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 …

As the Dillon mural moves into its final phase, BEST artists are busy filling in architectural details, along with completing the sky section and adding portraits of many generous donors.  The lead portrait artist through the months has been Angela Zappala, who joined BEST after bringing her two daughters, Maddalena (almost 10 years old) and …

Raleigh, NC – Raleigh’s Beautifying Emerging Spaces Together (BEST) group is proud to announce it is now officially a public charity with tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. Since its beginning in October 2011, this all volunteer group of downtown residents has installed four art installations in the downtown …

Our third interview in the Dillon Mural Artist Series is with Susan Skrzycki. If you’ve read our previous posts, you’re probably catching on that the Carter Building is quite the hub of activity.  Susan is a member of The Vault co-op gallery in the basement of the building, and after meeting Donna, she donated an encaustic painting for …

This series of blog posts will highlight the diverse artists, their backgrounds and what drew their participation in BEST’s commitment to community art. See the first post here.  Manjri Lall also learned of the Dillon mural through Donna Belt after a visit to Donna’s studio on First Friday in September. With a daughter now in …

This series of blog posts will highlight the diverse artists, their backgrounds and what drew their participation in BEST’s commitment to community art. Art is a very personal thing.  Generally, we think of art as something separate from us, framed and hung on a wall. We think of landscapes or portraits, or are perhaps drawn into the nuance …

Bill Beatty and Ben Covington are the leaders of the Design and Construction Team, creating the paneled wall that will serve as the surface for Phase I of the Dillon mural. More than 30 volunteers show up to help with constructing the wall between August 22 and 26th. Old friends meet on the site, not …

The Dillon Supply buildings on and behind the 200 block of S. West St. in downtown Raleigh’s Warehouse District have received a lot of attention over the years as the eventual location for Raleigh’s Union Station, part of the long term transportation plan in Wake County.  If you’ve walked past or driven by, perhaps on …