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05/21/2025 9:39 am

Photo of bus shelter artwork that says "Each one to grow strong and faithful"

Progress shot of the Poole Road bus shelter artwork as it is being painted.

Poole Road Public Art

Raleigh Arts | A Percent for Art Project

Updated: May 21, 2025

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Project Details About the Artist About the Poets

About the Artwork

Artist Sharon Dowell has designed unique bus shelters and a Neuse River trailhead sculptural bench which will provide a welcoming space for transit riders and trailhead visitors while showcasing the creativity of local writers. The artwork features haiku by North Carolina poet, Lenard Moore, Patricia A. Johnson, and Valeria Bullock, all members of the Carolina African American Writers Collective, and reflects the character of the community and transforms everyday infrastructure into an inspiring public art experience.

Project Details

The Poole Road Public Art Project is funded by the 2017 Transportation Bond. Capital Improvement Projects that meet the Percent for Art Ordinance standards, such as this one, are eligible to use 1% of construction funding for Public Art. Inclusion of aesthetics and artwork is an investment in our communities, with a focus on community identity and equity in quality of life. Communities gain cultural, social, and economic value through public art.

The Poole roadway widening stretches from Maybrook Drive to Barwell Road. The design calls for widening Poole to a four-lane complete street with a median, sidewalks, and bicycle facilities. The project also seeks to improve bicycle connectivity from more rural areas of town to the Raleigh citywide bicycle system. Current plans include a 10ft multi-use path, dry detention basins, a transit stop, and a greenway connector to the Neuse River bridge.

This project will include public art integrated into bus shelters along Poole Road, incorporating poetry by local poets in the Carolina African American Writers Collective.

This project is part of the Poole Road Widening Project and is a Percent for Art project.
Concept design of blue, yellow, and pink graphics

A concept design Maquette of the Greenway Trailhead sculpture.

About the Artist

Headshot of Sharon Dowell
Sharon Dowell

Sharon Dowell is a painter with a focus on works on canvas, murals and public art. Intertwining themes course through her paintings; the energy of place, renewal, regeneration, and redemption. She believes that creative placemaking communicates distinctiveness and generates connections across communities. Thus, it is important for her murals and public art to also serve as a vehicle to give back and shape communities for the better.

She received an M.A. in Arts Administration from Winthrop University and a BFA from UNCC. She has served as an Adjunct Professor and Rowe Galleries Coordinator at UNC Charlotte and as Director for Center of the Earth Gallery. 

Her commissions include large scale mural, light rail station, and transit projects for Charlotte, NC and Boulder, CO as well as murals for UNCC, the cities of Rock Hill and Concord, and bus shelter art for Durham. Her residencies include The McColl Center for Visual Art, Penland School of Craft, Vermont Studio Center, Can Serrat in Barcelona, Casa Lu in Mexico City, Tyrone Guthrie Center in Ireland, NES in Iceland, United Buddy Bear Studios in Berlin, and the Julia and David White Colony in Costa Rica. Sharon received multiple Arts and Science Council artist grants and her work is in several corporate collections.

About the Poets

Valeria Bullock

Valeria Bullock, a native of Philadelphia, PA, is an Occupational Therapist and holds a degree in Psychology. She uses her gift of writing to make a difference in individuals and communities. “If I can write an inspiring poem that evokes a personal healing journey to improve their quality of life, mission accomplished!” Ms. Bullock’s Poetry has been featured in the Michael Harris radio show, Poetry anthologies, Christian Drama Ministry, and Diversity Performances in North America.

Patricia A. Johnson

Patricia A. Johnson is the daughter of George C. and Alice P. Johnson. She was born and raised and now lives in Elk Creek, VA. Called to missions, she is a member of Greater Emmanuel Apostolic Church. Her collection of poems, Stain My Days Blue, won the BMA Sonia Sanchez Poetry Award. Patricia is also a former National Poetry Slam Champion.

Lenard D. Moore Biography

Lenard D. Moore is an internationally acclaimed poet and anthologist. His literary works have been published in more than sixteen countries and translated into more than twelve languages. His poems, essays, short stories and book reviews have appeared in more than 400 publications, and his poems have appeared in more than 100 anthologies. He has taught Creative Writing and African American Literature. He is a U.S. Army Veteran.

Moore is the author of Long Rain; The Geography Of Jazz; A Temple Looming; Forever Home; The Open Eye, among other books. He is the editor of All The Songs We Sing; One Window’s Light: A Collection of Haiku, and other books. He is the founder and executive director of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective and co-founder of the Washington Street Writers Group. He also is the longtime Executive Chairman of the North Carolina Haiku Society.

Moore is the First African American President of the Haiku Society of America, serving two terms. Among his numerous awards are the North Carolina Award for Literature; Furious Flower Laureate Ring; Haiku Museum of Tokyo Award; Margaret Walker Creative Writing Award; Raleigh Medal of the Arts; Indies Arts Award; Tar Heel of the Week Award; Cave Canem Fellowships, and a Soul Mountain Retreat Fellowship.

Moore earned his Master of Arts in English and African American Literature from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He also earned his Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with a minor in English magna cum laude from Shaw University.

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Contact

 

Kelly McChesney
Public Art Director
kelly.mcchesney@raleighnc.gov
919-996-5657

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