Local artist captures Chapel Hill’s story in new mural at 900 Willow Apartments

Local artist Gabriel Eng-Goetz is painting part of Chapel Hill’s story on a 5,000-square-foot mural at 900 Willow Apartments by University Place. 

The artwork features Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, who has been a part of Chapel Hill’s town seal since the 1930s. 

“I'm not the guy who just comes in with colors and abstract art that just maybe adds a splash of color. I really want to, you know, tell a story and have a little bit of subtle symbolism for people to try and figure out,” Eng-Goetz said. 

Eng-Goetz’s mural proposal was selected because it was the most community-centered piece, according to Nicole Neville, a leasing consultant at 900 Willow Apartments.  

Chris Scott, a new resident at 900 Willow Apartments said she appreciates the mural’s connection to the community. 

Although new to the apartment complex, she is no stranger to the area. She said she just moved back from Raleigh, but calls Chapel Hill home and is a UNC alumna with ties to University Place. 

“[The mural] is awesome because, being that [Chapel Hill] is where I grew up, it’s like home to me, and I love it. And my very first job was at the mall back in the day, so it really is kind of full circle,” she said. 

900 Willow Apartments were built as part of the current redevelopment of University Place, which has been an important fixture of Chapel Hill for a long time. It originally opened in 1973 as an indoor mall. 

Eng-Goetz was raised in Durham. His mother Geni Eng, taught at UNC’s Department of Health Behavior until her recent retirement, and he has memories of going to the University Place mall with her when he was younger. 

“It was my mother's favorite mall because it had all these funky art forward, kind of little shops and had a couple galleries inside. It was just very much like it wasn't your typical mall, it didn't have chains, really,” he said. 

He paid homage to Weathervane, one of the old restaurants he and his family used to frequent at University Place, with a design in the mural. 

“And you'll actually see in the chest plate there's this weather vane that shows west and east and a rooster on top. And that was their [The Weathervane’s] old logo. So it's just a subtle nod to some of the history of the shopping center as well,” he said. 

Eng-Goetz also aimed to highlight Chapel Hill’s diverse community in the mural. 

He incorporated West African, Indigenous American and South Asian patterns in Athena’s cape to represent the multicultural area, which brings together people from around the world, he said. 

Eng-Goetz has been a full time artist in the area for the last 16 years, and over the course of his career he described reinventing himself several times and didn’t start painting murals full-time until 2019. 

Throughout his career, representing underrepresented cultures has been a key part of Eng-Goetz’s art. 

“I think a lot of my work is focused on cultural identity, especially public art is really tapping into not my own story, but trying to tell the story of the place of the people,” he said. 

He said that one of his favorite local works is a piece for an affordable housing building at Durham Station he painted three years ago.  

To create the piece, he worked directly with the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation’s tribal council to design a mural honoring them. 

“The mural is anchored by a red-tailed hawk, the symbol of the Occaneechi, rising from the earth with its heart exposed showing their power and resilience,” he said in an Instagram caption. 

Eng-Goetz murals can be found throughout the town and across the state from Raleigh to Asheville. One of his works is on campus at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, a tribute to where his mother taught. 

Those interested in viewing more of Eng-Goetz's work can follow him on Instagram @gabegets or check out his website, at gabegets.com.