Even if you don’t know his name, you know the works of Michael Brown. He’s the one responsible for the murals around Chapel Hill that turn the everyday spaces of the streets and alleyways into colorful, playful and sometimes ironic works of art. Perhaps you’ve seen the block-long pencil on Henderson Street? Or the turtle on Columbia Street? Or the puzzle pieces in the alleyway between Rosemary and Franklin Street? (The mural at the Main Post Office on East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill is pictured) The Chapel Hill Museum has brought the work of the muralist inside this summer, with an exhibit, Michael Brown: More than Murals, that highlights two features of his painting: the process of mural-making and his other love, watercolor landscape painting. Brown will begin a mural on one of the museum’s walls, leaving it partly unfinished so that viewers can see how he establishes the grid and pattern for his paintings, and how the finished product emerges from the process. The rest of the show will give viewers the chance to see how Brown works in reverse, transferring the life-size landscape into miniature when he works in watercolor. See the exhibition through Sept. 8. Call 967-1400 for details.
