Project Location: Booker Creek Trail, Chapel Hill, NC
Client: Town of Chapel Hill
What’s a town to do with six concrete cylinder eyesores along a beautiful rambling greenway? Murals! The answer is always murals isn’t it? NC Public Art won the opportunity to decorate these jutting, crumbling structures and turn them into something memorable.
These cylinders, ranging from two feet tall to 12 feet tall are related in someway to the water drainage along the creek, so they are in fact necessary. It’s always more fun to decorate something like this though, and the round nature of the cylinders called for a very unique approach in the design process. Through a very informative community engagement and information gathering series of sessions we were able to hit upon a bright, pleasing design that features silhouettes of animals seen in local nature. The flowing shapes of the blues, and the counterpoint red, orange and yellow circles evoke the creek and sunsets and sunrises, as this is a favorite morning and evening stroll route for locals.
Our 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.