The Mural Mile is an initiative that engages the Rock Hill community and local artists in the design and installation of 8-10 murals on various buildings throughout Rock Hill’s downtown and textile corridor within a one-mile radius.
CREATE A MURAL IN DOWNTOWN! The process of creating a mural can be fun and exciting as long as you know how to prepare and properly execute the project. This how-to guide serves as a resource to bring together a wall, its property owner, an artist, and a community to make a beautiful piece of art. Outlined in this guide are two models for mural development – the artist-led model and the community-led model. Once you've looked through the guide, consider applying to be a part of the Mural Mile.
mural #1:
warehouses on white
130 W White St, Rock Hill, SC
Date of Completion: April 2020
About the Artist: Osiris Rain is an international muralist and post contemporary figurative painter. He is the founder of Osiris Rain Studios and the North Carolina Academy of Art. His murals and paintings are featured in numerous private and public collections across the globe, including The European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, Spain.
mural #2:
"no room for racism"
130 W White St, Rock Hill, SC
Artist: Heather Johnson & Community Members
Date of Completion: July 2020
About the mural: The Friendship Nine, or Rock Hill Nine, a group of Black men who went to jail after staging a sit-in at a segregated McCrory's lunch counter in Rock Hill, SC in 1961. The design, in block letters, reads “No Room For Racism,” a city motto that dates back to the tenure of Mayor Doug Echols. The first letters are filled in with the colors in the city’s logo, and the last nine letters are the faces of the Friendship Nine hand-drawn in black and white.
mural #3:
"Sunset Park
Basketball Court"
300 Freidhiem Rd, Rock Hill, SC
Artist: Garrison Gist & Frankie Zombie
Date of Completion: October 2020
About the mural: The Old Town Association and the Housing Development Corporation recently partnered to develop the first-ever basketball court mural in Rock Hill, South Carolina. In the Sunset Park neighborhood, the mural was painted by lead artist Garrison Gist (assisted by Frankie Zombie) as a part of the Mural Mile Initiative of the Rock Hill Development Corporation (RHEDC).
Support for this project is provided by the Arts Council of York County Small Grants Program, the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC, Comporium Communications, and the SC Arts Commission, which received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
mural #4:
McFadden building - "dreamer"
212 East Main Street, Rock Hill, SC
Artist: Darion Fleming (DaFlemingo)
Date of Completion: December 2020
About the artist: Darion began painting large scale murals in 2018 and has since created dozens of pieces in the Charlotte area, Asheville, Raleigh, Washington D.C. and now, Rock Hill. He has worked on projects with clients such as Bank of America, Lyft, NASCAR, as well as many local businesses and commercial developers. Some of his work has been featured by the New York Times, Lonely Planet, and news outlets in the UK, France, Japan, and Italy. Everything he creates has variance. He enjoys the idea of always being in such an experimental stage, with no limitation of style holding him back from developing artwork.
mural #5:
"rock hill for all"
157 East Main Street
Caldwell Street adjacent to Amelie's French Bakery
Artists: Brian Chisholm, Dameion Carter, Hayley Doyle, Kimberly Hart, Lance Rhodes, Myles McDaniel, Nico Amortegui, Shanti Marcum, Tonio Jackson
Date of Completion: March 2021
About the mural: In September 2020, the Community Relations Council of Rock Hill held Race Equality Month. During that time members wanted to bring the All American City Theme to the streets of Rock Hill. After months of planning and teaming up with the Arts Council of York County, the mural is now making a difference as people stroll through downtown.
PHOTO CREDIT: The Rock Hill Drone Guy
Support for this project is provided by the Arts Council of York County Small Grants Program, the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC, Comporium Communications, and the SC Arts Commission, which received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
mural #6:
Shepard fairey
153 East White Street
Artists: Shepard Fairey; made possible through a collaboration between Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation, Catalyst Capital Partners, and the Women's Art Initiative
Date of Completion: October 2021
About the mural: The influential street artist has been a consistent presence in national and international art scenes since the 1990s. Fairey's work and practice has become widely known since his 2008 “Hope” portrait of then-presidential campaign Barack Obama, which now hangs at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. He is also known for his activist artwork and graphic design and is the founder of the OBEY clothing brand. Fairey has strong ties to Rock Hill, with both sets of grandparents from Rock Hill. One grandfather served as the sixth President of Winthrop University, while his other grandfather was one of Rock Hill’s most prominent surgeons for nearly 40 years. He still has family members who reside in Rock Hill. “I’m very excited to paint a mural and exhibit my art in Rock Hill because I grew up spending a lot of time with family in the city and surrounding countryside,” said Shepard Fairey. “My mural celebrates various aspects of Rock Hill’s industrial history while also sharing my philosophy of open-mindedness, creativity, and adaptive disruption to progress into the future. I look forward to a great dialogue with the people of Rock Hill,” Fairey said.
mural #7:
Arts Council
121 East Main Street, Rock Hill
Artists: Edmund D. Lewandowski
Date of Completion: 2017
About the mural: Edmund D. Lewandowski's impressive painting career began during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) and spanned half a century. His hard-edged and often hyper realistic works range from farmscapes and marine subjects to industrial scenes and abstracted landscapes. In 1973, Lewandowski joined the faculty of Winthrop University, serving as the chair of the Fine Arts Department at Winthrop University until his retirement in 1984. He also served the greater arts community as a member of the Rock Hill Arts Council’s board, now the Arts Council of York County.
It is a historical reminder of what can be accomplished even in the most trying political times. Artist Sharon Dowell refreshed Lewandowski’s mural in 2017. She partnered with the Arts Council’s staff in choosing a color palette inspired by the ACYC logo. It was during this time that the work was amended to include the Arts Council’s logo and Center for the Arts identifier. Of the project, former ACYC Executive Director Debra Heintz said, “Rock Hill is a perfect example of collaborative efforts to ‘build the arts into our everyday fabric.’”
mural #8:
Vernon Grant
153 East White Street (York County Library)
Artists: Osiris Rain designed by Illustrator Jill Pratzon
Date of Completion: October 2022
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About the mural: This mural celebrates the life of beloved artist Vernon Grant, and serves as the largest mural in York County. The beautiful piece of art was designed by illustrator Jill Pratzon and brought to life by muralist Osiris Rain.
Vernon Grant lived in Rock Hill for over 30 years and much of his work can be seen on magazine covers and advertising campaigns. He is the creator of the SNAP! CRACKLE! AND POP! characters used by Kellogg's. Grant also co-founded the beloved Come-See-Me festival which happens every spring here in Rock Hill. The piece helps pay tribute to this city's most influential artist.