Local artist Diamond Cash, a native of Hendersonville, and Elizabeth and David Queen were selected to conceptualize and create three sidewalk murals covering 1,300 square feet in a project sponsored by the City of Hendersonville and supported by a Community Challenge Grant from the AARP.
The initiative was termed a “Quick Action” project, and it meant that the adjoining murals, which link the lively cultural route from Main Street to 7th Avenue, had to be completed in less than two months. Thanks to a combination of 1,000 volunteer hours, the goal was reached late last year.
Cash is the artist behind two of the three murals —“Bear Crossing” (connecting Grove Street to Pine Street) and “Hendo,” connecting Pine to Maple. “Hendo” is an abbreviation often used by locals, and in the interest of “being inclusive,” as Cash said in a press statement, “I used sign language to spell out the word … I wanted to use bright colors behind each hand connecting the sidewalk all together.” The Queens described their contribution, the festive “Hendo Beeline” (5th Avenue to the Historic Depot), as a “honeycombed yellow-brick road.”
For more information, check out the “Downtown Art Route Project” link on hendersonvillenc.gov.