After @raleighbiscuitcompany followed me on Instagram (@bethhopperart, go follow!), and we had a nice little intro chat, Victoria Macdonald invited me to be one of the artists to contribute to her Fall/Winter sampler, a collection of five biscuit flavors inspired by landmarks and locations across North Carolina. Assigned Carrboro, a town I’d never visited before, I decided a day trip to the Chapel Hill neighbor was in order to get a feel for what I should paint.

For those in the know, there are certainly some specific landmarks in Carrboro that I could have rendered, but as I was driving around and seeing this town for the first time, none of them seemed singularly iconic enough to represent the entire town. Not just one, but several beautiful, historic spaces caught my eye throughout the afternoon. In thinking through the piece, I kept coming back to the handcrafted partition outside the 401 Main bar and café, a homey patchwork of old doors and window panes. Something about that little piece of art, separating diners from drivers with these repurposed gates, shutters, and other passageways, said something about Carrboro's attitude of hospitality and warmth. With that image in my mind, I considered another obvious feature of the town: color. From the first turn off the highway exit, I was immediately met with such a radiant, unique spectrum of colors and styles in the homes and businesses in this town. Bright purple mobile homes, a rainbow of shops on East Main Street, and a large patio covered in chairs of every hue like confetti in front of the grocery store all contributed to the sense that Carrboro is folksy, artistic, inviting, and welcoming to all types of people. I knew I wanted my piece to show off this colorful environment. But the more I thought about it, the more I recognized the context for all this color. Through my tour of the town, I noticed a consistent political message that elevated the colorful exteriors beyond simple aesthetics: Black Lives Matter banners, murals, and signs, as well as pride flags of every pattern and size adorned the vast majority of front porches and big display windows. Carrboro as a whole seems to have decided to show their colors loudly and in as many ways as possible, and they encourage everyone to do the same. Over and over I saw the same message loud and clear: we want you here, exactly as you are. In such a short visit, Carrboro shifted from unknown, to charming, to truly inspiring to me. The layered array of doors and windows I've painted is a nod to the artists working and creating in this town, as well as a representation of the rainbow of folks who call Carrboro home. From an old screen door in baby pink to an austere window with lime muntins, a turquoise barn door to a burgundy deco era beauty, every style, every shape, everyone is welcome in Carrboro.