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Background
In November of 2016, Wake County voters approved a plan to expand and better connect the public transit network. The Wake Transit Plan identified transit improvements, including the implementation of four (4) Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors.
Understanding the benefits of including local culture, history, and art into community projects, the City continues to identify opportunities for art integration within the Wake BRT corridor projects. Art can transform civic spaces, foster shared community interactions, and celebrate unique stories and collective history. Furthermore, high-quality art and design can improve the customer experience and increase ridership while creating a sense of identity and adding vibrancy to transit systems.
New Bern Artists
In Fall 2021, Calls for Artists were published for the purpose of hiring North Carolina artists to create artwork along the Wake BRT: New Bern Avenue corridor. After reviewing all application submittals, semifinalists were chosen and interviewed by selection panels. The selection panels consisted of representatives from St. Augustine University, the Public Art and Design Board, New Bern Avenue Corridor Alliance, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee, and local artists and community members. A total of 11 artists were selected. View a collective biography of the New Bern artists
View the Wake Bus Rapid Transit New Bern Avenue concept design results
Leslie Bartlebaugh
Glass Artist
Johnny Lee Chapman III
Concrete Integration Artist
Photograph by Sarah Demuth
Jane Cheek
Glass Artist
Max Dowdle
Glass Artist
Shawn Etheridge
Glass Artist
Mayanthi Jayawardena
Glass Artist
Georges Le Chevallier Glass Artist
Felix Obelix
Glass Artist
Alberto Ortega
Glass Artist
Kiara Sanders
Glass Artist
David Wilson
Railing Artist
New Bern Artist in Residence
Dare Coulter
In Fall 2020, Dare Coulter was selected as the Artist in Residence to assist with art integration into the Wake BRT program. On a system level, Dare worked to identify “blank canvases” (areas to integrate art) where future artwork will be considered for the entire BRT system. Then, along the Wake BRT: New Bern Avenue corridor Dare created conceptual ideas and inspiration for art integration through community engagement and outreach.
Dare Coulter finished her residency in Fall 2021 and published a final report - Wake BRT Art Integration Report & Recommendations. This report includes recommendations for concrete integration, artistic railings, and glass art at stations along the New Bern Avenue corridor. This report will serve as a guide for future artists who will create and install art along the corridor.
Southern Corridor Artist in Residence
David Wilson
David will be engaging the community and creating an art plan for the Southern Corridor starting in late 2023.
Durham-based public artist, David Wilson, hails from West Virginia and obtained his BFA from Hampton University. While at Hampton, Wilson received tutelage in the creation of public art under prolific muralist, John Biggers and Afri-Cobra artist, James Philips. A primary driver in David’s public works is creation for interpretation by all with an overall goal to foster introspection, communication, and provide a platform for education.
Wilson employs his background in design, sculpture, and public art to create site-specific work that explores the social, historical, and functional context of the site, as well as the architectural and urban henomenology of the space.
Western Corridor Artist in Residence
R Stein Wexler
R Stein Wexler will work on the Western Corridor art planning starting in Spring of 2024.
R Stein Wexler develops research- and process-based community-engaged public space interventions that tell silenced stories. Her work results in community gatherings, process documentation, immersive and interactive installations, workshops, and/or exhibitions. Stein’s current work includes a series of installations investigating alternative temporalities in Raleigh, NC USA, a series of neighborhood safety interventions in Durham, NC USA, and an ongoing multi-phase remembrance process in Berlin, Germany.
Other projects have included a counter-memorial piece in Krakow, Poland, and a collaboration with residents of an elderly lesbian housing development in Berlin. Her public art has been supported by Raleigh Arts, the Berlin Senate for Culture and Europe as well as the Duke-Durham Partnership and the Mellon and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundations, among others. Stein was an artist in residence through Art Prospect at Oberliht Association in Chisinau, Moldova; at documenta fifteen in Kassel, Germany and a German Chancellor’s Fellow at Berlin’s Center for Art and Urbanistics (ZK/U).
Stein holds a Master’s in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where she received the Parker Fellowship. She holds a BA with honors in English from University of California, Berkeley. She lives between Berlin, Germany and Durham, NC USA.
