Illuminate Art Walk returns to downtown Raleigh with giant 'Talking Heads'
Downtown Raleigh will once again light up for the holiday season with a free, self-guided art walk.
The Illuminate Art Walk includes 18 large-scale, interactive and light-based art pieces throughout downtown. It kicks off on Friday.
The signature piece in this year's show is Talking Heads - two giant heads illuminated with 4,000 LED lights each. The heads will react, show emotion and have conversations all through the use of light. You can see it in Raleigh's City Plaza.
In addition to Talking Heads, the show includes work from local light artists like Nate Sheaffer.
Illuminate Art Walk opens Dec. 1, 2023 and closes on Jan. 5, 2024. The lights go on at 4:45 p.m. nightly.
The event is free and open to the public
Here's a list of where to find each art installation:
- Limelight: Talking Heads (420 Fayetteville St., Raleigh City Plaza)
- Katie Stewart: Carolina Cacophony (555 Fayetteville St. at Haymaker) - This exhibit features a giant Dog-Day Cicada during its transformative molting
- Nate Sheaffer: All We Need (301 Fayetteville St. inside PNC Plaza's lobby) - Nate is an amazing neon artist so look for something amazing at this location
- Jackie Sanders: Products of the Process Microgallery (17 E. Martin St., inside the Pop-Up Shops at Martin Street) - This is Raleigh's smallest art gallery.
- Robin Vuchnich: Threshold (227 Fayetteville St. at Poyner YMCA) - Robin uses audio-reactive light art for this installation that will use nearby noises to create colorful waveform art.
- Oliver Lewis: Night Lights (1 Exchange Plaza) - This light-based mural forms shadows on the ground, creating an interesting transient art experience.
- Katherine Ryan: Firefly Footpath (131 Fayetteville St.) - This light installation brings the wonder of the rare Blue Ghost Firefly found in Appalachia to downtown Raleigh.
- Mara Carvalho Johnson: Christmas Magic (131 S. Wilmington St. at Joy Worthy Co.) - This Christmas-themed string art was made with yarn, artificial flowers and LED fairy lights.
- Glas: Esse Quam Videri (23 W. Hargett St. at Black Friday Market) - This Neon sign displays the state's motto in Latin, "To be rather than to seem."
- Nate Sheaffer: Zorah's Dressing Room Chandeliers (206 Fayetteville St. at Rolley)
- Jason Blyskal: As Above, So Below (228 Fayetteville St. at VAE)
- Nate Sheaffer: Zorah's Dressing Room Chandeliers (12 W. Martin St. at The Self Care Marketplace)
- Thomas Sayre: Shimmer Wall (516 S. McDowell St.) - The famous Shimmer Wall has new advanced lights.
- Mosca Design: Tinsel: A Walk Through Ornament (2 E. South St. outside of Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts) - This has more than 2400 lights and is 16 feet tall.
- Brian Brush: SONARC (2 E. South St. outside of Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts) - This installation is made of 1,000 plexiglass tubes and 600 LED lights hung in a semicircle frame.
- Nate Sheaffer: Disco Alley (510 Glenwood Ave.) - This is a permanent installation of hand-blown, glass neon lights that move and change color.
- Britt Flood: Meet Me by the Mistletoe (612 Glenwood Ave.)
