WILMINGTON, N.C. — Everyday Heroes come in many different forms, from teachers to frontline workers and even artists.
Wilmington-based artist Sally Martin is a perfect example of an everyday hero. She’s turning imperfections in New Hanover County Parks and Gardens into pieces of art, something that’s making her community smile.
Martin was born an artist. She says she doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t making art. However, she didn’t always know that was her calling.
“For a while, I thought I wanted to teach, and I wanted to find a way to inspire people, and teaching seemed like it was gonna be something that would do that,” Martin said. “But it just didn’t come naturally to me so I felt like art was another way that I can inspire, and it is a way of teaching.”
Now, she’s using her art to inspire positivity in her community. New Hanover County Parks and Gardens has commissioned Martin to take the imperfections she sees in the parks and turn them into something unique and beautiful.
“They thought it would be a cool to like take pieces, like imperfections in the park setting, whether it be like here where it does flood a little bit, or a rust stain, a crack in the sidewalk,” Martin said. “You know you can’t go by and fix them all, so why not just beautify them.”
She’s been painting and creating little characters and pictures all around the county. For example, at Echo Farms Park, she painted fish on the sidewalk where it floods. She says those imperfections boost her creativity and inspire her.
“I’ve been doing that my entire life, looking at clouds, looking at stains or whatever, and it actually has given me my best characters,” Martin said. “Because I mean most of the stuff that I do has been realistic, but I mean, you see a face in something, and it’s just like, 'oh, I have to turn that into something real, because the coolest part about that is it hasn’t existed until now.'”
She’s happy to make something good from the bad, and she hopes that it can bring a smile to people and brighten their day.
“I think nowadays, with so much, ugh, we don’t see all the good in the world,” Martin said. “And there’s so much good, there’s just so much more good in the world than we might see every day.”
Martin’s art can be viewed at Echo Farms Park, Long Leaf Park, Smith Creek Park and other areas around New Hanover County.
If you would like to see more of Martin’s work, including her realistic pieces, you can visit her website and her Instagram.