North Charlotte Today

Spring 2024 marks the five-year anniversary of the Urban Design Center’s Placemaking Grant Program and Creative Pool. Over the past five years, the UDC has contributed to transforming Charlotte into a more vibrant city by supporting local artists, encouraging grant applications, funding projects that preserve the city's identity and character, and emphasizing the public good derived from placemaking initiatives.

The impacts of the Placemaking Program are evident throughout Charlotte, with notable projects including signal cabinet wraps along Beatties Ford Road, Rita’s Mural at Five Points Plaza, and living pillars in the Historic West End. To commemorate this milestone, visual artist and educator Jamil Dyair Steele shared his experiences with the program.

"My name is Jamil Dyair Steele (Dyair), and I am a visual artist based in Charlotte," he said. "My creative journey is deeply rooted in my experiences at West Charlotte Senior High School and further refined through my education at UNC Charlotte and Winthrop University."

Steele's artistic work focuses on minority narratives and youth vitality through portraiture, murals, and illustrations. He is also a National Board-certified teacher known as Mr. Steele by his students.

Steele's involvement with the Placemaking Program began in 2017 when it was known as the Paint the Pavement Program. "This program has significantly expanded my artistic opportunities over the years," he noted. A pivotal moment came when a parent of one of his students applied for a grant that enabled his 5th grade class to create a street mural at Anne and Cheryl streets in Plaza Midwood.

In subsequent years, Steele continued to engage with city-sponsored grants. In 2018, he painted three sidewalk murals along Montford Drive in south Charlotte in a Pop Art style reflecting the neighborhood's retro aesthetic. Following this project’s success, he joined the Placemaking Artist pool.

In 2021, Steele was selected to design a mural for an underpass retaining wall at I-77 and W. Trade Street in Charlotte’s Historic West End. The 180-foot mural chronicles influential figures and landmarks such as Julius Chambers, Dorothy Counts, Johnson C. Smith University, Good Samaritan Hospital, and the Excelsior Club.

In 2023, Steele answered another call for artists issued by the Placemaking Program to create commemorative markers for West Boulevard corridor of Charlotte. Additionally, he collaborated with Curtis King on a mural for underpass pillars at I-77 and West Boulevard.

"Through the Placemaking Program," Steele reflected, "I have been able to transform public spaces while honoring and celebrating the rich cultural history of Charlotte's communities."

This summer will see further collaboration between Steele and King on an art project commissioned by the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition as part of Charlotte's Placemaking Grant Program. The project will focus on painting underpass pillars at I-77 and West Boulevard with imagery symbolizing investment in future generations.

Steele described his contribution: "I will be painting 16 diverse children gazing up at giant bean stalks that appear to grow up entire length of underpass pillars." Each child will hold a sprouting plant symbolizing youth nurturing while King adds African-inspired motifs to each arch.

Additionally designed are 11 commemorative markers highlighting notable figures within neighborhoods represented by West Boulevard Coalition; these will serve both educational tools sources community pride.

Together these elements aim create cohesive inspiring visual narrative celebrating past present future West End community.