15 !cons will line the footprint of SHOUT! helping attendees find their way on the street. Each !con will be designed by a local artist.

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The !cons

Oceanic Bliss

By Pam Imhof

Oceanic Bliss embodies artist Pam Imhof’s signature mixed media style consisting of spray paint, acrylic paint, and free form crocheted fibers. This piece is intended to immerse the viewer in the depths of the vast and beautiful ocean, leaving feelings of serenity, curiosity, and being transported to another world.  A wonderland of details and texture, Oceanic Bliss is striking and delightful on the forefront. Upon further contemplation, the piece brings awareness to our constantly changing environment. Oceanic Bliss reminds us that the actions of humankind impact the natural wonders of the world for better or worse.

The Jar of Possibility

By Claire Kiester

The Jar of Possibility depicts a larger-than-life abstracted pickle jar painted in acrylic. With this piece, I wanted to highlight the creativity I find through food and cooking ingredients. The hand drawn and painted elements reflect qualities of food packaging and reference the process of cooking. I find that being a great artist requires an important set of skills similar to pieces of a recipe. Each creatives ingredients will vary and be combined in infinite delicious ways!

A Riff on Romare

By Tara Spil

Honoring Charlotte-native, Romare Bearden, A Riff on Romare, is a painted study of Bearden’s collage works created during his Jazz period in the 1960’s. Born in Charlotte, Bearden moved to New York City and lived in Harlem among many jazz musicians. He was friends with artists and musicians such as Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Bessie Smith, Alvin Ailey and more. 

A true !con for both the Charlotte and Harlem arts communities, Bearden was also a social worker from the 1930’s-1960’s. His passion was art, too though, and he created collages, watercolor, oils, photomontages, and prints usually depicting places he lived like Mecklenburg County, Pittsburgh, and Harlem. During his life, he immersed himself into his community by building organizations like the Harlem Cultural Council, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Black Academy of Arts and Letters. Celebrated in Charlotte, a collection of his original work is always on view at the Mint Museum. 

Around the !con for Charlotte SHOUT, local artist, Tara Spil painted a jazz band piecing together players and instruments from Bearden’s collages. The bottom of the !con is inspired by a kitchen floor he painted in a work called Early Carolina Morning dated 1995. 

Prolific and distinguished, Bearden’s work is housed in important public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art in DC, Museum of Fine Arts Boston and more. 

I like you just the way you are

By Elle Walsh

An exploration of connection through language.

Dumpling Minuet

By Jinna Kim

"Dumpling Minuet" is a continuation of multidisciplinary artist Jinna Kim's "Won't You Be My Dumpling" series, a riff off of "won't you be my neighbor." It plays on Jinna's Korean and classical music backgrounds.

Crown City

By Makayla Binter

Crown City is the abstract expression of Charlotte's growth, story and expansion. The !con incorporates elements of Charlotte from lyrics that represent Queen City, to the city layout and pieces of the people impacted by Charlotte's current design. The piece is a collage of images and references from Sorting Out the New South City by Thomas Hatchett, a hand holding up the Queen City crown and a woman who is intersected by the city street layouts. At the bottom, there is a QR code that takes participants to a Linktree with information surrounding selected designs and about Charlotte's urban renewal process. 

Created to Inspire

By Anuja Jain

This piece is displaying a combination of one ancient Indian folk art form i.e. Mandala art and one modern twist to that art form i.e. Zentangle art. This piece is an effort by the artist to incorporate her rich and colorful cultures and traditions into her piece. Artist has incorporated several repetitive geometrical shapes along with some sustainable features to give it a 3d look and sensory feel. Viewers are encouraged to touch and feel to get a a sense of harmony and energy flow through all their shapes and colors. Also find the three iconic queen city structures hidden in the design. P.S. they glow in the dark and some might light up in the night !

Something's Bubbling Up!

By Helms Jarrell

 "What do you want to shout about?"  Charlotte community members' answers are incorporated into the piece made of over 200 hand cut and painted bubbles.  

Wonder!

By Ingrid Swanson

If we allow our minds a chance to be whimsical, embracing child-like humility, we paint ourselves a world of wonder!

Suddenly, the mushrooms by the side of the road may seem to grow to the size of trees. The clouds in a sunset sky may just turn into a banner, pulling you to the warmth. Your favorite song will explode in glorious strands of color and light! 

If we don't take ourselves too seriously, there's an endless supply of gratitude, enthusiasm, and wonder to be found.

Little Things

By Laura Sexton

I started my gummi bear collages when I had Covid and had to miss most of my first week teaching at a new school. They started as 2 "little things" that didn't take too much time or energy. Now for me, they represent the little things we CAN do when it FEELS like we can't do anything. These rainbow collage bears are made up of scrapbook paper, as well as old student papers from my classroom, and they are a reminder that we only have to do one small thing at a time in the face of overwhelming challenges. Those little things add up and make something complete over time.

Honey

By Aubrey Hedrick

My !con “Honey” is painted with acrylic paints and designed to look like an exclamation point that was die cut out of honeycomb. 

This piece is representative of North Carolina’s state insect, the honeybee.  The honeybee plays a vital and often forgotten role, not only as a producer of honey but also as a pollinator. As one of the most successful and commonly seen pollinators, honeybees play an essential part in our agricultural success but their value is often overlooked. 

I wanted this piece as a reminder of the importance that honeybees have in our ecosystem as well as a reminder of how much we benefit from them. I think we should acknowledge and support how interconnected we are to even the smallest parts of nature.

Bloom!

By Kelly Zimmerman

Blooming often is associated with transformation or changing from one thing to another. This installation transforms for the viewer as they get closer they are able to see the individual flowers that make up the shapes they see from a distance. The installation also shows how one small bloom can be a part of something much larger when combined with others. Hundreds of flowers are combined to make this piece which I hope you enjoy. 

FLORA!

By Krista Murphy

In FLORA! local artist and landscape architect Krista Murphy has created a unique piece of environmental art that takes the idea of a "living wall" and re-envisions it into an !con. The non-traditional media of trailing vines, air plants, and mosses weave together to create a living tapestry of varied colors and textures. Plants serve an important role in filtering pollutants, reducing runoff, and producing oxygen, as well as creating a sense of well-being and calm when incorporated into our built environment. This innovative piece is intended to delight the viewer visually as well as prompt them to reimagine plantings and landscapes as works of art.

Disco-mation, a homage to 'Disco Chicken', Firebird by Niki de Saint Phalle

By Maria Campagna

Inspired by the sculpture that sits in front of the Bechtler Museum, Firebird by Niki de Saint Phalle better know as the "Disco Chicken". Using recycled mirror removed from an office building each piece was hand cut and ground smooth. The viewer is delighted by a fractured view of themselves and the Queen City. Taking time viewers may notice a few familiar shapes in the plethora of mirror. Be sure to enjoy the reflected rays beaming from Disco-Mation. 

The Life and Times of the Cool Kids

By Nadia Ogunfowora

What makes you a cool kid? No doubt eveyone’s answer will be slightly different. My !con is a representation of these imagined answers, all unique, quirky and fabulous.