Meet Us
We are Andrew and Sarah McWilson — partners in life (10 years of marriage) and in our creative endeavors (operating as Hand in Hand). We have spent the last 5 years on the road, living in our home-on-wheels (the Marshmellow) creating public art for community, in the form of figurative painted murals that tell the human story.
Though we thought our mural work would take us to big cities when we first set out on this journey nearly a decade ago, it’s taken us to smaller towns and more rural spaces. And it’s really where we continue to find the greatest opportunity for connection and impact.
Our community-focused mural work has afforded us the most meaningful opportunities to offer sense of place and bring people together, but we’re always leaving — that’s the hard part.
Why Elkin?
Both originally from the Florida Panhandle, Sarah spent a month every summer of her childhood in the Elkin area, visiting her grandparents. It’s here she first experienced the mountains, and developed the depth of her connection with nature. Meanwhile Andrew had his own early experiences in the North Carolina mountains. We both have always felt the pull of this kind of terrain and have a special connection with it.
In 2020, when we officially set sail for full-time living on the road, it was the same time Sarah’s mom returned to her hometown of Elkin. Months later, we were commissioned to paint the “Forest Bathing” mural downtown on Main Street, inspired by a newly opened local trail. From here, we continued our travel for creative projects and personal explorations.
It was a site visit for a mural project all the way out in Nebraska in Fall of 2023 that showed us the value of a functional downtown. This experience pointed us to the idea of what we could bring to Elkin — a place we recognized more and more as having everything we need to live out our own small-town dream life — access to trail running with a state trail traversing right through downtown (MST), a temperate foothills climate to experience the seasons, a short drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, a vibrant energy and charm, and community support for what we could bring.
We quickly fell in love with 209 W. Main Street as the ideal canvas and home for living above and operating a mom n’ pop shop. Our creative vision was directly born out of our experiences with community-placemaking over the course of our mural journey and first decade of marriage, and our own personal emphasis on health, food, and a plant-based lifestyle. But really, it was every step of the journey that brought us here, full circle.
Sarah got certified to teach yoga while living in St. Augustine, Florida and is now teaching yoga at Yoga on Main. Andrew left the art classroom when we pursued our mural journey and is now leading art at Yadkin Valley Community School (both Main Street fixtures). Sarah went to school for business and even wrote an essay on opening a plant-based community focused space 20 years ago, and spent her college days connecting with people while working at Starbucks. Her writing propelled her into community storytelling through publications and personal outlets, before expanding this storytelling into public art. Andrew thrives on building and creating spaces and visualizing how those spaces come to be. His schooling, and professional art career (independently as a painter and collectively with Sarah on their mural journey) have equipped him for this next chapter. Together, we thrive on human connection…it’s what we’re here for!
