Life is an Open Book
Brad Spencer · 2002 · The Green, South Tryon Street, Charlotte, North Carolina
Photo: from the Street Art Utopia archive (photographer not recorded), two views side by side, as published on Street Art Utopia; camera date unknown.
At the Tryon Street edge of The Green, a pocket park in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina sculptor Brad Spencer made an open book of sculpted brick, with brick children climbing over it. It was dedicated in 2002; ArtWalks CLT says it was made to introduce the park’s theme of reading and literary arts. Source Source Source Checked
Seen May 2022: Travel Between the Pages posted photos of it at The Green on 26 May 2022 (camera date not stated); the newest firmly dated photo is from 20 August 2017; Clture (22 January 2020) also describes it there, and no report of removal was found Source Source Source Reported
💡 4 things to know
- Sculpted brick for a park about booksArtWalks CLT says Spencer created the brick relief to celebrate and introduce The Green’s theme of reading and literary arts; Clture calls it sculpted brick. Source Source Checked
- Four children on the pagesClture describes a large open book with four children climbing over it, about six feet high; RoadsideAmerica’s tip calls them brick children climbing an open brick book. Source Source Reported
- A brickmakers’ tribute to architectsClture and RoadsideAmerica say the Brick Association of the Carolinas commissioned it, RoadsideAmerica adding that it honours the AIA of both North and South Carolina; ArtWalks CLT names the North Carolina Brick Association instead. Source Source Source Conflicting
- A painter who found brick in 1989Masonry Magazine describes Spencer as a Reidsville, North Carolina-based public artist who graduated in 1983 and did not discover brick sculpture until 1989. Source Source Reported
📍 Where it is
At the South Tryon Street entrance of The Green (425 South Tryon Street, at West 1st Street), Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, near the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art and at the opposite end of the park from Gallucci’s columns Source Source Source Source Checked
Opens a map at 35.22425, -80.84732, a user-submitted pin (Virtual Globetrotting); not checked against the site.
🗓️ Sightings
- 2002
Dedicated at The Green
- 201015 Jul
RoadsideAmerica visitor tip
- 201111 Sep
Blog: at the Tryon entrance
- 201720 Aug
Photographed (camera date) · Flickr
- 202022 Jan
Clture public art guide
- 202226 May
Travel blog feature
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports. Publication dates are not camera dates.
🗞️ In the sources
Charlotte public art
“It features a large open book with four children climbing over it.”
Brick Kids – Life is an Open Book
“The Brick Association of the Carolinas commissioned this sculpture honoring the AIA of both North and South Carolina.”
Art is for Everyone
“artist Brad Spencer created this brick, relief sculpture”
✅ The facts
- Commissioned by
- Brick Association of the Carolinas (Clture, RoadsideAmerica); North Carolina Brick Association (ArtWalks CLT) Source Source Source Conflicting
🔗 Related
- None of These Giants Are Real Objects (8 Photos) — Street Art Utopia
- “Life is an Open Book” by Brad Spencer in The Green, Charlotte — Street Art Utopia
- All Artwork Files
All sources & image credits
- ArtWalks CLT (Charlotte walking-tour guide) — undated
- Clture, Mark I. West — 2020-01-22
- RoadsideAmerica.com, tip by Phil Pasquini — 2010-07-15
- Digs Design blog — 2011-09-11
- Flickr, Larry Syverson — 2017-08-20 (camera date; all rights reserved, linked only)
- Travel Between the Pages — 2022-05-26
- Masonry Magazine — 2019-12-02
- Pine Hall Brick — 2014-03-27
- Virtual Globetrotting (user-submitted map pin) — 2022-11-15
- Hero image: from the Street Art Utopia archive (photographer not recorded), two views side by side; camera date unknown. A 16:9 share image was made from it with blurred sides.
Last checked: 7 November 2026 · How we verify art