arts & Entertainment CRITICS’ PICKS: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Here’s to the creatives, the heart and soul of our city.
Pg. 44 DEC 1 - DEC 14, 2021 - QCNERVE.COM
Best Creative: Carla Aaron-Lopez
You could barely walk into an art space in Charlotte this year and not see something that Carla Aaron-Lopez had her hand in, and we’re here for it. But it’s not just art spaces. As new chair of the Talking Walls Mural Fest, Aaron-Lopez was in charge of organizing the artists putting up pieces you cannot miss if you wanted to. Hell, every time we walk into our office we have the privilege of perusing her curation in the Big New Things exhibit she helped put together here at Advent Coworking. Most notable, however, were her partnerships with Mint Museum Randolph where she held the LOCAL/STREET pop-up exhibit in March, then was heavily involved with the collaborative It Takes a Village exhibit in June. In the fall, she curated the
JOY exhibit at Elder Gallery, and oh, did we mention she’s a full-time arts teacher at CMS? Next year promises to find her having an even bigger impact on the Charlotte arts scene, as she’s been appointed one of 18 members on the new Arts and Culture Advisory Board, which will develop a comprehensive arts and culture plan for the city and allocate approximately $4.4 million in remaining funds from the 2022 fiscal year to support arts, culture, and artists, and $12 million each in the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. Give ‘em hell, Carla.
told Queen City Nerve in October. “The finished sneakers tend to be rewarding because an initial idea from my mind to a mockup was transformed into wearable art.” The Artvst is self taught; she started by customizing her own pair of Nike Roche Runs at 15 years old and has since connected with hundreds of
clients looking for colorful, standout sneakers not sold in stores. Over the years, her shoes have paid homage to history, social justice movements and breast cancer awareness. They’ve even caught the attention of corporations like Taco Bell, Subway, Converse and the Carolina Panthers.
Best Niche Artist: Destiny Wilson, The Artvst
There are artists and then there are transformers. Destiny Wilson is the latter — proof that anything can be your canvas as long as it can be painted on. The 20-year-old UNC Charlotte grad, who goes by the name The Artvst, turns plain white sneakers into colorful masterpieces with a few strokes of her paintbrush and a creative mind that’s only just beginning to unlock. “I love that I get to create colorways that don’t yet exist with inspirations drawn from my everyday life experiences, or the most ordinary thing that I can turn into a nice looking color block,” The Artvst DESTINY WILSON, AKA THE ARTVST
PHOTO BY THE ARTVST
