Off the Wall

On a brisk fall day, JPax and crew meet at the BP gas station in Avon where one of their many brightly colored murals adorns the side of a carwash. While it isn’t the group’s official name, the tag serves as their personalized group signature on each of their works of art – with “JPax” standing for Justin Paxton, Dare County School’s current Teacher of the Year, and the “crew” referring to a diverse group of Cape Hatteras Secondary School (CHSS) students who make up Hatteras Island’s mural club.

After graduating from CHSS along with his future wife, Alex, Justin tried majoring in science in college, but it just didn’t stick. Following his passion, he eventually graduated from East Carolina University with a double major in fine arts and art education, and returned to Hatteras where he was hired as CHSS’s art teacher in 2014.

One of the 13 murals that currently dot Hatteras Island includes this one on the side of the historic Burrus Red & White supermarket.

Since then, Justin has demonstrated an astounding commitment to his role as a teacher. Not only is he an art instructor for grades sixth through 12th, but he also leads a student travel club with plans to tour Italy this spring and heads an after-school Nerd Night video gaming club. And, for the past two years, he and his students have been making the island richer and more colorful by creating large-scale murals in Avon, Buxton and Hatteras Village.

Inspired by a trip to Europe a few years before the club began, Justin admired the art he found walking through the streets of Barcelona, and returned home determined to learn more about it – particularly as it related to adding to the vibrancy of a community.

“I saw what other towns were doing with murals and art walks, and I thought, ‘Why can’t we do this in Hatteras?’” Justin explains.

The work of the Hatteras Island mural club adorns a VW Bug.

After seeking approval from the Hatteras Village Civic Association, Justin began working independently on his first two murals in 2017. One was of sports-related items inside the Fessenden Center’s gymnasium and the other was a triptych of fish on three garage doors at Hatteras local Bill Balance’s automotive repair shop. A few friends helped out when they could, and from there word spread.

Local students in particular wanted to pitch in, and in early 2019 the club officially began.

“The mural club has an open-door policy,” Justin says. “If students have sports or other commitments, and they can’t make it one day, it’s no problem. People come out when they can.”

Students who participate in the club are generally in the ninth through 12th grades, and many of them have a variety of artistic interests – from wanting to help with small things like filling in colors to playing bigger roles in ink work and design. And CHSS has also been an enthusiastic supporter of the club by allowing members time during school hours to meet and plan, and also supplying some materials when requested.

While street art is most commonly found on the exterior walls of buildings, Justin likes thinking outside the box, and lately there’s been no shortage of interest in the club’s creations. Sometimes business owners approach him with an idea, and sometimes he’ll reach out to an owner directly if he sees a space he thinks is ideal – because, ultimately, the artwork is intended to both enrich and connect the community as much as possible.

“Scratchmade Snackery in Hatteras Village was the first one we did when the mural club came together,” Justin says. After seeing octopus tentacles along the interior walls of the bakery, Justin sketched a purple octopus devouring muffins and cupcakes with the idea of painting it on an old Volkswagen Bug parked outside, and the owners loved it. Though some overzealous visitors occasionally scratch the paint while posing for pictures with it, Justin seems unfazed. “I just stop by and touch this one up with teal paint whenever I have some leftover,” he adds.

The murals are made with a mix of interior and exterior paints, plus acrylics, spray paint and graffi ti ink, and many of them are intended to pay homage to the area’s rich maritime history. In the case of the Nedo True Value Shopping Center in Hatteras Village, the owners wanted a mural that represented how their ancestors arrived on the island – and, as legend has it, they were shipwrecked while rum-running at sea, so their first family member had to ride a barrel to shore. As a result, the mural depicts wooden barrels of rum floating on an angry, white-capped sea surrounded by wreckage and lightning.

“I often meet one-on-one with the business owners at first,” Justin says. “Sometimes a student will join me, and we’ll talk ideas. Since the island is so close-knit, we want to bring something to them that they’ll appreciate, something they’ll want to show off that speaks to both the business and the area.”

Work continues at the carwash.

The club even had the largest number of students inside the smallest space when they painted the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse inside the Buxton post office. A total of 15 students signed the piece when it was complete, but it was a tricky project.

“Painting the grass was really hard,” says Maria Luna, an Art Three student who worked on the post office mural. “At one point, the sky looked avocado green, and the sand looked like barf.”

“In the art world, you have to be able to take criticism,” Justin says with a laugh. “It’s a learning process for all of us.”

To date, there are 13 murals dotting the island, with several other ones either in the planning stages or underway. Although JPax & Crew don’t charge for their work other than funds for the paint, donations are welcomed, and so far, the club has managed to raise $2,500. At this point, the group plans to use this money either to take an art trip or to paint a mural off the island.

“When I first started this, I didn’t know where it would lead – I just wanted to have fun on some walls,” Justin says. “But it’s a different feeling to go out and do something that stays there for years. It’s given us a chance to work with the community, and it’s brought my students closer together, too. We’re like family.”

Justin sits with the mural inside of the Fessenden Center’s gymnasium.