CHARLOTTE — The North Davidson Arts District kicks off its spring Gallery Crawl on Saturday, March 21, with 22 participating venues spanning the seven-block stretch of North Davidson Street from 36th to Sugar Creek Road — and four new large-scale outdoor art installations that will remain on view through the end of April.
The biannual crawl, which takes place every spring and fall and typically draws 3,000 to 5,000 visitors over its five-hour run, has grown steadily since NoDa’s resurgence as Charlotte’s primary arts corridor. This spring’s edition is the largest in terms of participating venues since the event’s founding.
“NoDa has always been the place in Charlotte where you could stumble into something unexpected,” said NoDa Arts Foundation Director [Name]. “The crawl is the concentrated version of that — you walk the district for a few hours and you see 20 different visions of what art can be.”
The four outdoor installations, commissioned through the foundation’s public art program, are sited at key intersections along North Davidson. The centerpiece, a suspended steel and mirror work by Charlotte sculptor [Name], hangs above the alley between 36th and 37th streets and interacts with both natural and ambient light as the evening progresses.
A second installation — a hand-painted mural spanning the full east face of the former Neighborhood Theatre building — was completed last week by a three-artist collective from the Villa Heights neighborhood.
Inside, participating galleries range from established anchor spaces like the NoDa Community Development Corporation gallery to newer studios that opened in the past 18 months. Several studios will have working artists on site demonstrating techniques and taking commissions.
The crawl runs from 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday. It is free and open to the public. Participating venues will be marked with orange banners. A printed map is available at all venues; a digital map is posted at nodaarts.org.
The LYNX Blue Line’s 36th Street Station provides direct access from Uptown and South End. Street parking is available on side streets off North Davidson.