“Porte Aperte”
“Porte Aperte”, is my mural for the annual mural event: Alley Islands (2024) at Blockfort Gallery and Studios. The title of this is Italian, meaning “open doors”. The subject of the piece is my older sister, who had such an incredibly challenging year. On top of her challenges, she moved across the country to Columbus. This piece is for her.
I focused on including symbolic images of our family and our childhood. The most important symbol on the mural is the key on the wrist. This key belongs to the first ever door my ancestors owned in America after immigrating from Sicily. The key belonged to a small family grocery store with an apartment above. Feeling the weight of this symbol, my sister and I have matching tattoos of this key. Secondly, the bird cage. This is a 1920’s antique cage for the only pet we ever had growing up - a little parakeet. I often recall early mornings when he would sing and chirp before he passed when we were all fairly young. He so badly wanted to fly and have more space. Lastly, the dove. I’ve only ever painted my sister with doves because I feel they embody her kindness and generosity.
After having a challenging year, this piece represents opening the doors, opening to possibilities, and to quote the gorgeous model: “doors that with our family’s strength could be opened for me”. In summary, this piece is a reflection on my sister own resilience and strength, through the power of our heritage and ancestry.
“Embroidered”
This mini mural project titled “Embroidered” (2023) conceptually plays with being tangled up in needle and thread, to be caught up in your work. This piece was part of a large event downtown titled Tapestry: Under Current. The mural and the event was designed to celebrate fashion and the fashion community here in Columbus, OH. The mural cube included work from myself, Anna VanWalsen, Sarah Hout, and Emily Collet.
“Abundance”
This solo mural project titled “Abundance” (2023) reflects on all the incredible changes and moments in my life and the gratitude I feel from all I have been gifted. The fish, a common symbol in my work, is a symbol of abundance, change, strength and growth. I often fall back on this symbol when I feel gratitude and want to represent that in my work. This has been a constant theme in the past year. As part of 934 Fest, this mural is surrounded by the work of other creatives in Columbus which added an extra challenge to the project. This mural is on display through August of 2024 as part of 934 Gallery’s annual mural event.
“building Blocks”
This was my first solo mural project (2023) in which I designed and created the mural and executed the project with a small crew of helpers. This mural is inspired by the logo for the building - Blockfort Gallery. The mural plays with the idea of spaces like Blockfort Gallery being the building blocks for a future artistic career. The figures in the mural play with the logo to build their blocks in unique ways. Each figure also represents one of the colors in the company branding. This mural includes five separate walls and works with the specific branding of Blockfort to create a dynamic and unique design that immerses you into the space.
This large scale group mural was created for an art event called Alley Islands. The 2023 event is based around “Music” and each muralist was tasked to create a design on this very loose concept. For this mural I paid tribute to one of my favorite musicians, Jimi Hendrix. In creating this design, I did extensive research into his biographically information to create an accurate image. The way his hands are placed, the direction of the guitar, and the facial expression of the figure were all carefully considered through said research. “Purple Haze” plays with colors and graphic shapes reminiscent of 60’s and 70’s design to create a fun and collaborative mural.
“Purple Haze”
“Intersections”
I worked as an Artist Assistant on this large scale, community oriented, mural with local Columbus artist and muralist - Nick Stull - as part of the Sullivant Bright Project. This specific mural is two sides of a I-70 highway underpass. You can read more about this specific mural from the artist here.
