By Steph Hils
For many years, citizens and visitors of Holly Springs have walked past the dumpster enclosure on Rogers Street without giving it a second glance. Now passerby stop to look at the sprawling, vibrant blue and green mural with a large “Holly Springs” written in bold cursive. As artist Jackie Sanders set to work painting the brick, a passerby remarked, “I didn’t even know this was here!” Throughout the five-week project, children and adults alike stopped to remark on the mural. “There were a lot of people that became regulars to the mural that got to see the progress in real time,” said Sanders. “People pulling up in their cars and yelling, ‘Good job! It looks awesome!’ was a very regular occurrence.”
Jackie Sanders is a muralist who studied studio art at Virginia Tech and is based out of downtown Raleigh. While other artists grew up doodling characters on their homework, Sanders grew up drawing geometric shapes on a drafting table. “My parents own an architecture firm and so that’s really where my deep connection with public art comes from — acknowledging and witnessing how people interact in public spaces.”
She started leading public projects herself in 2023 but assisted with multiple public murals when she was in college. Sanders has established herself as a public artist in the area over the last three years, working on murals for community centers and local businesses. Her work explores systems, movement, and the relationship between people and the built environment, often drawing inspiration from patterns found in everyday life. “My mission for these types of projects is to transform a mundane moment into a memorable experience for the community.”
As part of the recent rebrand of Holly Springs, town staff identified the large dumpster enclosure as an opportunity to make downtown more visually unique and exciting. They put out an open call to artists for the opportunity to create a mural that would capture the past, present, and future of Holly Springs. Then they narrowed it down to a handful of artists that they paid to do designs for the final piece, selecting Jackie as their choice. “For me, a big focal point of the design was wanting to make something that was uniquely Holly Springs,” said Jackie.
The mural itself is a rich ode to the town, full of symbols and nods to Holly Spring’s history. Bunches of native flowers grow upwards, framing the archway. The railroad tracks lead the viewer’s eye into the past, passing over the two train depots and reaching the water tower in the distance. Sanders creates an extravagant framing, full of flowers and creatures, to represent the growth and future of Holly Springs, while keeping the central imagery simplistic. On this wall, you can find salamanders, a Northern Cardinal, and a monarch butterfly representing the natural life of the town. The mural was designed for the viewer to experience fun moments of discovery and learn more about Holly Spring’s history through these hidden treasures.
One of the symbols that might seem obvious is a baseball, drawing associations with the town’s Salamanders team, but the history is actually much richer. Sean Ryan, Planning Division Manager for Town of Holly Springs, explained, “We have a historic marker at the North Main Athletic Complex that recognizes the Negro League that was formed back in the 1940s and there were a lot of baseball games that were hosted in our community by the Holly Springs Negro Baseball League. It was important to us to recognize the history that the league contributed and [that] people in the community still have really fond memories of.” The local team “The Athletics” started in the 1940s, when the Negro American League was its most popular. The sport drew an estimated 3 million fans to ballparks across the U.S. in the 1942 season. “The Athletics” team lasted until the 1970s.
This sort of niche historical knowledge is exactly what Jackie is looking for. “I think one of my favorite things as a muralist in collaborating with a client is leaning on the team for the rich history and hearing directly from the community members and the local historians that truly know what makes the space great.”
There are many more clues hidden within the mural waiting to be investigated. The first wall includes the iconic cupula of town hall, a tiger salamander, and holly flowers, as well as geometric molecular designs in the background, which acknowledge the importance of the life science industry in Holly Springs. The blue pattern wraps around the corner, connecting the two mural walls together and representing the bright future of the town.
The painting of the mural was timed perfectly in preparation for the 150th anniversary of Holly Springs this summer. Through Sanders’ bold use of color and geometric design, the mural gives new life not only to an overlooked space, but to downtown as a whole. “With the rebrand of Holly Springs, this is just the beginning. There’s so much excitement happening in the town, so I’m appreciative of them trusting me with the project and [what will be] the start of many more projects to come for Holly Springs.”
