Edited by Jared Moon
Take a drive through the Arts
District along North Davidson and you might believe that the street has become
the personal art gallery for UNC Charlotte undergrad Will Puckett. He is the
artist responsible for the massive murals that grace Cordelia Park, the
Johnston YMCA and a variety of buildings in Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood, a
historic mill area just north of downtown.
Puckett’s most prominent
creation is a mural of Mecklenburg County’s fabled Declaration of Independence
from Britain in 1775 that blankets the area under the Matheson Street overpass
and beautifully greets visitors as they enter the Arts District from the south
via North Davidson Street.
Despite his early passion for
art, Puckett’s road to becoming a prolific working artist has been a long and
winding one riddled with countless jobs spanning almost every region of the
States, and even a few stops in Europe.
Now, his art not only pays
the bills, he has racked up an impressive share of accolades.
In 2012, his work was
included in the Levine Museum of the New South’s Silent Heroes exhibit for the
Democratic National Convention. He has been recognized for creating the Best
Public Art Project and voted Best Local Artist. He has received numerous grants
from the Arts & Science Council in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and the city of
Charlotte to complete his large-scale public works, and is the recipient of an
ASC Regional Artist Project Grant.
His commercial and critical
success notwithstanding, Puckett still longed for a formal art education. He
enrolled at UNC Charlotte in the fall of 2012 and is now in his senior year as
an art history major. While he doesn’t think his studies would have changed the
overall design concept of his earlier paintings, he believes the additional
education will help him better articulate his work.
Inspired by UNC Charlotte
alum and artist Chris Watts who was recently accepted into Yale’s master of
fine arts program, Puckett is staking his claim that his University coursework
will help him reach the next level.
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