Murals of Chapel Hill
[2] The event relied on the assistance of student volunteers who helped Brown paint the murals, turning them into collaborative community arts projects.
[2] He is also currently working on an as yet untitled mural that will decorate the side of the new Mellow Mushroom restaurant that is set to open on Franklin street.
[4] It depicts William Richardson Davie laying the cornerstone of Old East, the first building constructed on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
[2] Since the Downtown Commission and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System co-sponsored the mural, Brown was required to work with young student volunteers on the project.
[7] Brown has stated that he chose a pointillist style for the mural because he thought the technique might help unify the contributions of volunteers who had little experience painting.
Since the mural was once again co-sponsored by the Downtown Commission and Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System and involved local volunteers,[7] the handprinting technique became a clever solution for the problem of uniting their contributions into a single artwork.
According to Brown, the large Carolina blue handprints were inspired by a student tradition for celebrating basketball victories at UNC.
Brown originally wanted to feature dinosaurs but the Chapel Hill Design Review Board rejected the idea.
[13] Brown originally wanted to paint a 100 foot long chameleon, but when Chapel Hill's Appearance Commission rejected the idea as too scary and inappropriate, he settled on a 140-foot pencil.
"[15] The mural, painted on a wall on the side of Henderson Street in pop art style, features the words "is mightier than the sword" upside down to prevent it from being considered a billboard by the Appearance Commission.
"[10] The Painted Walls Project is an ongoing effort to restore and preserve damaged murals in downtown Chapel Hill.
[16] The Painted Walls Project, however, represents a more concentrated effort to bring together various groups with an interest in preserving the murals that have become characteristic of downtown Chapel Hill.
It also attested to the popularity of Michael Brown's murals as an integral piece of the atmosphere of downtown Chapel Hill, and therefore worthy of restoration.
In October 2013 he completed the mural "1941 Curt Teich Postcard" located on the backside of the outdoor bar He's Not Here, which commemorates various landmarks on the campus of UNC.
The University of Chapel Hill recently purchased his NC Musicians Mural which formerly hung in the now defunct, Pepper's Pizza.
The 18 paintings which comprised the mural now hang in the School of Music in Hill Hall on the University of North Carolina's campus.
Like many of Michael Brown's projects, the mural relied heavily on local student volunteers who helped complete Weinstein's design.
[25] Other muralists include David Sovero, Babatola Oguntoyinbo, Mary McCarthy, Scott Stewart, Jim Tuten, and Ryan Robidoux.
