USPS Publication Number 16300
THE
SUMMATIONWeeklyy
This Community Newspaper is a publication of the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association
S E RV I N G T H E F I RS T J U D I C I A L C I RC U I T Vol. 23, No. 9
March 1, 2023
SummationWeekly.com
1 Section, 8 Pages
Section A, Page 1
TAKING IT TO THE STREETS PENSACOLA MURALISTS GROUP COMES TOGETHER TO PROMOTE PUBLIC ART By Kelly Oden
T
ake a walk almost anywhere in the City of Pensacola’s core and you are bound to run into some public art. We have brass statues of founding conquistadors and heroic generals, monuments to the men and women who serve, large wooden cubes with an ever-changing array of paintings, and murals—lots of murals. The last decade or so has seen a huge rise in the popularity of murals in Pensacola and around the country. Murals are a highly accessible and transformative form of public art that can benefit communities in many ways. Murals provide beautification for local businesses and public spaces, they attract visitors, they create a hip, artistic vibe and they offer an opportunity for public discourse or social commentary. In 2021, local muralist Daniela De Castro decided to bring likeminded muralists and artists together to help amplify and support public art, street art, murals and the artists who create them. She started Pensacola Muralists as a local artist collective that came together with the purpose of helping our communities thrive through elevation, collaboration and proliferation of public art. As a group, Pensacola muralists have grown into a larger organization with an eight-person board of directors and dozens of members. Their goal is to create a space that offers open resource sharing, educational and training opportunities, and an avenue for new and established artists to come together to network with each other, grow in their skills and hone their craft. “We are on a mission to elevate the role and importance of public art for Pensacola and our surrounding communities,” De Castro said. “We exist to help elevate our collaborative community of artists, while also
Devin Bonner
Caroline Holland
Eniko Ujj
elevating our shared local spaces, places of business, and our city.” Pensacola Muralists hosts a meet up on the second Tuesday of every month at 5:30 pm for anyone interested in the public art field. More info can be found on their social media channels, @pensacolamuralists (Instagram) and Pensacola Muralists (Facebook Group). MEET THE BOARD Pensacola Muralist’s eightperson board consists of artists who work in a variety of mediums including murals, painting, graffiti and more. Daniela De Castro Daniela De Castro is a Venezuelan artist based out of Pensacola who creates under the artist name “Daniela Paints.” She is an oil painter, a graphic designer and a large-scale muralist. Her murals are conceptual and interactive—inspired by anatomy, nature and humanity. They often feature bright colors, realism and transparencies. In 2022, Daniela was invited to paint for Upfest, the largest live street art festival in Europe. At Upfest, she painted the first ever stereo-mural - a mural incorporating a hand-painted stereogram, an optical illusion popular in the 90s. When the mural is viewed correctly, a secret message appears in 3D. Daniela has painted murals in Spain, Venezuela, England and around the United States. Her latest mural works focus on largescale hands, optics and 3D installations involving cement, plaster and metalwork. Dylan Nadsady Dylan Nadsady describes himself as “a visual storyteller, a lover of food, and a nature lover– with all of its animals. The best of my creativity grows from the seeds of whimsy, flapdoodle, and the densest questions, big and small, that have no clear answer. My paintings are love letters to these states of life. My goal is to engross myself and the audience not in the answers to, but into the beautiful depths of life’s greatest absurdities.”
Amber Panetti Davis
Daniela De Castro
Dylan Nadsady Patrick Quintanilla Patrick Quintanilla Patrick (Patty) Quintanilla is a self-taught street artist with heavy roots in graffiti. Quintanilla was born in Alabama but has lived in Pensacola for 7 years. His mural work can be seen throughout Pensacola and the U.S. Eniko Ujj Eniko Ujj is a Pensacola-based interdisciplinary artist focusing on mural work, conceptual sculpture, ceramics and collaborative projects. She was born in Hungary, immigrated to the States as a child and graduated with a BFA with a focus on oil painting from the University of West Florida in 2012. After moving back from a stint abroad in Denmark she started focusing on her career in the arts and established herself as a fulltime mural artist. She also developed a ceramics practice, exhibits work in regional exhibitions, and leads public, educational pit fires in rural areas in the American south. Her aim with mural painting is to inspire those who see her work to look more carefully at the world around them and to discover beauty in unusual places. Murals are available for anyone who wants to enjoy them and can reinvigorate
Tianna Kuwica neighborhoods and communities, bringing color and joy to places and things that might otherwise go unnoticed. She has focused on crisp line work and bright complementary colors to make her work pop. Caroline Holland Caroline Holland started painting full-time in 2018 and has since completed over 800 commissioned paintings ranging from large-scale murals to cranial helmets for babies, pet portraits, human portraits and landscapes. She met her business partner, Tianna Kuwica, in 2021 and the pair joined forces to start Off The Walls Murals, focusing on murals that have a deep impact and spark meaningful conversation. Tianna Kuwica Tianna Kuwica used her background in graphic design to find her passion for creating bright and bold illustrations and hand lettering. A couple of years ago she found an even bigger passion for turning those illustrations into murals. In 2021, she met Caroline Holland and they teamed up to form Off The Walls Murals. They both had a dream to create murals that make a difference in the community and bring awareness to important issues.
Devin Bonner Devin Bonner is a native of Pensacola, and he currently works as a graphic designer for EW Bullock Associates where he designs, creates and presents creative visual solutions for the agency’s clients. In addition to his board work with Pensacola Muralists, he also serves as VicePresident of the American Advertising Federation and as the Public Relations Chair of the Artel Gallery. In his free time, Bonner works as an assistant professor for the metalworking and fabrication department of Pensacola State College’s engineering program, where he teaches laser operation, bead rolling and illustrator techniques. Amber Panetti Davis Amber Panetti Davis is an illustrator and portrait artist from Pensacola. Davis grew up in the panhandle and earned her bachelor’s degree in studio art from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. She studied renaissance art in Florence, Italy and completed a focused study of art history and computer art. In her free time, Davis enjoys reading and dancing as well as traveling and hiking with her family. She hopes to share her art with the community through murals, portraits and classes. ■