Graffiti News

A distribution center carries a 150-year story

A mural marking 150 years of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco made its public debut at Whitaker Park in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on September 8, 2026. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, artists Joey Allen and Leo Rucker began painting in June 2025 and worked for roughly 15 months before the unveiling. Their canvas is the exterior, north-facing wall of the Reynolds Central Distribution Center at 1133 Reynolds Boulevard.

The columned wall covers nearly 33,000 square feet. The artists told the newspaper they believe the mural is the largest on the East Coast by area; that description remains their assessment. For people following murals, the useful distinction is between the work's physical scale and the story it tells. A long industrial facade gives the artists room to move between individual figures, working environments and changes in the surrounding city.

Employees and research share the wall with the founder

The mural brings images of workers, tobacco fields and scientists into a narrative that begins prominently with company founder Richard Joshua Reynolds on horseback. Historic, present-day and futuristic imagery connects the company's development with Winston-Salem. Kara Calderon, Reynolds American's senior director of Community Engagement & Sustainability, told the Journal that Reynolds himself is the only recognizable individual depicted.

Allen said he concentrated on different groups of employees across the company's history while combining his style with Rucker's. That makes the people around the founder worth examining as closely as the opening portrait. Looking at their tasks and surroundings offers a way to follow the narrative through work, production and research, rather than reading the wall only as a sequence of corporate milestones.

The images emerged through a company approval process. Rucker described months of meetings with Calderon and a decision team, followed by discussions between the artists. Allen prepared concepts for individual panels, which went back for approval before paint was ordered. Historical stories, photographs, dates and facility openings informed the designs. Understanding that commissioning process helps place the mural as a company anniversary account of a shared local history.

Fifteen months included substantial work away from the wall

The project required research, digital design and materials planning as well as painting. Rucker estimated around 2,000 hours of work, with interruptions for rain, temperatures, equipment problems and physical rest. Calderon said the initial expectation had been four to five months. The eventual schedule shows how much conditions can shape a large outdoor commission.

Allen separately described an additional 90 to 100 hours spent on digital designs and client revisions, plus 50 to 60 hours for color matching, material calculations and logistics. The amount of paint and spray cans required a dedicated storage pod on site. Those details give viewers a sense of the preparation behind a surface that can otherwise look like a single continuous painting.

The wall also had a practical effect, according to Allen. Before painting, its light surface reflected strong sunlight into offices in the Bowman Gray Technical Center across the street. He said the richer colors eliminated that glare. In his account, the commission changed both the appearance of the campus and an everyday condition experienced by people working opposite it.

Reynolds Boulevard is the reference point for a visit

The location to use when planning to see the mural is 1133 Reynolds Boulevard, with the artwork on the distribution center's north-facing exterior. The Journal identifies the wall but does not provide visitor hours, parking arrangements or permission to enter the facility. Check signs and facility instructions when choosing a place to view the artwork. An exterior mural does not by itself establish access to the property around it.

Whitaker Park's changing uses add another layer to the setting. The newspaper lists housing, food distribution, university research, recycling and a food bank among existing or prospective campus activities. Against that background, the mural can be read as industrial memory made visible during redevelopment. Reynolds described the artwork as another milestone in the campus's revitalization.

For a closer reading, follow how the panels connect the founder, employees, fields and laboratories. The relationship between those subjects matters as much as the overall dimensions. Find other works to explore through Wallscape's map.

Source: Winston-Salem Journal