By Page Leggett

Kevin Harris recently fulfilled a long-time dream: He retired from his corporate job to become a full-time artist. He attributes his ability to leave the 9 to 5 behind to ArtPop Street Gallery. He was part of the nonprofit’s 2022 class.

“The exposure from ArtPop was insane,” said Harris, who’s now an ArtPop board member. “I’d been painting for many years and had a small, but solid, base of collectors. But the value of having my face – at an insanely large scale – all over town was huge. I was reduced to tears almost immediately the first time I saw it.”

Harris―who has a studio at VAPA Center―is primarily a portrait painter and it was a self-portrait featured in those ArtPop billboards. His first was on I-85 in Kannapolis. When that one came down, another went up near the Westinghouse exit on I-77. In addition, digital billboards across the city broadcast his face to passersby.

ArtPop―nearing its 10^th anniversary―is the brainchild of Wendy Hickey, a former Adams Outdoor Advertising sales executive who has become a fairy godmother to artists. It’s a role she relishes. “We’re so fortunate to be able to write checks to artists,” she said. “We’ve written some as big as $75,000.”

A decade ago, Hickey had the idea to beautify empty billboard space and help artists grow their careers at the same time. Each autumn since, she’s put the call out to area artists to apply. And, after a blind jurying process, a new class of 20 ArtPop artists is announced every December.

Applicants must be at least 18, have an active artist website and live in the greater Charlotte area. ArtPop artists work in a wide variety of media – photography, fiber arts, paint, clay.

ASC has been involved since the beginning. From 2014-17, ASC managed the open call for #ArtPopCLT and paid for the vinyl material the 20 billboards were printed on. And ASC’s involvement continues to this day. ArtPop received a $13,500 ASC Cultural Vision Grant this year to fund the printing costs for vinyl billboards and railway station ads placed throughout Mecklenburg County.

Hickey said ArtPop has had two equally big successes in its first 10 years. First is its ubiquity. “Everywhere you go outside your home, you’re likely to see ArtPop,” she said. As of Jan. 31, even people in the Big Apple are seeing ArtPop. In one of her most audacious triumphs, Hickey secured space on a digital billboard in Times Square for the current class of ArtPop artists. The invaluable publicity will remain on view through March 4.

The prevalence of ArtPop has led to the other major success – and that’s the shared success all the artists have had. ArtPop has allowed part-time artists to become full-time artists and allowed full-time artists to sell more art for more money.

Of the 20 ArtPop artists selected each year, one is a senior high school student. This year’s student is Haley Horner from Fort Mill High School. Each senior receives a $1,500 scholarship, and all 19 adult artists receive a $500 honorarium, thanks to ArtPop’s partner, the LendingTree Foundation.

Expanding, inspiring

While Hickey has always dreamed big, she’s expanded the program beyond even her imaginings. “Our Inspiration Projects division is truly impacting the upward mobility of artists – their small businesses, their livelihood, their ability to buy homes,” she said. “It is an absolute home run. It’s been a little over two years since we started, and we’ve completed 36 projects and paid local artists over half a million dollars.”

When clients contract with the Inspiration Projects division, Hickey doesn’t only look to the 20 members of the current ArtPop class. “We choose the right artist for the job,” she said. “So, we’re able to help more than just our 20 ArtPop artists each year.”

“ArtPop Inspiration Projects are your ideas brought to life!” according to the website. “We offer turnkey creative solutions and comprehensive project management, from finding the right artist to managing all the details. Each project … ensures your creative vision comes to fruition just as you imagined while bringing paid opportunities to artists.”

Sharon Dowell already had an established reputation when she was chosen to be part of the first ArtPop class in 2014. Her billboard was along the Wilkinson Blvd./Freedom Dr. corridor near the airport.

Her stature has grown since then, and last year, she led work on a massive (2,800 square feet!) mural that Atlanta-based developer Third & Urban hired ArtPop’s Inspiration Projects division to create.

