Story By Mary Welch

Anthony Norman (Evan Hansen), John Hemphill (Larry Murphy), Lili Thomas (Cynthia Murphy), Alaina Anderson (Zoe Murphy), in the 2022-2023 North American Tour of Dear Evan Hansen. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

BRINGING JOY

The Blumenthal Fellowship Program links the theatre with the vibrant Charlotte artist community

STORY BY

Mary Welch

To painter Tara Spil, it’s all about igniting the local arts community and introducing visual and local artists to new audiences. She intends to do exactly that with her exhibition of paintings that will be displayed in the lobby of Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Belk Theater during the run of Dear Evan Hansen.

The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, which focuses on teen social anxiety and suicide, is the starting point of Spil’s work. She uses representations of actual data in her paintings to enhance her message’s impact. For the Dear Evan Hansen exhibition, she will use data involving the number of children with mental health issues not only in Charlotte, but throughout North Carolina. “I’m excited to localize the topic of kids with mental health issues,” she said. “But also look at things and people that are

(Above) Tara’s painting titled “Disconnect” (Left) Painter Tara Spil

helping kids overcome these obstacles. These series of paintings will also look at the positive solutions and how we can, as a community, reach out to kids and give them hope.”

Bree Stallings, Blumenthal’s director of artistic experiences, said that every one of Spil’s brushstrokes “represent a data point about mental health, about veterans who commit suicide or children who commit suicide or have mental health issues. It’s the perfect art to tie into the play.”

Bridging the Gap

Spil, who maintains a workspace at Hart Witzen Gallery & Studios on North Tryon Street, is part of Blumenthal’s Artists-in-Theaters program that arranges for a chosen visual artist to display at the theater their work that complements or is inspired by themes represented in the play.

“We started the program last year with Wicked, and I was really excited about it,” Stalling said. “We were helping artists get back to work after COVID. We intend to have installations for every show. It could be photographs, sculptures, all kinds of things.”

The Artists-In-Theaters program allows local artists to display work that complements or is inspired by themes represented in the play

Anthony Norman (Evan Hansen) in the 2022-2023 North American Tour of Dear Evan Hansen. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Stallings can personally attest to the value of the program for audience members as well as the Charlotte arts community in general. “I’m an artist. I do murals and large-scale installations and before I took this job, I had never been to a Broadway show. And now I get why people love these shows and why Charlotte has such a dedicated crowd that comes to the theater. But they may not know our city’s visual artist community. Artists are talking about the same things in their work as these shows are. Through this program, we’re able to bridge that gap, create a dialogue and totally benefit each other.”

In the past year-and-a-half, Blumenthal has worked with 200 artists, Stallings said, adding, “The works of our Blumenthal Fellow artists and the Artist-in-Theaters program are really just bringing joy.”

Real Issues

Spil’s early works and studies were inspired by the mountains of North Carolina. After that, she moved up north to help facilitate an artist residency program and then started doing grant writing for a foundation. “I wanted to put art in communities that didn’t necessarily have access,” she said.

After a few years, she had a child of her own, which pushed her in the direction of wanting to do work related to kids. She started fundraising in the areas of health and human services. “I started looking at data

because I used it so much in my fundraising and grant writing,” she said. “In my paintings I started thinking about it and the people in the underserved communities. I started painting by those numbers. It took me four years to figure out what I was doing, but that’s how I started.”

Dear Evan Hansen is the story of Evan, a bullied teenager with severe social anxiety issues. Evan finds himself with a strange link to the family of his worst bully when they mistakenly believe Evan and the bully were actually the best of friends. The misunderstanding snowballs into a social media movement that changes all their lives, especially Evan’s.

Choosing paintings that comment on this story, Spil said, “I want my paintings to turn into abstract art based on real issues. I wanted a visual representation of the numbers of kids in foster care and how that affected children and women. It’s my passion. I did a Blumenthal artist-in-residency during the [pandemic] and that was the first time my work actually interacted with audience members. I actually included them in my paintings where they could make marks on it. I did one on mental health and had over 1,000 people paint on it. It opened up conversations and I’m creating awareness and getting people talking.”

Art helps the children in question as well, she said, “I think art impacts kids in such a positive way. If they are involved in an arts project, the exposure may really help them in other areas. If kids are exposed to it, it opens up so many possibilities in different ways of thinking. If you’re going to be an engineer, it still affects the way you think.”

She added, “I want these series of paintings for Dear Evan Hansen to give audience members new information that is relevant to them and where they’re coming from. It’s one thing to see a show and understand that this is what’s happening but with my art it may add even more awareness. It’s really cramming visual arts and theater together. We miss so much by staying [isolated]. By working together…we can really build communities and make art more accessible.”

Anthony Norman (Evan Hansen), Coleen Sexton (Heidi Hansen) in the 2022-2023 North American tour of Dear Evan Hansen. Photo by Murphymade.