Wall Walkers, 1996

100 E. Rosemary Street

This mural depicts downtown pedestrians viewed from above. It creates the illusion that the viewer is looking down or that the pedestrians are walking up a wall.

I was inspired by all the trouble and protest we had in town when NCNB first proposed this building.

The idea of a six-story building on Franklin Street drove some people right up the wall. Citizens even floated balloons to that height so folks could get a feel for how tall the building would be. It is on that building that the mural was painted in 1996.

The head of the Downtown Commission, Robert Humphries, was having a hard time finding a building owner to lend us a wall for that spring. Since I try to make the murals site specific and we had no site, I had no ideas and no proposal sketches. Without those things Robert was having a hard time getting donations, too.

The mural was supposed to be the centerpiece of a local arts festival and our deadlines were looming. He finally got a building, but only a week before the festival. Without a minute to spare Robert and I had to cut through a lot of red tape to get the mural started on time. The main benefit of such a mural, with its flexible composition, was that I could paint while Robert did fund raising, Every time he got a donation I added more people to the mural.

Michael Brown

Courtesy of The Chapel Hill News

Restortion:

Total cost for restoration: $5400.00

Amount raised to date: $25.00

Donors:

Meg McGirk