Examples of public art that create a sense of place in Wilmington
Public art is one of the things that creates a sense of place in a city or town and makes it like nowhere else.
In 2017, the StarNews ran an award-winning series of stories about public art in Wilmington, if you really want to get down in the weeds on it.
For this story, however, I thought I'd give a quick tour through some of the more iconic displays of public art in Wilmington.
'Because It's Time'
Large sculpture on the UNCW campus by the amphitheater was created by the Raleigh artist Dare Coulter and commissioned by the UNCW Office of the Arts.
Standing nearly 12 feet tall, the steel structure installed in 2021 depicts both trauma and resilience as smiling Black figures raise their fists while an informational plaque about Wilmington's 1898 coup and massacre, in which many Blacks were killed, serves as the sculpture's centerpiece. Large yellow letters declare, "I Matter."
Bijou Park mural
This large mural on North Front Street in Bijou Park on the former site of the Bijou movie theater was completed earlier this year. Commissioned by the Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover County, the mural by artists Jhon and Samantha Arango reflects the French meaning of the word for "jewel" with its many facets and almost crystalline design.
'Black Lives Do Matter'
This sculpture of 18 tall, individually decorated letters was installed in 2020 near the Isabel Holmes Bridge with the blessing of the Wilmington City Council. After council decided not to keep it there, it stood outside the Cameron Art Museum. Now, "Black Lives Do Matter" stands in an out-of-the-way field on Wilmington's Northside across from D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy.
Conceptualized by Wilmington artist Greyson "HP Fangs" Davis, its letters were decorated by various other artists.
Castle Street mural
Painted in 2020 by a pair of Wilmington muralists who go by the monikers Manix and Nugget, the mural at Fifth and Castle includes iconic things about Wilmington, including Greenfield Lake Amphitheater and the No. 23 jersey worn by basketball star and Wilmington native Michael Jordan at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
'Flight'
This modernist sculpture by Roy Gussow has stood by the bank building at Second and Market streets downtown since it was formally unveiled Aug. 24, 1959.
Some have said the six-and-a-half foot, stainless steel sculpture is an abstract representation of an eagle.
Gussow, a Brooklyn native who was a faculty member in N.C. State University's School of Design when he did "Flight," died Feb. 11, 2011, at the age of 92.
'Harmony'
Originally created by Wilmington (by way of Japan) artist Hiroshi Sueyoshi in 2000 and installed at the Forum shopping center on Military Cutoff Road, "Harmony" was repainted and permanently moved to the Cameron Art Museum, where it is visible on South 17th Street and Independence Boulevard.
The 17-foot-tall sculpture cuts a striking figure with its red, yellow and blue panels that pop against the surrounding trees and the imposing grays of the massive museum.
Its interlocking, poly-chromed steel figures, fabricated by Wilmington's Hanover Iron Works, are abstract representations of a man, woman and child. For the sculpture, the figures depend on each other structurally, a kind of symbolic nod to their support of each other in life.
Port City arts: In 'Harmony': Hiroshi Sueyoshi is one of the greatest Wilmington artists of all time
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Public art, sculptures and murals in Wilmington NC
