Exploring Charlotte

Herrin Bros. Coal & Ice
Exploring Charlotte, For Newcomers, Where Are We in CLT? | December 10, 2020You’ve been to NoDa. You know the murals, the artist trash cans, the Neighborhood Theatre, the Evening Muse, Salud and so much more. But, have you taken a left on 36th Street to see one of the coolest old signs in Charlotte? On the right, just beyon… read more »
Our New Best Friend, @Happy_Mutants, Surprises Us
CLT Creatives, Exploring Charlotte, Our New Best Friend | December 3, 2020We love surprises. And, surprise is exactly what our new best friend, @Happy_Mutants, is all about. In just over a year, this anonymous artist has left more than 100 “mutants” he’s designed and created with a 3-D printer across the city. He looks for… read more »
Charlotte’s Best Bites on National Cookie Day
Creative News, Exploring Charlotte, For Newcomers | December 3, 2020A WORD OF CAUTION BEFORE YOU READ THIS: The information you’re about to read is going to make you hungry. In fact, you’ll likely be ravenous. Please don’t bite or lick your screen. Don’t scratch it either. We tried that … it doesn’t work. This year,… read more »
Georgie Nakima’s New Mural at East Town Market
CLT Creatives, Exploring Charlotte, Where Are We in CLT? | November 19, 2020It may seem like murals pop-up overnight, but they require a great deal of time, planning and patience. They also contain a great deal of secret wonder. Much of the base work artists use to establish the mural is covered up by the final product. If y… read more »
Art Heist on Tryon Street
Exploring Charlotte, Happenings | November 12, 2020Priceless art is missing. (Not in Charlotte, but in Boston. But that’s old news.) You’re needed to help solve the crime. (Not really — unless you happen to know anything about the stolen art from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which inclu… read more »
Where Are We in CLT? Santé
Exploring Charlotte, Where Are We in CLT? | November 12, 2020If you feel like someone’s watching you the next time you head uptown via Providence Road, there’s a good reason. Someone is. Not “someone,” exactly. More like “something.” This summer, Charlotte artist Matthew Steele installed “Santé,” a large wall… read more »
Elder Gallery Hits “HOME” with New Exhibition
Exploring Charlotte, Happenings | November 5, 2020Sure, we’ve all spent an extraordinary amount of time at home this year. But how much time have we spent considering what “home” really means for creatives? More specifically, what does Charlotte need to do to make its artists truly feel at home in t… read more »
Photo Safari: Wildflowers on 12th
CLT Creatives, Exploring Charlotte, Photo Safari | November 5, 2020Driving to Northwest School of the Arts with her mother as a child, Charlotte artist, Melissa Wineman (AKA @owlymo) used to see hateful messages painted on a retaining wall along 12th Street (under I-277) and think, “One day, I’m going to paint that…. read more »
The “Dirty” Laundry Moves from the Back Porch to the Mint Museum
Creative News, Exploring Charlotte, HUG Micro-Grants | October 29, 2020Airing Out the “Dirty” Laundry is an ongoing community art movement that responds to the silencing of women by creating space to share experiences through visual storytelling. This collaborative movement addresses the need and right to speak and be h… read more »
Talking Walks at ThExchange
CLT Creatives, Exploring Charlotte, Happenings, Where Are We in CLT? | October 29, 2020If you haven’t had a reason to visit ThExchange — a mutli-building office park off of Tyvola Road — you do now. For the third year of Talking Walls, a week-long installation blitz of new murals painted by local and visiting artists, the organizers… read more »
3 Biggest Challenges: Charlotte Shapers
CLT Nonprofits, Exploring Charlotte, For Newcomers | October 29, 2020“We do our best to make our Zoom meetings fun, but nothing beats an in-person connection. We’re looking forward to our in-person meetings and the beers that usually follow. We know we won’t ever take that for granted again.” – Gillian Small, Charlott… read more »
The writing’s on the wall
Creative News, Exploring Charlotte | October 22, 2020“We Are Hip Hop” is more than a mural. It’s an ongoing celebration of local hip-hop culture – a unique culture that helps elevate Charlotte. (“We don’t want to be a baby Atlanta,” Dammit Wesley said.) Every letter tells a story. The new Camp North… read more »
A Photo Tour of NoDa’s New Trash Cans
Creative News, Exploring Charlotte, For Newcomers | October 22, 2020Unlike any other area in Charlotte, NoDa is a place where the hands of artists are immediately visible. Murals may be the big ticket, but every inch of NoDa is covered in some form or creative expression, from stickers on power boxes and street signs… read more »
Thomas Spratt & King Haigler on the Trail of History
Creative News, Exploring Charlotte, Where Are We in CLT? | October 22, 2020#WhereAreWeInCLT? On the section of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway across from the Grady Cole Center and the Philip L. Van Every Culinary Arts Building on CPCC’s campus, you’ll find these two bronze figures standing together, looking out into the di… read more »
USNWC Turns the “Lights” Back On
Creative News, Exploring Charlotte, Happenings | October 14, 2020US National Whitewater Center (USNWC) is switching the Lights back on. Lights, the ground-breaking immersive light installation that transformed the USNWC walking trails in 2019, will be open after dark (weather permitting) from mid-November to mid-F… read more »
Get Out There! Yard Art Day is Back
Creative News, Exploring Charlotte | September 3, 2020This Labor Day will go down in history as the best Yard Art Day ever. Are you new to Charlotte? Perhaps you haven’t heard of Charlotte’s annual Yard Art Day? Stop, please click here, then come back! Charlotte photographer Deborah Triplett is a creat… read more »
Explore Charlotte’s Neighborhood Street Murals – Part Three
Creative News, Exploring Charlotte | August 28, 2020Well, we made it! This is the third and final installment of our series exploring the 15 new street murals the City of Charlotte Placemaking department commissioned 14 artists and artist groups to create across the city to lift our collective communi… read more »
Featured on @CLTBlackOwned – Week of August 17 Recap
Exploring Charlotte, How To/Resources | August 26, 2020Each week the team at @CLTBlackOwned — Maddy, Jeff, Ashley and Jeremy — highlights a different Black-owned business in Charlotte and the surrounding area. The Queen City has a rich community of Black-owned retailers, restauranteurs, service-provide… read more »
The Meaning Inside Matt Hooker’s New Mural
CLT Creatives, Exploring Charlotte | August 20, 2020There’s a lot of meaning packed inside artist Matt Hooker’s newest mural in Charlotte. At the corner of Hawthorne and Kennon Streets, the mural was commissioned by Catherine Devericks, owner of The Culture Shop, a business that opened in the throes o… read more »
What’s the history behind uptown Charlotte’s four wards?
Exploring Charlotte, For Newcomers | August 13, 2020When Charlotte’s new Major League Soccer team, Charlotte FC, unveiled its logo, they rooted it in Charlotte history. As a community historian, I sure do love that. The logo is a circle, like a coin: “recognizing the city’s modern status as a major US… read more »