Start at 235 W. Tremont Ave
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.
Walk to 335 W. Tremont, cross street to view mural
Title: “Hand in Flight”
Location: 335 W. Tremont
Artist: Kyle Mosher
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @thekylemosher
Story: Fine artist, gallery artist and street artist, Kyle Mosher’s work is all around Charlotte. But especially South End, where he completed an artist-in-residence program at the Three 30 Five Apartments. As part of his residency, Mosher created over a dozen exterior and interior murals throughout the complex.
Key Formal Elements:
- Contour lines in the hands
- Positive shapes of the hands
Make the Connection:
You can walk around this apartment building and see additional murals by the artist. You can also peek in the windows to see some of the interior ones. Ram Realty, the developers of this building, wanted to celebrate creativity of artists and allow their residents to be a part of the creative process.
Look to your left on side of Spenga building
Title: "Amour”
Location: 340 W. Tremont
Artist: Kyle Mosher
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @thekylemosher
Story: While artist Kyle Mosher’s work is all around the Three 30 Five building, he also created this mural on the side of the Spenga building. Mosher is active in the Charlotte arts community, created a letter for the BLM mural uptown, and has murals in the Optimist Park area and Plaza Midwood.
Key Formal Elements:
- Positive shapes of the figures
- Hatching lines in the arm area
Make the Connection:
Mosher’s aesthetic is rooted in his study of illustration, Cubism, his collage and cut paper style with some classical figures thrown in as well. Here, bold dynamic shapes create movement and lines create volume in his figures. Look carefully for the word “love” in different languages at the far left in the background.
Walk around the front of Spenga, then left
Location: 340 W. Tremont Ave
Title: “Tell ‘em I was here”
Artist: Kyle Mosher
Date: 2021
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @thekylemosher
Story: We should just call this end of Tremont the Kyle Mosher corner. During his artist residency at the 335 Apartments, Mosher painted murals around their building. In late 2020, he completed the “Amour” mural for the Spenga building and then in spring 2021 added “Tell ‘em I was here” in front of the coming pizza restaurant. Mosher is a local artist bridging fine arts and street art.
Key Formal Elements:
- Grey value scale of the face
- Competing positive shapes of the figure and the triangle shapes
Make the Connection
As an artist, Mosher brings together his academic training in illustration and digital design with a Classical figure, and some collage-like elements in this mural. His signature colors of the dark navy and the mint green are present. See if you can go back and look at his other nearby work to find these colors and some similarities in his designs. Think about his color palette, shapes, and overall composition. The grey-scale Classical figure is a new element for his mural work and it’s an exciting new direction.
Walk up Tremont, left on Hawkins, left on Doggett
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.
At corner of Doggett and Hawkins, look up
Location: 1999 Hawkins Street
Title: "Mexican Mermaid"
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?
Walk to parking lot beside PARA
Title: PARA mural
Location: 235 W. Tremont
Artist: Dustin Moates
Date: 2021
Media: Spray paint
Artist info: @dstnmts
Story: When this restaurant recently changed owners, it got new cuisine and a new mural. You can check out the former mural by Jen Hill in our Archives section of the website. Dustin Moates was commissioned by the new owner to create a mural for this highly visible wall. Moates is a street artist, muralist, and founder of the Southern Tiger artists collective. The word “Para” translates to “for” as the owners want this restaurant to be “for” Charlotteans.
Key Formal Elements:
- So much visual texture
- Focal point of the napping Buddha
Make the Connection
According to the artist, there are thirteen Asian-inspired references in this mural. From the beautifully textured bonsai trees, the yin-yang symbol in one of the peacock feathers, scan the mural to see if you can find them. Of special note is the napping Buddha which is a connection to meditation and peace. Also, check out how the artist signed his name in the upper right corner.
Back to Hawkins, back of Krispy Kreme
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!
Also make sure that you check out the SE Interactive project by scanning the QR code to hear the story behind the mural. Click on the smiley face and use the selfie mode on your camera to see a face filter. Then click the cube to play with a 3-D model.
At corner of Rampart and Hawkins
Location: 201 Rampart Street
Title: "From the Stillness, a seed of hope is planted"
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.
Also make sure that you check out the SE Interactive project by scanning the QR code to hear the story behind the mural.
Continue on Hawkins to 2250
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.
At corner of 2250 Hawkins building
Title: "The Hive"
Location: 2250 Hawkins Street
Artist: Grace Stott
Date: 2020
Media: ceramic tile
Artist Info: @gracestottt
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.
Also make sure that you check out the SE Interactive project by scanning the QR code to hear the story behind the mural. Click on the smiley face and use the selfie mode on your camera to play with face filter. Then click the cube to play with a 3-D model.
Turn right at corner, walk to next building entrance
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.