- I'm with Maureen Lewis, the president and founder of the Carolina Beach Mural Project.

And we're standing in front of a fantastic mural right now.

Maureen, tell me about this one.

- Well, Deb, this one is called "The Tribute to Carolina Shag."

And Carolina Beach has a really rich history of shag music and dancing on the island.

This mural depicts Chicken Hicks, who actually taught all the kids in Carolina Beach all the different moves.

And the artist Brian Lewis, also known as JEKS NC, who has painted murals all around the world.

We're very happy to have him in our portfolio of mural artists in town.

- [Deborah] Maureen, how did the project get started and how many murals are there now?

- Well, Deb, I moved from a town that was very rich in public art.

When I came here, I saw the potential and I asked around, and there was a lot of will, but no one really knew how to do it.

And so I created this organization with a lot of like-minded people.

And we started in March of 2020, and we have 19 murals installed since then, with another one, number 20 is gonna come in fall.

- [Deborah] What role would you say the mural project has in town?

- This town is in a lot of transition right now, and so I think it gives everyone a little understanding of our history and culture as it transitions from an old sleepy beach town to something that's a little bit more new.

It also encourages and inspires people, whether they are visitors or residents, just to take a look at a wall and see how it's been transformed.

The biggest challenge for us is getting wall space, but once we have negotiated with the landlord, then we look at the location and say, "What is the best theme for this particular wall?"

And we send out an RFP to artists and they give us proposals and we choose the one that speaks to us in that space.

And we're very proud to say that all our murals are done by North Carolina artists.

- Oh, that's wonderful.

- Yeah.

- Fantastic, can you show me some more murals?

- Sure, come on.

[upbeat music] Deb, this mural is called "Beach Breeze," by artist Jenna Rice outta Greensboro.

And it's the first mural that we had done that's trompe-loeil, which means trick of the eye.

And it's 3D, so the further away you stand from it, the more it looks like it's actually happening on that wall.

- Oh, I think I can see a little bit of that happening right now.

- [Maureen] Yeah, you can see the clouds blowing in the wind.

This mural celebrates the annual kite festival that's always at Fort Fisher.

We are very proud that all of our murals celebrate either the culture or the history of Carolina Beach.

[waves crashing] - Maureen, this one looks really different.

Tell me about this mural.

- Well, this is called asphalt art, and basically what we do is we take a mural and we put it down on a sidewalk.

And the kids love it, it's very engaging.

- Ah.

It is, so bold and beautiful.

And what are locals and visitors saying about these murals?

- Well, actually we thought we would do well if we could install two murals a year, but the reception has been so phenomenal that we actually are able to fund five murals every year.

- Wow.

So how do people find out more about the murals and where they are?

- [Maureen] They can come and visit us on carolinabeachmurals.org, or visit us on our Facebook or Instagram page.

And we do have a downloadable map on our website that people can download and then follow the trail.

- Fantastic.

Well, I can't wait to do that.

Thank you so much for showing me around the murals.

- Well, thanks for the opportunity to share this with your audience.

- To find out about all the murals at Carolina Beach, visit their website at carolinabeachmurals.org, and you can also follow them on Instagram.