Triangle Park Mural, Asheville, NC. 2012.
Members of Just Folks and artist Molly Must
The Triangle Park Mural spans two sides of Triangle Park (at the intersection of Sycamore Alley and South Market Street), in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. A memorial to history, the mural pays tribute to the love, labor, and stories of Asheville’s historic African-American business district and surrounding Valley Street/East-End neighborhoods. The project was a collaboration between the Just Folks community club, the Asheville Design Center (ADC), and artist/community-arts organizer Molly Must, who was supported by the VISTA/Americorps program at ADC for 14 months. Planning for the mural began in 2011. The mural was completed in 2013. Funds for the project were primarily raised through a Kickstarter video-campaign created by Molly Must.
Triangle Park is in the heart of “The Block,” an historic area that was the cultural and economic center for all of Western North Carolina’s African-American citizens, from the time of Reconstruction until the years of integration and the East-Riverside Re-Development Project (funded under the federal Urban Renewal program), which severely altered the community’s physical, cultural, and economic topography. Although the community continues to experience displacement and transformation under heavy development, a generation of people who grew up on and around Valley Street (now Charlotte Street) still congregate in Triangle Park, as they have for many years. This dedicated group of community members — who organized under the name Just Folks — has been hosting regular block parties in the park for over a decade. The Triangle Park Mural was born of this vital commitment and a collective desire to mark the changing landscape with celebratory evidence of the area’s profoundly important past.
In an upwelling of community effort and care, nearly 100 volunteers helped paint the Triangle Park Mural between June of 2012 and May of 2013 (many of whom have their own stories about the heyday of the Block). The design is a product of community discussion that was aided by historical archives, interviews, family stories, and donated photographs (including the collection of photographer Andrea Clark). The mural honors both personal stories and memories of several historic institutions of the area, including the Stevens Lee High School, Catholic Hill School, and the Young Men's Institute (YMI). Artist Molly Must composed the design, with contributions by artists Ernie Mapp, Twila Jefferson, Ian Wilkinson, Harper Leich, and Liana Murray.
The mural was originally the first phase of a multi-phase vision for park beautification and grassroots community investment. We strongly believe the park holds more opportunity for continued collaboration between historians, artists, and community members.
2012 Kickstarter Campaign Video:
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A website is currently being developed specifically for the Triangle Mural Project. Hang tight.