Nash Community College’s Le Chevallier Big Summer for Art and its Impact

Georges Le Chevallier

Nash Community College Art Instructor Georges Le Chevallier recently completed a commissioned mural project for the City of Washington (NC) named “Viva La Vida!”  and was unveiled on July 16.

Le Chevallier makes clear that this project was about the community.

“I do not like actors,” said Le Chevallier. “To make a film, or a TV series, or a Broadway show, it takes a lot of people, yet we only talk about the actors. I don’t like that, and I don’t want to be an actor today; I’m not the man of the hour. This project took two years to happen, and it took a lot of people behind the scenes to make it happen. This was a group project and one that shows how art can affect a community.”

The mural is over 3,000 sq. ft. located at the Bobby Andrews Recreation Center on East 7th Street. As noted by the Washington Daily News, it is a “magnificent display of words, color, and imagery which represents the Latinx community in Washington.”

The mural was made possible through the generous support of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. Believing that art can open the door to conversation, the Foundation’s Inclusive Public Art Initiative aims to share stories of diversity, equality, inclusion and equity, particularly those often untold.

“The mural turned out fantastic, and we were able to have over 300 local students participate in helping put it together,” said Le Chevallier. “PBS NC filmed the whole process and is putting together a short documentary about it, and it should premiere soon.”

Washington is one of only 19 sites across the state that received the prestigious Public Art Initiative Grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation to promote inclusive art.

Upcoming Exhibitions

NCC are proud and excited to support Le Chevallier on his upcoming art exhibitions:

• Out of the Pines: Photographic Educators from North Carolina Colleges and Universities (July 22 – Sep. 5 at Wilma W Daniels Gallery at Cape Fear Community College)
• “Casa Azul of Greensboro’s Chronicles de Cocina: The Stories that We Tell Through Food” (September 2024 at the African American Atelier Gallery)
• “You Don’t Look Puerto Rican” (October 2024 at the Diamante Art and Cultural Center Gallery in Raleigh)

Le Chevallier was born in Paris, France, to a French father and a Puerto Rican mother; however, he grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He started his educational journey at the prestigious “Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando” in Madrid, where he studied painting. After this study, he earned his Associate of Arts degree from El Camino College (Torrance, C.A.), a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Hunter College (New York City, N.Y.).

His mixed-media paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally in distinguished galleries and museums worldwide, like The Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia, Green Hill in Greensboro, Central Gallery in Budapest, El Museo del Barrio in NYC and many others. Le Chevallier has also created multiple public art installations throughout the USA, Mexico, Hungary, Tanzania, France, Guatemala and Chile.