The painter of Charlotte’s changing landscape
Plus: CMS teacher departures rise 74%; SPX Flow to be sold to private equity firm; Plans for a YMCA overhaul + 2 huge UCity subdivisions; Roy Cooper for Prez?; Football coach on 'Amazing Race'
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Q&A: It’s busy season for artist David French, whose prints of Charlotte’s favorite spots hang in tens of thousands of homes; from ‘kiss my butt’ to commercial success
Charlotte artist David French has been working long hours to make mounted prints of local spots for recent festivals. He says they are selling well because people like realistic paintings of memorable places and because the city’s growth means more houses to furnish.
by Tony Mecia
The journey to becoming one of Charlotte’s best-known artists started with a string of restaurant closings and a chance conversation.
It was 2006, and David French was working as a waiter at The Dunhill Hotel uptown. He struck up a conversation with a customer and happened to mention that in his spare time, he was working on a painting of The Athens restaurant, a longtime fixture near Central Piedmont Community College that had recently said it was closing.
The customer bought French’s painting of The Athens. Then another one of Anderson’s. Then The Coffee Cup. The success selling paintings of iconic Charlotte restaurants made French think that maybe he could make a career out of painting well-known local scenes. Two years later, he told his boss to “kiss my butt,” went all-in on his art and hasn’t looked back.
Today, French, age 45, has a collection of 500 paintings — of Charlotte restaurants and breweries, streetscapes and skylines. He’s a fixture at local festivals, like Festival in the Park and the Southern Christmas Show — where this year he shattered some of his sales records. That’s led to 100-hour work weeks for him and his assistant, who work out of French’s converted garage in NoDa. He figures Charlotte-focused prints of his work hang in tens of thousands of local homes.
He’s also had a unique vantage point to assess Charlotte’s growth and change, as older, nostalgia-inducing spots close and popular new places emerge.
The Ledger caught up with French this month at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery’s Christmas Market, where we talked about his big break, his views of Charlotte’s growth and whether he plans to redo his painting of The Thirsty Beaver to add Mick Jagger. Remarks were edited for brevity and clarity.
Q. How long have you been doing this kind of work?
My Charlotte series started in 2006 with the closing of Athens restaurant. Athens, Anderson’s and the Coffee Cup were a poignant sign of the times, as all three closed within months of each other. Somehow, a painting of Athens has turned into 500 paintings and a career.
Q. How did that happen?
I was working at the Dunhill running everything, front of the house stuff — waiting tables, bartending, banquets. It was 2006. I was the host server for a private Christmas dinner for Frank Bragg Investments, a billion-dollar investment firm here in Charlotte. He came in early to make sure things were right, and we talked a long time about what wine he wanted and what we had.
I was kind of a sommelier, so I can talk his ear off. Then he asked me what I did, and I explained what I was working on. He said, “David, I’ve got to see that painting of Athens. My business is right next to it.”
I told him I was going to be set up across from Anderson's, working on my Anderson’s painting. He came out the next day to see me. He bought Athens and said he wanted Anderson’s when it was done. He asked me what I was going do next. And I told him, “People keep telling me I’ve got to do The Coffee Cup.” And he said, “I want that one, too.”
Q. Was that when you realized maybe you were onto something?
It was really interesting painting Athens live on site, because so many people stopped and wanted to tell me some story. News crews stopped by and did little pieces on it. That was a big eye-opener. Frank Bragg bought those three and said, “What are you going to do next, David?” I said, “I don’t know.” He said, “Why don’t you paint a skyline?” I said, “Done!”
That certainly kick-started it. People wanted prints of The Athens. And then it sort of just spiraled.
Q. At what point did you quit your job and do it full time?
I quit my job a couple months before the economy crashed in ’08. I had a couple thousand dollars in commissions lined up.
I told my boss to kiss my butt, literally.
Q. This is at The Dunhill?
Yeah. They had hired this young kid to run the kitchen. And he was a hothead and thought he could talk down to people. I’m like, “Dude, I’m on your side here. Quit talking this way, or I’m done.” And one day I told him, and it was the best thing that ever happened.
That fall, at Festival in the Park, one of the executives at Frontier Capital came in my booth. And I had a painting of Lupie’s that was on clearance because I hadn’t sold it yet. He bought it. It was super cheap. By September, the economy was crashing, and they ended up calling me in October, because they were in the financial business and had a new office on the top of the Metropolitan, which was brand new, and they didn't want to hire a professional decorator because funds were tight.
And so they brought me in and had discussions with me about how they’d like to decorate the walls and commission five great big paintings: a Panthers Stadium skyline, the Charlotte signs on The Green, Phat Burrito, Mr. K’s. That really helped me get through.
Q. Has it kept growing? Have you hit your ceiling?
Things are insane. Festival in the Park, we broke our all-time festival record for any event by 50%.
