South Raleigh News

Pullen Arts Center has a new chalk mural by artist and Recreation Leader, Jabari Harris!

Located at our first floor entrance, the chalk mural wall provides invited artists with a blank canvas to create a new artworks on the wall every two to three months. This mural will be on display through April 29.

Artist Statement

"About a year ago, I took a photo of myself in front of the chalk mural that’s located in the first floor hallway of my job at the Pullen Arts Center. Little did I know that I would be creating my own in the same spot only a year later.

Since I love animals and had drawn pictures of lions in the past, I thought that it would be a good subject to draw for my mural. I don’t specifically remember when the idea came to me, but a couple of the murals created last year were done by Pullen Arts staff members, so I thought it would be a good challenge for me to take on.

Like most of my artistic projects, this mural has taken a good amount of time to create. I started off by making a rough draft of the drawing in my pocket sketchbook. I also watched some Youtube videos on working with chalk and creating a mural. From there, I went straight to the chalk wall. It was a little intimidating at first since I’ve never worked with chalk and I’ve never created a piece as large as this before. However, when I approached this project in the same way I would any other artistic project that I’ve done, things began to flow.

All in all, it took about 18-20 hours to complete. I’m very pleased with how it came out and I’m proud of myself for taking on this new challenge. I’m thankful to the Pullen Arts staff for inspiring me and for allowing it to happen in the first place. I’m also thankful to my family and friends for their support throughout the process. Finally, I’m thankful to God for providing me with new opportunities to learn and grow.”

Original source can be found here.