King of Pops Mural
Location: 235 W. Tremont Ave
Artist: Cynthia Allison
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info:@cici_artsyhippie
Story: Charlotte native Cynthia Allison responded to a call to artists from King of Pops to design a mural. The King of Pops Community Mural Project seeks to support new or emerging mural artists with a commission in one of the cities they have operations each year. In 2019, Charlotte was the featured city.
Key Formal Elements:
- Use of outline
- Primary colors
Make the Connection:
With a theme of happiness and community, Allison turns the popsicle into a paintbrush and dips it into flavors and flowing colors. Strawberries, oranges, and lemons feel refreshing and fun.
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Zeppelin Mural
Location: 235 West Tremont Ave
Artist: Jen Hill with assistance from Matt Moore
Date: 2017
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @2hills and @puckmcgruff
Story: Zeppelin, an upscale restaurant and bar commissioned Jen Hill to paint a mural for their side wall. Hill, a relatively new mural artist, is making her mark quickly. Her graphic, pop art inspired art celebrates women, bright colors, and anything sparkly and glittery.
Key Formal Elements:
- Cool color scheme with the purples, to blues, to greens
- Outline around the edge of the zeppelin
Make the Connection:
Make the Connection: A woman aviator graces the right side of the zeppelin ship. Her bright lipstick and long thick lashes gives her a pop art or comic book style. She confidently meets your gaze. How many female zeppelin pilots are there do you think? Google it.
Mexican Mermaid
Location: 1999 Hawkins Street
Artist: Sharon Dowell
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @sharon_dowell
Story: Sharon Dowell worked with Asana Partners on this commission for the upper wall of the Design Center of the Carolinas. Dowell is a rock star of Charlotte art and this is her first major work in South End. Her large-scale mural is 10 feet by 90 feet and includes a mermaid and Dowell’s familiar graphics.
Key Formal Elements:
- Saturated colors
- Asymmetrical balance
Make the Connection:
Dowell’s work revels in bold, colorful patterns and shapes but her work is not often figural. “Karla” the mermaid (named after her model) dominates this mostly horizontal composition and the idea of a mermaid came from the developers. The black tattoos on her figure represent the past and present business of South End. Which ones can you connect to businesses you have seen in South End or you know were part of its past?
Parking Garage Panels
Location: Doggett Street
Artist: Matt Hooker and Matt Moore
Date: 2017
Media: Digital art
Artist Info: @hookermedia, @puckmcgruff
Story: Way back in 2017 when murals were just coming to Charlotte and South End was beginning its transformation to an urban center, Ram Realty hired two local artists. Matt Hooker and Matt Moore only had a handful of murals up around the city. Their idea was to make the blank walls of a parking garage look better. Thank you!
Key Formal Elements:
- Repetition of keyhole shape
Make the Connection:
The artists designed four panels that show changes in South End since the time of gold mining. See if you can find the connections to our railroad history, mills, the invention of Lance crackers, the iconic water tower, and thriving business center of today.
Krispy Kreme Mural
Location: 2116 Hawkins Street back of the building
Artist: Gina Elizabeth Franco
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @ginaelizabethfranco
Story: This new Krispy Kreme corporate office houses test kitchen space and their global product and innovation center. The adaptive reuse of a building built by D.A. Tompkins, an industrial leader of early Dilworth growth, is an important part of retaining neighborhood character and maintaining history. Asana Partners commissioned this mural.
Key Formal Elements:
- Repetition
- Symmetrical balance
Make the Connection
Hot Doughnuts Now! 72 individual and personalized doughnuts are painted by Greensboro-based Gina Elizabeth Franco. Her bold colors and pop art inspired art attracts many selfie takers. Look at all of the designs she creates and find the right doughnut for you!
"From the Stillness, a seed of hope is planted"
Location: 201 Rampart Street
Artist: Nick Napoletano
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @napoletanoart
Story: Street art is an immediate visual record of an artist’s response to events and important social commentary. Artists in Charlotte are responding during the age of COVID – 19. This is the first pandemic related art in South End and first large-scale mural by Nick Napoletano in South End. Napoletano has work on our uptown, NoDa, Plaza-Midwood, and Elizabeth artwalks. In this mural, a young girl stands in front of a map of the world and holds a mask with a seedling growing out of it. She carries a backpack of gifts to bring to essential workers.