Q. Why do you think that is?
It’s just the perfect storm. There’s no one factor. You can throw in Covid fatigue, like cabin fever. Throw in me kind of hitting all the spots/getting better. Throw in me getting better at size/price points as well. And good weather.
Q. What are your top sellers?
Every show is different. The crowd is very particular to that show.
Price’s Chicken Coop and Zack’s are still selling really well here. People flip out about Brawley’s. People love the Fourth Ward sunset. Everywhere I go, every show, Lang Van is insanely popular. I think Lang Van and Alexander Michael’s are hands down the most popular places in Charlotte.
Q. So some of the recent spots that have closed, like Mr. K’s, Price’s Chicken Coop, Zack’s, have those been good for you?
It’s a law of diminishing returns. It’s going to be a bell curve. Right now, I’m at the top of that bell curve, and they’re selling really well. But six months or a year will go by, and they’ll be in a backslide. I’ll still sell some here and there, but people are just no longer thinking about it. They’re not going there. The new arrivals in Charlotte will never experience it.
Q. What about The Thirsty Beaver? Are you getting any traction on that with the Mick Jagger thing?
That’s a super popular piece. I’ve had literally 500 people say, “Are you going to put Jagger in there?”
Q. Are you going to put Jagger in there?
I’ve had thoughts about it. I’ve already got two super popular paintings of Beaver. It’s just redundancy. I thought about how possible it would be to get a vinyl sticker and slap him in there, or people could do it on their own. Or maybe make a woodblock print and go Andy Warhol with it.
Q. What’s it like running this as a business?
I don’t know how to answer that. There’s an old saying that the medium creates the artist. And I didn’t fully understand it at first, but it stuck with me, and I get it now. Because Charlotte has created my art as much as I have.
I’ve listened 1,000 times to people telling me what they want.
There is a respect in the average person for realism, for painted realistic scenes — a value they put on it. It might not be as appealing to an art critic. But the average person doesn’t think about art all day long. And I think 90+ percent of people would much prefer a cool realistic painting that means something to them, as opposed to something abstract — not to say they don’t also like abstract, but they see the value of something realistically painted.
Today’s secondary sponsors are T.R. Lawing Realty …
… and Landon A. Dunn, attorney-at-law in Matthews:
Private equity firm taking SPX Flow private in $3.8B deal
Charlotte-based SPX Flow is being acquired by private equity firm Lone Star, the companies announced this morning.
It’s an all-cash transaction valued at $3.8B. The purchase price of $86.50 represents a premium of nearly 40% over SPX Flow’s closing stock price from July 16, when news that SPX Flow might be up for sale first broke.
SPX Flow, which makes industrial pumps and valves and has about $1.4B in annual sales, is headquartered in Ballantyne. It has more than 130 people in Charlotte, part of a worldwide workforce of about 5,000. SPX Flow spun off from its former parent company, SPX, in 2015.
Here’s the release that went out this morning. —TM
CMS: Teacher departures up 74% compared with 2020
The number of teachers leaving Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools is up 74% in the first four months of the school year, compared with the same period a year ago, according to figures the school district released Friday.
A lot of industries are experiencing higher-than-usual turnover, and local schools are sharing in that challenge. CMS released more detailed information about the teacher departures after the school board last week approved $2,500 bonuses for full-time CMS employees.
According to CMS numbers:
There were 705 teachers who left the district between Aug. 1 and Dec. 8. That’s up from 405 in the same period in 2020.
The most common reason teachers cited for leaving was heading to another school district (15.7%), followed by “family responsibilities/childcare” (10.8%) and “family relocation” (10.2%).
The percentage citing “job dissatisfaction” as a reason for leaving rose, to 8.1% from 6.7%.
The number of non-teacher employees leaving CMS rose 35%.
The school district has about 9,200 teachers. —TM
Charity spotlight: Standing up for Charlotte’s animals
This month, The Ledger is highlighting a few local charities doing good work in our community. The full list of Charlotte-area nonprofits recommended by our members can be found here.
In 2011, Cary Bernstein noticed there were too many homeless animals on the streets of Charlotte. North Carolina remains among the five worst states in the country for euthanizing shelter animals.
This observation led her to create Stand for Animals, a nonprofit organization that offers affordable veterinary clinic services to Charlotte’s cats and dogs.
Stand for Animals originally was created for spay and neuter services, but now offers other veterinary services, including vaccines and testing. Since its founding, Stand for Animals has spayed and neutered more than 111,000 animals, which has noticeably decreased the death rate at surrounding shelters.
“Spay and neuter is a very tangible way to make a difference, because the more pets you fix, the fewer pets end up on the streets and in the shelter,” Bernstein said.
With help from several individual and corporate grants, including one from PetSmart, Stand for Animals has expanded to three clinics — in Mooresville, Pineville and North Tryon Street in Charlotte.
