Project Location: 140 West Urban Plaza, Chapel Hill, NC
Client: Town of Chapel Hill
140 West Urban Plaza in Chapel Hill is the crown jewel of the larger town masterplan initiative to invigorate this college down with a welcoming, pedestrian geared landscape. Encircled by mixed-use development that creates a commercial connective tissue with Rosemary Street and downtown Franklin Street, including the restaurant district, this gathering plan offers a well-defined framework for a fantastic piece of public art.
The request, which was awarded to NC Public Art based on merit of design, called for an abstract, water-based composition that would bring a sense of flow and life to the concrete plaza. Our design, which went through intensive community engagement, was based on a layered treatment of graphic representations of the four rivers surrounding Chapel Hill (the Deep River, the Eno River, the Haw River, and Rocky River). This projected was created in a little over a week, much to the delight of the residents of 140 West.
Our statement: “The natural, enduring surroundings of Chapel Hill help make it the special place that it is. The mural takes inspiration from the four rivers (the Eno, Haw, Deep and Rocky Rivers) in the immediate environs, overlaid in colorful, dynamic harmony to create an abstract symphony of form and movement. It’s my intention that this painting brings the life and beauty of land and water into the 140 West courtyard, reminding visitors and viewers of the natural treasures found all around us. Like the immutable, persistent rivers, the power of these people and this place can overcome any obstacle.”