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.

'Boundless'

Sculpture on the grounds of the Cameron Art Museum by Durham artist Stephen Hayes was installed in 2020. It pays tribute to the United States Colored Troops who fought in the Civil War Battle of Fork Road on that site.

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

'I Believe in Wilmington'

Although it's also known as the Second Street Mural, this painting affixed to a wall at Second and Princess streets downtown isn't technically a mural. Either way, it's a prime selfie spot.

MLK mural

Former Wilmington artist Nathan Verway painted the mural of legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. near Eighth and Princess streets in 2020 as a sort of parting gift to Wilmington. When Novant Health moved into the building a year or two ago the mural was obscured for a while, but now it's back, fully visible in all its glory.

'School of Common Sense'

Right in the heart of Carolina Beach on the back of the Last Resort bar is this portrait of the famous Hermit of Fort Fisher, aka Robert Harrill. It's bordered by the words "School of Common Sense," which is what Harrill called the impromptu lessons he'd give to visitors at his old Fort Fisher bunker abode before his death in 1972. The mural was done by Wilmington artist Rob Fogle in 2015. It predates the Carolina Beach Mural Project, which began in 2020 and has placed many other murals around Carolina Beach.

'Soaring to Greatness'

Wilmington artist Dumay Gorham's copper and stainless-steel sculpture of an osprey, or seahawk, the mascot of the University of North Carolina Wilmington, was installed on campus in 2009. Ten feet off the ground at its highest point, with a 20-foot wingspan, individually crafted feathers, piercing eyes and an imposing beak, the sculpture, which is located at one end of a long, grassy mall across from UNCW's oldest building, Hoggard Hall, has become iconic at UNCW.

'Southern Hospitality'

Venus’ flytrap sculpture by Paul Hill was initially part of the Wilmington Arts Council's Pedestrian Art, or PedArt, program. It was such a hit in its original location, outside the U.S. Post Office on North Front Street, that community group Residents of Old Wilmington later paid to have the sculpture permanently installed at Market and Water streets.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Public art, sculptures and murals in Wilmington NC