documentary photography
Flecks, streaks and arcs dart across a blank mat board as artist Marcelle Harwell Pachnowski paints among a backdrop of spectators and a rumbling band. Crouch. Head tilt. Lean. A live performance emerges as the artist's bold colors flash across the surface of the large-scale piece....culminating in a rendering, worthy of a bow.
(photographs taken at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro)
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way - things I had no words for.”
Bold cups stacked in rows of colors emblazon the railings on Franklin Street. Look closely to uncover hand-written mantras in corresponding hues. The premise is to evoke emotion via bursts of color — inspired by Tibetan Prayer Wheels. The Color it Positive art installation by Helen and Mike Seebold is part of Windows on Chapel Hill’s pop-up art exhibits springing up through June throughout downtown Chapel Hill to showcase local artists and bolster the city’s vigorous arts community. The initiative is a collaboration between the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, Town of Chapel Hill Public and Cultural Arts Office, and smArts Creative Programs & Events. Check out more of Helen’s work at littleflowerart.com.
(photographs taken on Franklin Street between Basnight Lane and Kenan Street in Chapel Hill)
Think Brothers Grimm. Think thought-provoking. Think outdoor canvas. Tucked away at the end of a Chapel Hill road is The Last Unicorn, an unexpected "unicorn forest" of antique oddities displayed across the five acres of Gaines Steer's property. He's opened shop. Retired and temporarily closed shop. And more recently announced a "Going out of Retirement Sale." His open air antique shop-come-art installation includes a collection of architectural salvage among iron gates and garden embellishments.
Gaines encourages visitors to meander into his woods rewarding the curious with unexpected details. It's an exploration that tugs on your sense of humor and child-like sense of splendor. Scattered about are iron-gated vignettes, oxidized ship bits, and pithy signs like "will barter for money" and "we sell ideas." Ornate cottages evoke a Hansel and Gretel vibe. A mini-amphitheatre peeks from beneath last season's leaves. Wooden bridges over swales connect stained glass cottages. And at the edge of the property, is a domed wooden structure designated for meditation. It's outfitted with Buddha ushered by an enormous glass Ying Yang symbol.
Gaines readily admits to his eccentricity, manifested in his front yard and services offered: memoir writing assistance, career and lifestyle coaching, Native American Medicine Wheel instruction. He even offers a map of his grounds on his web site.
You can spot him around town. He's the one driving the old brown Ford topped with a lounging unicorn permanently affixed to the roof.
(photographs taken off of Mount Carmel Church Road in Chapel Hill. The Last Unicorn is located at 536 Edwards Ridge Road in Chapel Hill.)
(Photograph taken at "Artful Fall Reception," an exhibit by visual artist Murry Handler at the Bold Building in Governors Village, Chapel Hill. His contemporary paintings and drawings will be on display through December 31st. Murray resides in Pittsboro.)
Once used to keep protesters out, this chain link fence has become a canvas for demonstration and revolving artwork in Carrboro. It too has turned into an allegory for local concern. The steel wire netting was erected when protesters stormed the building in 2012 to oppose potential corporatization of the property after developers applied to build a CVS on the site. The building previously housed WCOM 103.5 FM community radio which now broadcasts from the front end of the Art Center.
(photographs taken on the corner of Weaver and Greensboro streets in Carrboro)
Perhaps intended as ephemeral art, four years later the street style mural still clings to the brick building in brilliant hues. With no direction and cans of paint, the Evoker dodged bugs in the Carolina heat as he painted for a flock of onlookers in Carrboro. The Boston-based artist, né Ryan Robidoux, decided upon a trio of his signature monsters characterized by a bold cartoon-like style for the "Wootini Gallery" mural. He was commissioned by the Wootini Gallery to paint the piece "live" during the 2010 opening of an art exhibit in which he was displaying his work.
The exhibit also marked the new home of the gallery known for Pop Pluralism (aka Lowbrow Art or Pop Surrealism), art influenced by pop culture that's often polychromatic with a humorous bent. The gallery had relocated in 2010 from the Carr Mill mall into the Lloyd Street location in Carrboro.
To see the Evoker's images of how the mural unfolded click here.
(photograph taken behind the building at 101 Lloyd Street in Carrboro)
Local artist Michael Brown -- best known for his murals scattered throughout Chapel Hill/Carrboro -- partnered with elementary school students for his latest installation. The bold 3-D paint brush streaks red paint across the facade of the newly constructed Shortbread Lofts building on Rosemary Street. A former elementary school math teacher himself, Brown collaborated with fifth graders at Northside Elementary School to create the magnificent piece, crafted from sheet metal.
