Goodnight Raleigh - a look at the art, architecture, history, and people of the city at night

Daniel the Sketch Artist

We first brought you the brief story of Daniel Schooley a year ago, as the sketch artist that hangs out on Fayetteville Street. At that time I didn’t mention he was homeless, as he had requested that I not mention it.

Since then, Bob Geary wrote a fantastic piece on homelessness in Raleigh, in which Daniel was featured. In the article, Daniel mentions that he is caught in strange place. Not having drug or alcohol problems, he doesn’t fit the profile of the person that shelters are set up to provide assistance to.

He was a bit less optimistic about the future in our more recent meeting. He had been robbed of many of his posessions not long ago (including his art supplies) and hadn’t sold any of his drawings in a long while. He was also hit with a panhandling citation by the RPD, despite the fact he doesn’t ask passersby for money. He was talking of getting a bus ticket to Florida, as he’s become disillusioned with Raleigh in the past few months.

In the meantime, he continues to sell his drawings to get by. At twenty dollars apiece, it’s quite a bargain for a downtown perspective as a downtown resident sees it.