Uptown Interactive
Discover Uptown Interactive. Scan a QR code with your smart phone camera and watch a video of the artist, generate site specific face filters or a 3-D model of the artwork. This project is a partnership with Uptown, AVO Insights, Profound House and ArtWalks CLT.
For face filters, turn your camera on selfie mode.
Walk Rail Trail to 9th, left at 9th, right on College
Location: 618 N. College Street
Artist: Nick Napoletano
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @napoletanoart
Story: In this super-scaled mural completed for Talking Walls, Napoletano features a female mural painter carrying her can of paint and a roller. She overlaps blue and pink painted dots arranged in a pattern similar to the Ishihara Color Blindness eye test. In the far-right corner, a man in a gray suit uses grey paint to cover up the mural. The site of this mural is important. In this area of town, many homeless congregate on the sidewalks and the parking lots. While he was painting, Napoletano spent time listening to their stories.
Key Formal Elements:
- Scale
- Symmetrical balance
Make the Connection:
Napoletano’s mural is dripping with symbolism and message. As an avid supporter of women’s empowerment, the artist gives us a larger-than-life size woman artist as the heroine of this mural. How does seeing the woman artist impact your understanding of the word “Equity” written in the color-blind test dots? What do you think of the actions of the gray-suited man in the bottom right?
Walk to Tryon St, left on Tryon to 6th Street
Location: 301 N. Tryon Street wall along E. 6th Street
Artist: Rosalia Torres-Weiner
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @redcalacastudio
Story: Artist and activist Rosalia Torres-Weiner is a native of Mexico and one of the leading mural artists and community builders in Charlotte. Her mural on the side of Discovery Place is a Charlotte Shout project curated by Talking Walls. With murals in NoDa, Plaza-Midwood, and South End, this marks her first mural uptown. The artist is known for her female subject matter, bold and colorful designs, and art as activism.
Key Formal Elements:
- Symmetrical balance
- Use of white outline
Make the Connection:
Torres-Weiner presents a colorful and decorated “Mother of Invention.” So many symbols are here to help you make the connection to both the location of the mural and her title. Some scientific symbols like the solar system and DNA helix iconography are combined with fun legos and chemical formulas. What do you think this may suggest? Also, look closely. Could there be a statement with the inclusion of “2020” and “46” in the bottom left corner?
Continue on Tryon, right on 4th, on side wall on right
Location: West 4th Street across from Pearl Dentistry along a loading dock
Title: "Fly Girl"
Artist: Sloane Siobhan
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @namasteloner
Story: Artist Sloane Siobhan is from Charlotte and received her BFA in Studio Art from Appalachian State University. She's worked out of Las Vegas recently and came home to paint this mural for the Charlotte Shout festival in collaboration with Talking Walls.
Key Formal Elements:
- Asymmetrical balance
- Blue and orange complementary colors
Make the Connection:
Siobhan nestles a profile of an African-American woman in light and fluffy blue and orange cloud-like forms. A flowing ribbon of wild style graffiti lettering leads your eye to the paper airplane. In a description of the work, Siobhan writes, “because despite the cards dealt you can rise.” The mural inspires in its message and delights with its visuals. Can you determine what the wild style lettering says?
Continue on Tryon, right on Levine Ave, right on Church
Location: 400 block of S. Church Street on back side of Knight Theatre
Title: “Where the Magic Happens”
Artist: Duarte Designs
Date: 2021
Media: Spray paint and brushwork
Artist Info: @duarte_designs
Story: Commissioned by Blumenthal Performing Arts, this mural by Duarte Designs celebrates all those involved with the performing arts that you never see on stage. Duarte Designs, a mother and daughter artist team of Sydney and Ann Duarte, gives the viewer a behind the scenes look at back stage life from the stage looking out into soon-to-be-filled audience seats. Duarte Designs has another mural uptown on 7th Street and you can also find their work on a NoDa Artwalk.
Key Formal Elements:
- Primary colors of red, blue and yellow stand out
- Overlap of the three areas in the foreground creates depth
Make the Connection:
See if you can find all of the connections to being a part of the performing arts. Look at the incredibly detailed rack of costumes. During interviews with the long-time wardrobe supervisor, the artist asked about her favorite costumes over the years and each one in the mural comes from her favorites. There’s a costume from the Nutcracker and one from The Band’s Visit, a 2019 Grammy Award winner. Find the theatre union #322 mark on one of the trunks. Then imagine yourself ready to grab your seat in the theatre and take in all the magic of the show.
From Tryon, Walk 4 blocks to Caldwell St
Location: 300 S. Davidson Street
Artist: Curtis King
Date: 2021
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @piecesofceekay
Story: This mural was commissioned by the City of Charlotte, Charlotte Mecklenburg Food Policy Council and the Uptown Farmer’s Market to promote healthy nutrition at the farmer’s market. Curtis King is a school teacher and muralist. King has murals in the Belmont neighborhood and on the West Side of Charlotte. He started this large-scaled mural at the end of June and painted for about three weeks during the summer heat to finish it for the grand opening of the Uptown Farmer’s Market.
Key Formal Elements:
- Polychromatic color scheme
- Strong use of outline along the main shapes
Learn More
Find Queen Charlotte on the left and notice the purple and teal colors of her tiara and face as connections to important sports colors in Charlotte. From there, the artist celebrates all things farmer’s market with fish, eggs, fresh fruit, flowers and the rows of white tents as you move right. What’s your favorite part of a farmer’s market? Find it when you visit every Saturday from April to December.
Walk to 3rd St, walk one black to Brevard
Location: 219 S. Brevard Street
Artist: Abel R. Jackson
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @artbyabel
Story: Local artist Abel R. Jackson makes a terrific debut with his first mural in uptown Charlotte. Beautifully executed realistic portraits of three prominent African-American leaders of historic Charlotte float above tightly rendered depictions of the buildings behind this mural. The artist pays homage to the past while connecting to the future.
Inspired by viewing the historic stained glass panels in the Grace A.M.E. Zion Church, Jackson created abstract, colorful designs on the side of the mural. Look up and around to see his inspiration!
Key Formal Elements:
- Linear perspective of the buildings
- Highlights on the realistic faces
Make the Connection:
On the far left, Thad Tate was an important African-American businessman and founder of the Grace A.M.E. Zion Church, housed in the building in front of the mural. Dr. J.T. Williams was one of the first African-American doctors licensed in NC, and one of the first black diplomats serving as an ambassador overseas. On the right, W.C. Smith was a prominent businessman and the founder of Charlotte’s first black newspaper.
How do the colorful graphics on each side support the history of the site? And what do you think is the function of the MIC (Mecklenburg Investment Company) graphic?