North Hills’ Parking Deck Art Gallery

ART HERE, TOO

by Liza Roberts
photograph courtesy North Hills

The next time you park your car in the deck at North Hills near Target or J.C. Penney, take a moment to look around and be inspired, because that parking deck has become an art gallery.

With 44 works of art on display created by 27 local teenagers, the Parking Deck Art Gallery, as North Hills calls it, will be up indefinitely, and offers guided walking tour maps, gallery cards, and special lighting. The new show, Teens, Inspired, is made up of works included in an annual juried exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art that asks teenagers to create original works inspired by art in the museum.

“Being a part of the gallery means that there are people who acknowledge my creativity, passion, and dedication to my artwork,” says Ceren Onasci, a freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill who painted a watercolor and acrylic on canvas that now hang in the North Hills deck while she was a senior at Millbrook High School in Raleigh.

The show includes enlarged versions of the teens’ works printed on durable vinyl, a process that allows them to be widely seen while preserving the originals from the elements.

“We are thrilled that artists represented in the museum’s annual Teens, Inspired exhibition will have the opportunity to show their work to a new audience through this off-campus installation,” says Harriet Hoover, NCMA coordinator of studio, teen, and college programs.

visitnorthhills.com; ncartmuseum.org