The Charlotte Handbooksourced, dated, checkable

Public art at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library

20 works in the county public art register are installed at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library.

The county’s public art register records 20 works at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library. This page lists all of them, with the artist, the type of work and whether the register marks it as interior or exterior.

15 of the 20 are recorded as interior. An interior work sits inside a building, and the register does not say whether that building is open to the public or whether the work is on display. Check with the venue before making a trip for one.

Recorded owner: Mecklenburg County.

WorkArtistTypeSettingWhere
581.92975Timothy WerrellSculptureExterior & InteriorSteele Creek Branch Library
Arts/EntertainmentTommie RobinsonPaintingInteriorWest Boulevard Library
Before DawnRomare BeardenMosaicsExteriorMain Library
Business/IndustryTommie RobinsonPaintingInteriorWest Boulevard Library
Cubic HarmonyJon KuhnSculptureInteriorUniversity City Regional Library
Hickory GroveCharles PilkeySculptureInteriorHickory Grove Branch Library
If you have...Beth RavitzSculptureExteriorSouth County Regional Library
Imaginary CloudMaja GodlewskaHanging Fabric PanelsInteriorBeatties Ford Branch Library
Joining ForcesVivienne McConnellStained GlassInteriorMountain Island Branch Library
Line Play/Space TraverseWinston TiteSculptureInteriorNorth County Regional Library
March VedantaEmily WilsonWall HangingInteriorMyers Park Branch Library
Medicine/HealthTommie RobinsonPaintingInteriorWest Boulevard Library
Open Book, Open MindJim GallucciSculptureExteriorSouth County Regional Library
Open StacksMartha ClippingerMuralInteriorNorth County Regional Library
RipplesCharlie NewtonPaintingInteriorBeatties Ford Branch
Science/TechnologyTommie RobinsonPaintingInteriorWest Boulevard Library
Semiotic Construct #1Ida KohlmeyerSculptureInteriorSouth County Regional Library
UntitledJim Hirschfield; Sonya IshiiSculptureExteriorSouth County Regional Library
UntitledSarah Craige; Betsy TownsMuralInteriorIndependence Regional Library
UntitledWillie Baucom; Keith LambertSculptureInteriorMint Hill Library

Why these exist

Charlotte City Code Chapter 15, Article IX — Ordinance No. 2308, adopted 27 May 2003 — sets aside one percent of the cost of eligible city capital projects for public art, with exclusions and a threshold below which it does not apply. Transit art runs separately, to the Metropolitan Transit Commission’s own guidelines. Title in the artwork vests in the city, and the ordinance sets out a removal procedure in which the city’s decision is final. That is why so much of the work here is publicly owned, and why so much of it is attached to a building or a station rather than standing in a park.