Shakti – The Power Within
By Sampada Agarwal
Installed 2020
Located at Que Chula Tacos
Sampada wrote a wonderful blog sharing her intention behind the piece. Read the full story here.
Learn More About Downtown Windows
Colorful Crosswalks
Temporary art designs to enhance the downtown experience.
Bricks
By Amy Hoppe
Installation currently being installed January 2020
Located at the intersection of Rosemary St. & Church St, this is the newest of the four projects. Hoppe’s design references a historical element in Chapel Hill’s architecture — brick sidewalks and buildings throughout downtown and campus.
Old Well
By Rachel Herrick
Installed March 2017
Located at the intersection of Cameron Avenue and Wilson Street. This crosswalk depicts one of the most iconic symbols of UNC-Chapel Hill, the Old Well. Herrick chose to portray the Old Well because of its importance to the history of the school and surrounding area.
Barcodes
By Mary Carter Taub
Installed March 2017
Located at the intersection of East Rosemary and Henderson. The lines are intended to replicate UPC barcodes with pedestrians “scanning” the UPC barcode as they walk across mimicking a real-life barcode. The UPC barcode has local roots in the surrounding Triangle — it was invented in the 1970’s by IBM in Raleigh’s Research Triangle Park.
Walk
By Lope Max Diaz
Installed March 2017
Located across from Shortbread Lofts on West Rosemary Street. His design incorporates minimalist geometric patterns with colors and symbols of Chapel Hill and the University. If you look closely, the design abstractly spells out “walk.”
Learn About Colorful Crosswalks
Art + Transit Bus Shelters
Enlivening the transit experience.
Ms. Cotten
By Kiara Sanders
Installed 2020
Located at the bus shelter at Ephesus Church Road at Hamlin Park.
Artist Kiara Sanders depicted local blues legend Elizabeth Cotten in her painting. Elizabeth Cotten was born in what is now Carrboro and is renowned for her unique guitar playing style.
Pillar
By L Jámal Walton
Installed 2020
Located at the bus shelter at Brookside Condos on Hillsborough Street.
Pillar features the Greek Goddess Athena, who is on the Town of Chapel Hill seal. According to history, the Town leaders chose her to symbolize Chapel Hill as she represents civilization, knowledge, reasoning, logic, and wisdom. For this project, Athena is illustrated in a comic book style sharing her stories while watching over the “Southern Part of Heaven” that embraces the shape and colors of the Chapel Hill flag.
Connected
By Gabriela Amaya-Baron
Installed 2020
Located at the bus shelter at the Harris Teeter in Meadowmont.
Connected uses network imagery and street map patterns to symbolize ways that humans connect, whether to place, to information and data, to history and culture, or to each other.
Have A Really Good Day
By Jermaine Powell
Installed 2020
Located at the bus shelter at Shadowood Apartments on M.L.K. Jr. Blvd.
In Have A Really Good Day, Powell hopes to remind people to enjoy the ride and make friends along the way. “I think my paintings are a beautiful example of where I live and the people who make my life worth living.” -JP
Distant Futures
By Charles Chace
Installed 2020
Located at the bus shelter at SECU on Pittsboro Street.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“In this work I’m attempting to create a digital image with a series of analog procedures. Starting by cutting sheets of paper into small triangles. The triangles are then unidirectionally stacked creating a three dimensional surface that allows an interplay of light and shadows. I’m less concerned with developing shapes or predetermined images than I am with developing random and intuitive patterns. These patterns create a digital landscape that approaches an image similar to scrambled television.”
The Ooom Pah Band
By Joel Sobelson
Installed 2019
Located at the bus shelter at Glen Lennox Shopping Center.
“To bring a smile to both young and old how about a circus-like sense of fun, color and enjoyment. I don’t know about you but If you look closely you can actually hear the fun um-pa-pa of the band. ” – Joel Sobelson on The Ooom Pah Band
Kindness Matters
By Helen Seebold
Installed 2019
Located at the bus shelter at Caldwell St by Northside Elementary.
In Kindness Matters, Seebold explores how we can make a difference in our community by stopping and taking a moment to be kind. She hopes the mural can help people shift their perspective and invite the viewer to become part of a movement to enlighten our minds and open our hearts.
Star Crossed Lovers
By Britt Flood
Installed 2019
Located at the bus shelter at University Place.
Star Crossed Lovers is a continuous line piece that depicts two figures connected by line and color, symbolizing connection and fate.
We’re Here
By John DeKemper
Installed 2019
Located at the bus shelter at South Columbia St.
We’re Here uses bright acrylic paint and glitter to recreate a traditional rainbow Pride flag. Glitter has a conceptual and material tie historically to the LGBT community. DeKemper encourages accessibility to pedestrians and commuters.
Umbrella
By Sarahlaine Calva
Installed 2019
Located at the bus shelter at Airport Gardens.
Using a signature style and vibrant color palette, Calva weaves in raindrops and flowers to depict how one must face trials and obstacles in order to grow and bloom. Growth is a beautiful thing that requires effort and patience.