The site is a former warehouse that’s been converted into offices. Dowell even got to hire five assistants to help with the large-scale work. “We worked full-time for four weeks,” she said. “It’s the biggest project management job I’ve ever done. And it was really cool to provide jobs for other artists.”

“I felt honored to be chosen,” Dowell said. “I loved the client’s idea for the mural theme. There’s a greenway nearby, and this building feels so industrial. They wanted it to feel like plants were growing out of the ground and onto the building. Their goal was to create a relationship between the building and the landscape.” 

Dowell has even hired some of her assistants from that mural for other projects since.  She knows well how essential it is for artists to think of themselves as business people, too. Dowell has a master’s in arts administration and wrote her thesis on visual artists and entrepreneurial skills. “Knowing how to run a business is so important for artists,” she said. “You don’t learn this in college, and anyway, a lot of artists are self-taught. They learn by doing.”

“It’s been cool to see Wendy grow the program,” Dowell said. “Those billboards have led to a lot of opportunities for artists to sell their work. And Wendy keeps expanding the program with things like digital billboards, paid opportunities, commissions, the Upcycled Fashion Show. There’s been so much.”

So. Much. There are regular exhibitions at uptown’s AC hotel and Le Meridien, and last year, ArtPop was at the Charlotte SHOUT! lounge. “That was success beyond,” Hickey said. “We did all three weekends and featured five artists each weekend. Those five artists sold $19,000 worth of art and kept all the proceeds for themselves.”

One of the next big opportunities ArtPop artists will get is a show at the new Cain Center for the Arts in Cornelius in June.

Hickey does more than encourage artists to operate like a business. Each year, ArtPop artists get to attend “Artist U.” Andrew Simonet, a writer and choreographer from Philadelphia, comes to Charlotte to teach a full-day business course for artists.

‘All the things I dreamed of’

Hickey was a one-woman show until January 2022 when she hired Brooke Gibbons, who came from the Wells Fargo Museum, to manage the flagship “City Programs,” which is what Hickey calls the original billboard initiative.  

Last October, Dylan Bannister joined as project manager for the Inspiration Projects division. And ArtPop has had a social media manager, Caroline Sigmon, for a few years. “Now that I have support, ArtPop is finally all the things I dreamed of―and probably a little more,” Hickey said.

She’s learned a lot―including about planning, strategizing, organizing. She even expanded to other cities and states for a time but decided it best to focus exclusively on Charlotte for now.

Hickey has been a tireless fundraiser for her cause. She’s been through lean times, but a windfall from a surprising source secured ArtPop’s immediate future.

“In 2020 – during COVID – when our future was shaky, an ArtPop alum who wants to remain anonymous donated enough money that we could come back in 2021,” she said. “In 2021, we were given a grant from LendingTree Foundation and a promise for $125,000 a year for three years.”

Most importantly, she said, she’s learned what artists need.

Encouragement, for instance. “When I retired, I called Wendy, and we had an emotional conversation,” Harris said. “She and I had talked a lot and she knew my struggle.”

Many artists have talent and passion but don’t necessarily know how to promote themselves. ArtPop is a built-in publicity machine. 

For years, Harris had been telling people about his hobby. His corporate colleagues―and during his time in the military, his fellow soldiers―would commission him to paint portraits of family members. They’d bring in photos and he’d paint a portrait for a $25 fee.

It’s not easy to have a hobby you wish were your job.

“I’ve had my feet in two worlds for more than 20 years,” Harris said. “ArtPop brought so many opportunities that I realized I couldn’t keep living in the corporate world and the art world. I had to make a choice – and the choice was easy.”

His life has completely changed since then. “For the first time, I feel l can legitimately call myself an artist,” he said. “I am loving life.”

“In the corporate world, I used to tell my teams: ‘Closed mouths don’t get fed.’ Now, I say it to struggling artists. If nobody knows about you and your talent, nothing’s going to happen. If you have paintings in your studio that no one ever sees, they’re not going to sell. You’ve got to put yourself out there. You’ve got to speak about your desire to be a full-time artist.”

And nothing speaks louder than a billboard.