Location: 1501 S. Mint Street
Artist: Rosalia Torres-Weiner
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @redcalacastudio
Story: On the side wall of the former Max & Lola Bodega, Torres-Weiner creates a distinct pair of artworks by dividing the wall in two. The upper part features our very recognizable skyline with the Duke Energy “handlebar” tower and the crown of the Bank of America. Look at the wall and then turn the other way to see the skyline in full view. The lower half of the wall features four pairs of angel wings and colorful flowers.
Key Formal Elements:
- Complementary colors of blue and orange in the upper half of the mural create a strong contrast
- Black is used as an outline for shapes in the lower half of the mural
** As of 11/20, this mural was removed.
Make the Connection:
Step into the angel wings. Yes, put on your pair of angel wings. There are wings for adults, for children and even dogs. Be encouraged to seek your dreams with the inscription, “What good are wings, without the courage to fly.”
South End Installation ** Removed 2/21
Location: 1507 Camden Road at the Powerhouse
Title: "Urban Eddy"
Artist: Carmella Jarvi
Date: 2018
Media: Vinyl
Artist Info: @carmella.jarvi
Story: Local artist and Charlotte native Carmella Jarvi received a Creative Lab grant from Historic South End to complete this project. A micro-grant program, Creative Lab projects seek to enhance the public realm of the South End Neighborhood. Jarvi is a glass artist and made 13 glass rounds for this project. She then photographed each piece and printed them onto vinyl. The vinyl is now attached to the glass of the Powerhouse building.
Key Formal Elements:
- Cool colors are the main color scheme
- Circular shapes resemble water droplets
** This public artwork was removed as of 2/2021 when the Urban Design Center rebranded the building.
Make the Connection:
Jarvi works in kiln glass, which is glass that is fired many times in a kiln to achieve her desired look. She likens the process to painting with glass as it takes many layers of glass to create the translucent feel to her artwork. Jarvi is inspired by water, and uses this project to bring elements of nature into urban South End. In fact, nature is a common thread running through many of the pieces on this artwalk. Can you recall other artworks on this walk that are inspired by nature? Why is it important to bring nature into the city? How is the placement pattern of the piece connected to the theme of water?