mural #4

Carolina Beach has been a destination for live music for decades. This wall will showcase the Beach Music Festival which would have celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2020. The origins of beach music date back to the late 1940s with much of the phenomenon impacting teenagers and college students vacationing on Carolina beaches. From this period through the mid-1950s, during which a culture shift was taking place in the country, the hunger to hear this compelling music grew. 

Sharon Dowell has been named as the Artist for Mural #4. Her work is titled "Record Weekend".   

Sharon Dowell is a painter with a focus on works on canvas, murals and public art. Intertwining themes course through her paintings; the energy of place, renewal, regeneration, and redemption. She believes that creative place making communicates distinctiveness and generates connections across communities. Thus, it is important for her murals and public art to also serve as a vehicle to give back and shape communities for the better. Sharon received a MA in Arts Administration from Winthrop University and a BFA from UNCC. She has served as an Adjunct Professor and Rowe Galleries Coordinator at UNC Charlotte and as Director for Center of the Earth Gallery. Her commissions include large scale mural, light rail station and transit projects for Charlotte and Boulder, CO as well as murals for UNCC, the cities of Rock Hill and Concord, and bus shelter art for Durham. Her residencies include The McColl Center for Visual Art, Can Serrat in Barcelona, Casa Lu in Mexico City, Tyrone Guthrie Center in Ireland, NES in Iceland, United Buddy Bear Studios in Berlin, and the Julia and David White Colony in Costa Rica. Sharon received multiple Arts and Science Council artist grants and her work is in several corporate collections.

“I am living the dream, using my art as a vehicle to beautify neighborhoods, contribute to cultural landscapes, and instill a sense of pride.” – Sharon Dowell 

This wall is on the north facing side of Sea Witch Tiki Bar located on  227 Carolina Beach Ave N 

This mural was completed on April 12, 2021.