Triangle Transit, owner of the Dillon Supply Company building on South West Street is pleased to provide the setting for BEST to create the largest community-driven public art installation in Raleigh. With a transportation themed mural that covers the east and south facing facades of the building, this block long venue will provide a lively, welcoming backdrop for the development of the new Union Station, adjacent to this property.
The site of the BEST public art project will eventually be made available for transit oriented development.
Triangle Transit was created to plan, finance, organize and operate a public transportation system for the Research Triangle area, with three main program areas:
The Dillion Supply building at the west end of Martin Street has been selected as the replacement for the current Amtrak station and the future hub of Raleigh’s multi-modal “Union Station”, serving as the cornerstone of Triangle Transit’s long-term plan for enhanced bus service and a commuter rail corridor from Downtown Raleigh, through Cary, and Research Triangle Park, to Durham.
…go give yourself completely to something and then, share it with the world to lift them all…I only came to give it away…and I find myself increasingly full and dancing at the cliff…
This quote by Jason Craighead captures the essence of his art, and lends an understanding for the depth of his inspiration reflected in this mural design. He joins other BEST artists in facilitating public participation, as well as including other well known local graffiti artists, as each adds their style to this unconventional canvas that highlights movement and transportation.
Jason Craighead is a recognized leader in the North Carolina art scene. His work has been included in many solo and group exhibitions throughout the Southeastern United States. He has also been an active participant in the Raleigh arts community for many years. He has donated numerous paintings to charitable art auctions, including the Triangle AIDS Alliance’s annual Works of Heart auction and a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser. He has also served as a juror and signature artist for Works of Heart, and as a juror for the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh and the Greensboro Center for Visual Arts Members’ Show. In 2006, Raleigh’s annual spring festival, Artsplosure, commissioned him as Signature Artist to create a painting that would become the image of its marketing campaign. More recently, he has been appointed to the City of Raleigh Arts Commission.
A resident of downtown Raleigh, he grew up in Florida where he studied art at Gulf Coast Community College and Florida State University.
Click on the following pictures to view them in full size.
Artist and designer Lidia Churakova comes from a long line of scientists who have championed creativity and fostered possibility. Her great grandfather’s fame was established when he developed a process for producing affordable champagne, and her mother is a research scientist whose job moved Lidia from Russia to Germany for 1 1/2 years when she …
For NCSU Design student Joe Lawson, art is a visual language that entices the viewer to find stories within stories. So as he passed by the Dillon mural last year on his way to work as part of the digital team with the Obama for America NC campaign, he couldn’t help imagining himself as part …
With BEST Dillon’s theme of Moving Forward Together, who could be better to fill in the mural’s train driver seat than Triangle Transit bus driver Carolyn Williams? From the beginning, BEST’s vision was to express community through a wide range of artists and volunteers, as well as the subjects pictured in the design, culminating in …