“Our clients are predominantly working people who have a pet which most of them adopted, and there were very few or no options in the community for them to get services,” Bernstein said. “We now have the ability for people who don’t have huge financial resources to get care for their pet, which is helping keep animals from ending up in the shelter.”
Stand for Animals has 54 employees, including five veterinarians. Because it’s a medical practice, it has no volunteers on staff.
Stand for Animals is always accepting donations, which go into its medical assistance fund. This fund is granted to clients who cannot afford their pets’ medical treatment. Bernstein also said they welcome item donations, including towels, sheets, laundry detergent and pet food for their pantry. —Lindsey Banks
November’s rezonings 🔥: A couple massive UCity subdivisions + revamp of a YMCA
It’s that magical time once again, where we take our monthly peek at what developers are up to all across Charlotte — by reporting on the 17 rezoning filings with the city last month.
Say what you want about The Ledger, but our coverage of Charlotte rezonings is second to none.
In November, developers filed plans for:
Two huge developments in University City — one with 615 homes, and the other with 683 homes. (In case you missed it, we happened to take a closer look at the growing area in our Flyover Friday feature last week.)
340 townhouses near the River District, west of the airport
260 apartments in Cotswold
An overhaul of the YMCA on West Boulevard — and converting it into a mixed-used development
Adding a drive-thru to the City BBQ on Monroe Road near Matthews — the latest in a trend toward adding drive-thrus
Oh, and there’s more. Mmm-hmm. The full list is available here, exclusively for The Ledger’s community of paying members:
We share the details of every rezoning each month, before they appear on the city’s main rezoning website. The news helps residents learn what’s planned in their neighborhoods. It also helps people in the real estate industry spot trends.
Enjoy! —TM
Quotable: ‘We have got to learn to live with it’
From a Mecklenburg County Health Department news conference on Friday, following the first confirmed case in North Carolina of the new Omicron variant:
Reporter Alexandra Elich, WCCB: Many companies and corporations plan on returning to work sometime in January. Would your recommendation to those companies maybe be to hold off? Do you still encourage remote work, remote learning, remote whatever? Should that be the focus right now instead of in-person, given this new variant?
Raynard Washington, Mecklenburg County deputy health director: Covid is here with us. It’s not going anywhere, for sure. We will continue to see seasonal peaks and valleys as it relates to our key indicators. Cases will go up and down. We will have surges.
We don’t know fully what that pattern will look like on an annual basis …. It’s here, and we have got to learn to live with it, and certainly we have the tools in our toolbox to be able to live with it to protect life and to keep our hospitals from being overrun and to certainly make sure that the impact of the virus on our community is not stopping everyday life.
At this time, I wouldn’t have any recommendations. Any employer or any organization that is having gatherings or doing anything in-person has those tools in its toolbox to help make sure they are mitigating and lowering the risk of transmission in the workplace.
In brief:
Cooper in ’24? A Sunday New York Times article speculating on possible presidential candidates if President Biden does not run for re-election said that Gov. Roy Cooper “already has donors encouraging him to consider a bid, according to Democrats familiar with the conversations.” It said Cooper, addressing reporters at a meeting of Democratic governors, “was sketching out what could be the makings of a Cooper for President message to primary voters. He trumpeted his repeal of his state’s so-called bathroom bill targeting transgender people, an executive order granting paid parental leave to state employees and another order putting North Carolina on a path to carbon neutrality by 2050.” (New York Times)
Big UCity apartment sale: Two apartment complexes in University City sold for $125.8M, the second-largest apartment sale by price in the Charlotte region in 2021, according to Capstone Apartments Partners, which represented seller Phillips Development and Realty. Phillips Mallard Creek and Villas at Mallard Creek were sold to Florida-based American Landmark. They total 503 units on 30 acres.
IOU shopping at Belk: Belk signed a deal with a company called Afterpay, which enables “buy now pay later” plans that can spread purchases out. Some consumer advocates say those plans should be more tightly regulated because of the potential for paying fees. (Axios Charlotte)
West Charlotte apartments ahead? A company affiliated with Charlotte-based apartment developer Catalyst Capital Partners bought four parcels totaling 7 acres on Wilkinson Boulevard at Berryhill Road, near the intersection with Morehead Street, according to property records. The purchase price for the mostly vacant lots was $6.05M.
Football coach on ‘Amazing Race’: West Charlotte High football coach Sam Greiner and his wife were named as contestants on the upcoming season of the CBS reality show “The Amazing Race.” Greiner previously led Harding High to a state championship. (WBTV)
Crossword solution: Here are the answers to Saturday’s Charlotte Ledger crossword. Check out all the puzzles and answers on our Crosswords page. Final puzzle coming this Saturday!
Taking stock
Unless you are a day trader, checking your stocks daily is unhealthy. So how about weekly? How local stocks of note fared last week (through Friday’s close), and year to date:
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project