Love is In the Air! Meet Six of Charlotte’s Coolest Creative Couples!

When Cupid struck these creative couples, we all got lucky. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we want to introduce you to some of Charlotte’s most creative couples, just as we did last year.

Sourced via our followers on Instagram, these couples truly bring out the best in each other, and because their best includes art, media, design, food and beverage, photography, dance, and music, we all reap the benefits when their creative sparks fly. Read on to find out more about these captivating couples in the Queen City. Their responses have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

We’ve shown the six couples below. Click on their photo or the button below to get to know them better, find direct links to their work, hear their thoughts on the Queen City creative community … and how they intend to spend Valentine’s Day.

MAIN PHOTO: Here’s a BONUS seventh couple — married creatives Manoela Madera and Gray Edgerton (KiiK Create).
Read about them here!

Rel and Saloan Dunlap

PHOTO CREDIT: @cheryseterry

Julio and Megan Gonzalez

PHOTO CREDIT: Hector Vaca

Gi Grier and Taaj Ameer

PHOTO CREDIT: Christian Wilson of PEO Productions

Emiliano Gonzalez Portino and Carolina Yanez

Audrey and Mark Baran

PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Howlett

Stacy and Patrick McFall

Zilpah Louise – PHOTO CREDIT: Charlotte Star Room

5 RIDICULOUS QUESTIONS … AND A VIDEO PREMIERE … WITH ZILPAH LOUISE

Charlotte native Zilpah Louise discovered her love of music when she began learning guitar and covering her favorite songs. As a longtime poet, she combined her love for writing lyric poetry with her love for music to begin creating her own original songs, and the resulting sound backs up her emerging reputation as a “defiantly feminine, contemplative indie artist.”

Even her current pursuit of a college degree in Washington, D.C. hasn’t kept her from continuing to work on music projects – namely, her debut EP, Holes In The Floor slated for release this spring. The EP consists of five haunting, introspective songs written during her adolescence. Attentive listeners will note that Zilpah draws some of her inspiration from artists such as Lucy Dacus and Lana Del Rey.

Thanks to her producers/videographers at Charlotte Star Room, The Biscuit was lucky enough to get our hands on the first single from her EP, a gorgeous and ghostly tune titled “Slipping Through The Holes.” Even better, it comes with an official music video, which you can peep for yourself right here:

Click this image to watch the video premiere.

Zilpah describes the song as having “a bit of an ethereal, yet sinister, feel.”

“I definitely want to engage audiences who embrace contemplative lyrics and reflect on their darker emotions,” she said.

Zilpah will perform live at CreativeMornings/Charlotte on Feb. 25, but we just couldn’t wait to spend a little time with her and meet the mind behind the music!

So, as we do with many creative Charlotteans we love, we asked her “5 Ridiculous Questions,” and you can read her answers by clicking the button below.

Connelly’s work from We HEART Rail Trail in 2021 – PHOTO CREDIT: Ruard Veltman

**ONE: NEW INSTALLATION: Fairy Ring at Atherton**

Artist Meredith Connelly is at it again. You likely know her illumination work displayed during the LIGHTS exhibitions at the US National Whitewater Center in 2019 and 2020. This year, in addition to a new project she’s undertaken in Mint Hill for the Public Art Commission, she’s headed to Atherton. EDENS has engaged her to create a permanent installation at 2000-2140 South Boulevard. Fairy Ring will be composed of 110 cast fiberglass fungus arranged in a circle. Each mushroom varies in size and invites interaction.

Connelly created a similar, but temporary installation during the We HEART Rail Trail: Lights event in South End last year. But, now, she’s cranking it to 11.

“The mushrooms will be bigger/taller and bolted to cement,” said Connelly. “There will be a metal edging around the perimeter of the ring, with mulch surrounding the mushrooms, so they appear as if they are growing out of the ground.”

The artist and EDENS are unveiling Fairy Ring at a public ceremony – complete with food, drinks and activities for children – on Thursday, Feb. 17, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. MORE INFORMATION HERE.

TWO: OPEN CALL FOR ART: Craft Fest

Craft Charlotte has issued an open call for art show submissions for their upcoming Craft Fest, a HUG Micro-Grant recipient, March 26 and 27 at the new Sleepy Poet facility. Creatives are invited to enter a wide array of fiber-based art, or as the group says, “If it’s handmade- we want to see it!” ⁣Art submissions are due March 5. LEARN MORE AND SUBMIT HERE.

THREE: INSTALLATION: Faces 2022 at Advent Coworking

Charlotte artist, Jasmine Boyce, has curated a new exhibit featuring her work and that of nine other local creatives: Ricky Singh, Mark Doepker, Stevanni Melton, Breyetta Elam, Dorian Williams, Candance Edgeton, Liz Haywood, Anderson Brasilero and Tiffonye Wilkins. According to Boyce, “Each artist celebrates the diversity of human faces with their unique style and perspective.”

Faces 2022 opens at Advent Coworking on Thursday, Feb. 17 with a special reception from 6 to 8 p.m. MAKE PLANS TO ATTEND HERE.

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