(photograph taken at 333 W. Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill)
The whimsical white bunnies anonymously sprang up on the wall alongside The Beehive in downtown Carrboro in 2013. While the salon has been host to graffiti in the past, this art appealed to the staff and has acted as the hair shop's beacon since. Somehow, the rabbit colony has managed to stick it out despite the gradually flaking decals.
(photograph taken between Main/Greensboro streets on Weaver Street in Carrboro)
Muralist Michael Brown created this pixelated wall in the mid-1990s with remnant paint from other projects. He encouraged volunteers to create their own color blends to add to the myriad of dizzying squares. Unlike most of his other works, Brown went abstract for this vertiginous piece. Inspired by folk art, "Quilt" is draped along the wall of Walt's Grill and can be seen from Franklin Street.
(photograph taken off of Franklin Street on S. Merritt Mill Road in Chapel Hill)
Alongside the wall of the bicycle store The Clean Machine, "The Girl" emits a swirl of colors dancing down the alley. Created in 2010, Chapel Hill artist Casey Robertson took about 12 hours by freehand to complete the piece. The mural is painted in an urban street style which sometimes folks misinterpret as illegal art. Robertson also painted "Arrows" (2011) located at 709 West Rosemary Street, next to Carrburritos.
(photographed at 104 West Main Street, Carrboro)
Windows on Chapel Hill art installations have sprung up on storefronts showcasing Chapel Hill's commitment to art. The works are by local artists and are scheduled for display through the end of May. Take a peek at "Crochet Ricochet Macramé Cosmic Ray Hideaway,” created by Chapel Hill sculptor and performance artist Gracelee Lawrence. It appears in the Yates Motor Co Building on Franklin Street and features North Carolina tobacco twine crocheting.
(photographs taken at 419 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill - Yates Motor Co. Bldg)
Mosaic Egg Sculpture from North Carolina Botanical Garden is located at the convergence of East Main Street and Rosemary Street in Carrboro.
(photograph taken in Carrboro)
This is a magnified view of Mobile Mural, an art installation cloaking a Chapel Hill Transit Bus. Mary Carter Taub, an installation artist based in Chapel Hill, created the piece using beaming colors of duct tape to interpret local transit routes. The artwork is part of the Downtown Art Program, an effort to amplify local and public art throughout downtown Chapel Hill.
The in-service bus travels along various routes and is scheduled to run cloaked in artwork through March 2014.
Ceiling mural at the entrance of All Day Records at 112A E Main Street in Carrboro.
(photograph taken at 112A E Main Street in Carrboro)
The "Marathon" mural by Michael Brown (1994) was commissioned by owner, John Dimos, who operated the Greek restaurant that formerly resided in the building in which the painting appears. The mural depicts an ancient Greek marathon as if on a broken plate -- from the Greek tradition celebrating by breaking a plate. In 2012, Dimos, who owns Captain John's Dockside in Chatham County, funded the restoration of the mural.
The mural is located at the convergence of West Rosemary Street and East Main Street in Carrboro. Its appears on the Don Jose Tienda Mexicana.
(photograph taken in Carrboro)
Michael Brown created "The Blue Mural" (1989), his first in Chapel Hill, in pointillist style with the aid of student volunteers (Chapel Hill-Carborro School System) all using same-sized brushes. The mural depicts a night-time cityscape of Chapel Hill and and is based on Brown's memories of Franklin Street when he was a dishwasher at Ye Olde Waffle Shop. The Painted Walls Project restored the mural in 2009. "The Blue Mural " established Brown's reputation in the city and led to additional requests for murals in the area -- about 1 per year.
The mural is located behind shops/restaurants between Franklin Street and Henderson Streets and can be seen from the public parking lot between Rosemary Street and North Colombia Street.
(photograph taken in Chapel Hill)
“Greetings from Chapel Hill” (2013), which wallpapers the backside of Chapel Hill's legendary bar He's Not Here, was created by local artist Scott Nurkin. The painting depicts a 1941 postcard by German illustrator Curt Teich. Nurkin, a UNC Alumnus (2000) and Charlotte native, also painted more than half a dozen murals inside the bar among others seen throughout town. He is perhaps best known for creating 19 paintings of musicians native to North Carolina -- including Nina Simone, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk – that peppered the walls of the former Chapel Hill institution, Pepper’s Pizza, which resided on Franklin Street and closed in 2013. Those paintings are now on display at the School of Music in Hill Hall on the University of North Carolina's campus.
"Greetings from Chapel Hill" is located located behind He's Not Here at 112 1/2 W Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. It can be seen from the parking lot on Rosemary Street.
(photograph taken in Chapel Hill)