Key Formal Elements:
- Implied line of her gaze
- Highlights in her face
Make the Connection:
Look for the repetition of circles in this mural. Circles are traditional symbols of unity. From the circle of the mask, the circle of blue light around the seedling, and the partial circle of the globe, they unify the composition. The blue and orange squares on her backpack and the gift boxes provide a bit of variety.
Fig Tree Mural
Location: 2250 Hawkins Street
Artist: Sharon Dowell and Laura Tate
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @sharon_dowell, @lauramtate
Story: This is the first of a trio of public art projects that Ram Realty Services is sponsoring at the Hub South End apartments site. As developers of the site and others in South End, they are business owners supporting the arts in Charlotte. Both Sharon Dowell and Laura Tate are local artists.
Key Formal Elements:
- Geometric linework and organic shapes
- Cool colors of green and blue
Make the Connection:
The geometric design of the background is a design motif carried through in other areas of the project and repeated here. The fig tree leaves organically grow from the corners of the three-sided mural and maybe are a reference to the indoor plant loving millennials and apartment dwellers but are a creation from Laura Tate’s studio based on a recent visit to Miami.
Mosaic
Title: Hub Apartments Mosaic
Location: 2250 Hawkins Street
Artist: Grace Stott
Date: 2020
Media: ceramic tile
Artist Info: @stott_pots
Story: Ceramics and mixed media artist Grace Stott was noted as one of Charlotte Magazine’s “Artists to Watch” in 2017. She is active in the Goodyear Arts Collective and curates exhibits around themes of millennial female imagery.
Key Formal Elements:
- Texture
- Limited color palette
Make the Connection:
Over 90 square feet of ceramic imagery displays Charlotte landmarks and markers and people who worked on the Hub South End project.
Hub Mural
Location: 2250 Hawkins Street but around the corner mid-block
Artist: Sharon Dowell
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint, stainless steel
Artist Info: @sharon_dowell, @acsminc
Story: In a third commission from Ram Realty at this site, Sharon Dowell creates a mixed media composition. A design build firm in South End fabricated the metal shapes for installation.
Key Formal Elements:
- Loose flowing lines
- Lots of negative space
Make the Connection:
In this abstract mural, the artist draws connections to the “multifaceted, vibrant” energy of South End with her use of flowing, dynamic shapes across this wall. Some shapes allude to nature while others connect more to our man-made environment.
Exclamation Point
Location: Charlotte Rail Trail
Artist: David Furman
Date: 2015
Media: Aluminum
Artist Info: @centrocityworks
Story: This is another Charlotte Rail Trail project created by architect David Furman. Furman designed this work after being inspired by similar sculptures in other cities. There’s another exclamation point in Oklahoma City, OK. Ours has become a marker for the area, as in “I’ll meet you at the Exclamation Point.”
Key Formal Elements:
- Free-standing
- Scale
Make the Connection:
Artists often play with scale in art for expressive means. The scale of this exclamation point is obviously larger than what it should be so our expectations of the familiar object are altered. How does this sculpture make you feel?
Magic Carpet Murals
Location: Charlotte Rail Trail
Artists: Jesse Unterhalter and Katey Truhn
Date: 2016
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @jessieandkatey
Story: Baltimore-based artists Unterhalter and Truhn created this piece with lots of community involvement. Community workshops were held with several different groups and locations to gather input for three separate murals along the Rail Trail. This artist duo is known for their large-scale murals and community-based art.
Key Formal Elements:
- Geometric patterns
- Repetition of shapes
Make theConnection:
Murals are supposed to be on walls, right. Not always. The artists use saturated color, patterns suggestive of textiles, and movement to create a dynamic and fun artwork literally on the rail trail. This mural rivals popular sites in NoDa for the most Instagrammed artwork. The uptown skyline makes a perfect background!
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Yarn Bombing - 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.