Through 2024, we are creating murals in Morganton! With the guidance of the Community Mural Institute (CMI), 24 emerging artists will get the chance to create community-engaged murals in Burke. Check out our teachers and collaborators in this work: GoodSpace Murals & Common Wealth Murals
Upcoming Events
Paint Party Highlights
Installation - March 1-8th (stay tuned for Ribbon Cutting RSVP)
Share your story - ongoing
2024 Murals
Who are the artists this year?
Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Lead: Nico Cathcart (Richmond, VA) | @nicocathcart
Hadasah Michaels (Burnsville, NC) | @hadasah.morelove
Kat Cornelius (Concord, NC) @tuxedokat.imaginarium
Molly Chopin, Raleigh, NC | @mollychopinart
Rural Futures - Pathways to Work
Lead: Catherine Kaleel (Black Mountain, NC) | @catherinekaleel
Lee Meh (Winston-Salem, NC) | @lee1_art
Ashlei Franklin (Marshall, NC) | @artsyeyecandy
Kira Bass (Powder Springs, GA) | @mkay.kira
Women at Work
Lead: Claire Alexandre (Durham, NC) | @onlyclairity
Georgia Tardy (Raleigh, NC) | @georgiatardyart
Kimberly Cusack (Greenville, NC) @cusack.studios
Jenn Hales (Raleigh, NC) @jennhales
How does the artist training program work?
How were the themes selected?
Theme Selection
We have our wishlist, generated by students several years back, but the list is LONG and we needed to prioritize. During the fall of 2023, TOSS collected 284 votes from the community to help determine the focus for the 2024 murals. We collected this feedback from the Historic Morganton Festival and through an online survey. The top themes were: Deaf and otherly abled community (27.55%), Woman in Burke (16.96%), Native Americans (16.9%)*, Industries ( 13.16%), Cornerstone businesses (11.51%).
In conversation with our planning partners and consultants we decided to narrow our focus to:
The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community
Women in the Workplace (focusing on small business, civic - engaged jobs, and the arts)
Pathways to Work (featuring trades)
Once the Steering Committees are formed in the early spring, the focus will be even more narrowly defined and public “listening sessions” in May will lock in more specifics.
*After much consideration, we decided not to pursue a mural featuring Native Americans since a big part of our project requires active participation and guidance from the community featured in the mural. With only 1.0% of our population in Burke identifying as Native American, TOSS doesn’t currently have a network of community members who identify as Cherokee or Catawba. This would be an essential component in our project and prohibited us from moving forward. If you know a resident in Burke that identifies as Native American, connect us! We’d love to start the conversation.
Where will the murals be?
How are decisions made?
Key decisions are made by steering committee: selecting artists for the project, signing off on the design, and promoting public events are some of their main responsibilities.
Our Murals
Realidades del Sur
212 Avery Ave, Morganton, NC
Design by Alexa Eliana
Our Legacy
101 S. Green Street, Morganton, NC
Designed by Kiana Mui
Reflections of Legacy
205 Sterling Street, Morganton, NC
Designed by Darlene McClinton
You Build Our Community
647 Hopewell Road, Morganton, NC
Designed by Ian Brownlee
Background
During a summer camp in 2021, high school students created a “wish list” for future public art projects after completing a public art audit. We walked around Morganton and discussed what we saw (or didn’t see). While we can’t make a mural for everything on the wishlist, we want to do our part in creating more inclusive public spaces. Inspired by our campers, TOSS has been building a database of projects, resources, and public art that highlight some of our less represented communities in Burke. You can see the research and interviews we’ve conducted here.
Join Us
Why do we care about murals? About public art? A study called the Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) demonstrated that communities with “vibrant cultural life” experience “spillover effects.” Those communities experience stronger community and civic engagement, better health, schooling, personal security, and economic revitalization. This is called a thriving cultural ecology.
🎤 Help with our Oral History project! This is foundational research for the murals. The mural steering committees use the data and stories from local interviews to guide the artists along with the listening sessions. Email us if you'd like to conduct an interview or be interviewed: kathryn@tosstudio.org
🗳 Donate to the mural fund! These murals are about $34K EACH and we would always appreciate your support raising da monies. (Email Kathryn if you have a fundraising idea!)
🏪 Donate a WALL. We need three more spots for next year. 👀👀
(email - kathryn@tosstudio.org or call @ 828-448-1734)
Our Funders! 🙌
Our work has been supported by the North Carolina Museum of Art, N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Huffman Cornwell Foundation, and the Morganton Mainstreet Office, The Industrial Commons, and Good Books LLC.