“I believe it would be a nice touch to the city while also serving as a reminder to persevere.” – Sarahlaine Calva
Who We Are
By Chloe Strauss
Installed 2019
Located at the bus shelter at Franklin Woods Apartments.
Strauss’ art is inspired by diversity and helping others “to see aspects of themselves shown as beautiful and important.”
Chapel Hill Monuments
By Tarish Pipkins
Installed 2018
Located at the bus shelter on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd & Stateside Dr.
Tarish Pipkins’ Chapel Hill Monuments portrays in bright acrylic hues well-known UNC-Chapel Hill landmarks like The Bell tower and The Old Well.
What Just Happened?
By Ron Liberti
Installed 2018
Located at the bus shelter on Southern Village Park & Ride Lot.
Ron Liberti’s What Just Happened? features altered stills from the final scene of the 1967 The Graduate where a bride runs out of her own wedding and hops on a city bus another suitor.
Evolving Attitudes
By Ross Ford
Installed 2018
Located at the bus shelter on Eubanks Road at Park & Ride Lot.
Willow Grove Motif
By Ingrid Erickson, 2018
Installed 2018
Located at the bus shelter on South Columbia St. at UNC Health Sciences Library.
Erickson created stencils that were spraypainted and paired with bendable foam to create the look of willow branches.
Stories/Histories
By Wendy Spitzer, 2018
Uninstalled 2020
Formerly located at the bus shelter at Ridge Road.
Wendy Spitzer is known for her altered vintage postcards piecing together unusual images and historical photographs of iconic Chapel Hill landmarks.
Slow Roll
By Mary Carter Taub, 2018
Uninstalled 2019
Formerly located at the bus shelter at Carrboro Town Hall.
Taub created a super-sized, abstract drawing made of brightly colored duct tape applied directly to the bus shelter windows.
A Mouthful of Sand
Photo by Jim Wallace
Installed 2019
Located at the bus shelter at the Rosemary St. & Columbia St. Parking Lot.
A Mouthful of Sand features a quote from Harold Foster, a leader in the Chapel Hill Civil Rights movement.
“Man, this town is hard to crack. It’s called a liberal place, but that’s a mirage man. When you go to get water, you just get a mouthful of sand.”
Quote from Harold Foster, from John Ehle’s book, The Free Men.
I Raised My Hand To Volunteer
Photo by Jim Wallace
Installed 2019
Located at the bus shelter in front of Moe’s Southwest Grill on Franklin Street.
I Raised My Hand To Volunteer features a quote from Karen Parker, the first African American woman to graduate from UNC- Chapel Hill.
“On Saturday, the 14th, I decided to go to jail. It was not fun at all.” This was in December 1963 during a time when hundreds of people were arrested for protests and when those protests occasionally turned violent.
We Were Troublemakers
Photo by Jim Wallace
Installed 2019
Located at the bus shelter in front of the Franklin Hotel on Franklin Street.
We Were Troublemakers features a quote from Harold Foster, a leader in the Chapel Hill Civil Rights movement.
“We were troublemakers. We questioned authority and challenged it head on.”
Learn About Art + Transit
Murals
Telling the story of our community
Elizabeth Cotten Mural
By Scott Nurkin
Installed 2020
Located on the 111 N. Merritt Mill Road on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro line.
As part of the North Carolina Musicians Mural Project, the Elizabeth Cotten mural honors the local blues legend and her lasting impact on the community. Ms. Cotten is renowned for her distinctive musical style, created by playing left-handed on a right-handed guitar. Many of her songs reference her early life in North Carolina, including her most iconic song, “Freight Train.” This mural is a collaboration between the towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership.
Chapel Hill Public Library staff tell Elizabeth Cotten’s story on Episode 8 of the Re/Collecting Chapel Hill podcast.
Water’s Perfect Memory
By Max Dowdle
Installed 2020
Located in the meadow where the Lower Booker Creek Trail connects with East Franklin Street.
ARTIST STATEMENT
The water of Booker Creek runs day and night, trickling along with sunrise and sunset. While deer feed, raccoons scavenge, squirrels nibble, foxes sneak, coyotes hunt, birds watch from above, and humans enjoy their walks, the water continues to travel its well-worn cut in the earth, remembering all that occurs around it.
Florifauns
By J Massullo
Installed 2020
Located on the Bolin Creek Greenway tunnel that passes underneath M.L.K. Jr. Blvd.
Inspired by traditional graffiti spray paint techniques, artist J Massullo incorporated elements from the natural world including stylized insects, animals, flora, and fauna. Check out this cool timelapse to see how the mural was created!
Bolin Creek Tunnel Mural
By Daniel LeClair
Installed 2018
Located on the Bolin Creek Greenway Tunnel that passes underneath Pritchard Avenue.
Daniel LeClair teamed up with high school students from the Boomerang and Volunteers for Youth Programs to create this vibrant and eye-catching mural.
