‘Out of the mundane’: ‘Uproar’ outdoor NC arts festival showcases Southern artists

Tucked in an alley between Cat’s Cradle and Oakleaf restaurant in Carrboro is a string of wires.

Each is meticulously wrapped around the other creating an abstract human form. The figure is life-size, as tall as a real person.

Thirteen miles away in Hillsborough, another type of string hangs from the awning of the old, historic courthouse. Crocheted mandala hoops in an array of colors are knotted together, creating a three-tiered dreamcatcher. It looks like a chandelier.

And back in southern Orange County, in front of the Carrboro Century Center, steel painted black and white has been cut in the shape of an ox. In the back, painted on the ox’s tail and hind legs is a horse bending down to drink. Big enough to climb on, it stands 6 feet tall.

All of these creations, made by hand, are part of a first-of-its-kind exhibition in North Carolina called the Uproar Festival of Public Art.

In total, 60 art installations, sculptures, murals and other works are scattered across Orange County. The exhibition features artists from four states — North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas — and will last until Aug. 12.

The project was started by Katie Murray, the director of Orange County’s Art Commission.

“We have a lot of really cool arts happening here in Orange County, and I feel like rarely do we get any attention,” Murray said. “So, I just started thinking, what’s something big that would put Orange County on the map?”

Uproar is inspired by festivals like ArtPrize in Michigan and feedback from artists who have participated in similar competitions. The festival will take place in Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, with each town having 20 art pieces.

It’s set up like a scavenger hunt where participants can hunt for artworks in the three towns. Each work has a QR code that attendees can scan to vote for the pieces they like best. The artist who gets the most votes from the public will win $10,000.

Murray said another factor that makes the North Carolina festival unique is that, unlike other art competitions that allow voting online, Uproar’s voting will be entirely in-person.

“If you’ve got some big-time artists with a massive online presence, that can really sway the voting and people don’t even have to see the work in-person,” she explained. “The artists told us it, in some ways, turned into a [popularity] contest.”

Emphasis on accessibility

Murray said there will be accommodations to make the festival enjoyable for everyone.

All of the works are outdoors in accessible locations, there are audio descriptions for people with low vision and they’ve partnered with the town’s department of transportation to run trolleys and mobility-on-demand vans on Saturdays. Murray said this emphasis on accessibility also helps set Uproar apart.

Uproar artist Michelle Spaulding said, as someone who uses a wheelchair, she appreciates the festival’s focus on accessibility.

“It means a lot to me,” she said. “I’ve been working with Katie for the last two years, and she’s very mindful of trying to accommodate all differences in all different areas. That’s hard to do.”

Spaulding created the colorful “chandelier” hanging at the courthouse building in Hillsborough. The colors reflect her African American and Native American ancestry, along with other cultures she encountered when traveling as a military kid, she said.

“If you look at indigenous people around the world, they use color in everything,” she said. “As I’m assembling the piece, I think about the aspect of my life each one of these [mandala hoops] represent, what the colors mean to me, what they mean to the collective consciousness of the universe.”

Symbolism of the animals

Artist Nico Amortegui drew on his immigrant experience to inspire his black-and-white ox with a horse as a tail in Carrboro.

His wife, Laine Amortegui, wrote the description for the piece, saying it shows the importance of the animals in Latin American culture. The ox represents strength and prosperity, while the horse was an animal brought to the New World by the Spanish.

The contrasting use of these two represent the relationship between the U.S. and immigrant labor force.

“It has the meaning of the immigrant, the working ox,” Nico Amortegui said. “Sometimes it feels like we’re here as these working animals and when they’re done with us they send us back.”

Recycled materials

Leroi DeRubertis, uses her art to comment on the mark people leave on the environment. She frequently uses recycled materials from The Scrap Exchange in Durham her pieces and created the life-sized wired figure in the alleyway.

For the festival, she opted to reuse instead of recycle, unspooling two of her previous wired works to create the Uproar piece.

She hopes her work and that of the other artists at Uproar will “bring people out of the mundane.”

“Art adds interest, it connects people, it just makes everything more beautiful,” she said. “[Some art can also] make statements and make you think. That can spark conversation and maybe spark action.”

On the last day of the festival, Aug. 12, there will be an awards party at Eno Arts Mill in Hillsborough, where the $10,000 people’s choice award winner will be announced.

This celebration is open to everyone in the community and will have live music and food trucks.

Attending the Uproar Festival

Cost: Free

When: Now through Aug. 12

Where: Across Carrboro, Hillsborough and Chapel Hill.

How: Use the map on uproarfestnc.com/art to find the works of art. Each location has a QR code where you can vote for your favorite piece.

Accessibility: Audio recordings are available and trolleys/mobility on demand vans to the works will run on Saturdays.