The Carter Building: Creating Community through Art  Impressions of an Artist New to TCB

Last fall, I found myself in a position of growing my art studio from the lone space I had enjoyed in an apartment building on Glenwood Ave to establishing a presence in a creative community.  It was important to me to feel at home in an environment that would appreciate the knowing I had that art was a language of the spirit.  It was not just about outcome, but process, as well. Awake at 3:00 in the morning, I got out of bed to look up the link for The Carter Building.  What I read there about the creative community inhabiting a building that dated back in the Carter family to the 1920s, lured me to bring my husband with me to tour the space the following day.  The impression I had there was like walking into a Hobbit warren.  Stairways leaned and floors tilted, and everywhere art and artists’ tools competed for space.  It was that day that I knocked on Mr. Carter’s door and announced that I was coming.  He had no space available, but I knew I was meant to be there. This was a place that felt like home.

This Saturday The Carter Building artists will be hosting a gathering of school children, local celebrities, and neighbors to paint a mural [pictured here] entitled, “Raleigh, My Dream City” designed by Tunde Afolayan and Lee Ball, which will decorate the exterior of The Carter Building.  

This is exactly the vision I had when I got out of bed in that early morning last November.  I wanted to be in a place that acknowledged the creativity inside each person; a place where people experienced community, and one that allowed each to contribute according to his nature.

I invite you to be part of the dream.  

Feel a glimmer of ownership as you stroll down Glenwood South.  Bring your kids so they can share the experience of creating something that will touch others for years to come.