Fall Mural Series: Meet the Artists!

Yazz Atmore @chattyancestors

Yazz Atmore is just a scattered-brain barefoot babe who likes to dance with words, play in the spirit world, and dabble in art magic. She created her own degree from Metropolitan State University, earning a BA in Supporting High-Risk Youth through the Arts. Yazz is a community organizer, creative, and educator in Denver, Colorado, where she continues to mentor and create with young artists as they explore their lives, stories, and passions through the beauty of art.

Constantly inspired by the youth and community she works with, Yazz continues to develop and deepen her own artistry as an analog collagist and muralist. Her art explores and dabbles in themes of spirituality, ancient and ancestral wisdom, nature, and Afro-Futurism through storytelling, collaging, and the building/re-building of worlds. Her work is also heavily influenced by her spiritual journey as she loves exploring the spirit world with God, her Ancestors, and her Spirit Team. As an expressionist intuitive mixed media artist, she creates breathtaking hand-cut collages and digital works, using bright bold colors, metallic paints, and gold leaf.

Rob Hill @robhill.art

Rob Hill is a geometric abstract painter born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and currently living in Denver, Colorado. He holds a BFA in Painting from California College of the Arts. Hill is pursuing an MFA at the Pratt Institute.

Precise line work is present throughout many of his creative works. Hill draws color inspiration from sports teams and 90s television programs including Martin, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and In Living Color. He also finds inspiration in pioneers like Frank Stella, Jackson Pollock, Mark Bradford, and Carmen Herrera.

The artist’s 8 years of service in the U.S. Coast Guard influenced his methodical approach to art. His global travel and life experiences inspire his patterns and color usage. While in the Coast Guard, Hill learned valuable skills such as responsibility, consistency, and resilience.

The artist links his admiration for geometric shapes to historic Egyptian architecture, painting, and visual culture. Over time, Hill has applied his geometric aesthetic to fashion design, including denim and leather works, as well as a variety of materials such as glass, wood, marble, and metal.

Hill has created public art projects for the past 9 years, painting on basketball courts, buildings, stores, youth centers, and canvases. He considers himself an artist with deep roots in his community and aims to unify people from diverse backgrounds through the power of art.

Marcus Murray @omega_marcusus

Marcus is a Jamaican-American artist living in Denver, Colorado. His work focuses on storytelling through mediums such as comics, paintings, and digital illustrations. His passion lies in telling stories of his own heritage, fantastical characters, and black futures. When not hunched over his iPad drawing, he can be found attempting to wrangle in his dog, Kali.

Devin “Speaks” Urioste @goodlooksvol.1

Devin "Speaks" Urioste was born and raised in Denver, CO. His work speaks to his values to represent his community, stay true to his culture, forever seek knowledge, and use knowledge as a tool to facilitate critical thinking in his community. Speaks also works as an educator and uses art to create cultural dialogue. The artist wants his visual work to reflect beauty from all different angles. Speaks seeks to make people wonder and ask questions about themselves and others.

Jahna Rae @jahna.rae.art

Jahna Rae is a Denver-based painter, illustrator, and muralist. She uses bold, bright colors, patterns, and sharp contrast with realistic portraits to create dynamic works. Jahna’s experience in portrait painting and illustration allows her to use techniques to visualize topics in connection with self and others through abstract methods.

Detour @detour303

Thomas Evans, a.k.a. Detour, is an all-around creative specializing in large-scale public art, interactive visuals, portraiture, immersive spaces, and creative directing. He creates work where art and innovation meet.

A born collaborator and “military brat,” Detour pulls from every conceivable experience that shapes his landscapes and perspectives. Explaining Detour’s work is no easy task, as ongoing experimentations in visual art, music, and interactive technologies continually expand his practice. Detour focuses on expanding customary views of creativity and challenging fine-art paradigms by mixing traditional mediums with new approaches—all the while opening up the creative process from that of a singular artist, to one that thrives on multi-layered collaboration and viewer participation.

Jasmine Holmes-Piesco @metaphoricalmuse

Jasmine Holmes-Piesco is a Southern artist who creates drawings through a variety of media. She received her BFA from the University of West Florida, and her MFA from Colorado State University.

Jasmine’s works offer discourse on consumerist society and its appetite for devouring Black culture. She uses depictions of staple foods from her Creole upbringing, hair culture, music and textiles to showcase the eternal connections she keeps to her ancestral home. Her work celebrates the many colorful aspects of Black American culture while creating conservation on the multifaceted way it's consumed and regurgitated amongst the populace.

Selah Laurel @selah.laurel.art

Selah Laurel is a self-taught artist who spent the majority of her life in a basketball gym, though since she could remember she had always doodled on everything. She leaned more into her artistic side after tearing her ACL and meniscus in college. ⁠

Selah's style has grown from doodles to more intentional abstract pieces. The artist loves creating faceless people with flowers for hair, keeping things like freckles or a nose piercing but leaving the face somewhat blank in the hope that the viewer is able to feel like they are represented. ⁠

Interview with David Ocelotl Garcia: Community Mural at Resource Central

Join us on Saturday, October 14 at 11 a.m. to celebrate David Ocelotl Garcia’s new mural at Resource Central. The artist will speak about his mural and the ideas behind it. This event is free and open to the public. 

David Ocelotl Garcia recently painted Repollinators, a mural that explores the close connection between the natural world and reducing waste. Street Wise Arts partnered with Resource Central, a Boulder nonprofit dedicated to conservation, to bring this community mural to life. Communication and Program Manager Allyson Burbeck interviewed the artist about his latest project. 

Resource Central’s efforts to divert building materials from landfills through an innovative recycling program inspired Garcia to imagine the effects that this waste would have on the environment if it wasn’t properly recycled. His mural depicts a slew of materials, everything and the kitchen sink - ovens, refrigerators, tires, electrical cables, garden hoses, windows, and doors. Intertwined with these materials are a selection of pollinators like bats and bees, carrying the waste like they carry pollen from flower to flower, plant to plant. Pollination is an essential part of plant reproduction, just as recycling is an essential part of maintaining a healthy natural environment. 

Over the course of the project, Garcia ruminated over the prefix “re,” meaning again or repeat. Resource Central recycles and repurposes materials. Pollinators return to plants again and again during pollination, helping to preserve and restore habitats. Even Garcia’s mural participates in a recycling process, both giving and receiving energy from viewers as they engage with the work and reflecting his belief that art is a manifestation of energy. Repollinators illustrates these important processes. 

The sculptor and painter was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He is a self-taught artist heavily influenced by his family and Mexican and Native American heritage. He aims to create representation for the Latinx community within the art world. In 2007, he completed his first public art project Huitzilopotchli, which was recently restored. Garcia developed his personal style of abstract imaginism, which combines the spontaneity of abstraction with the creativity and perceptions of his own imagination. His style is reflected in his use of vibrant colors and fantastical imagery. 

Garcia’s upcoming projects include Phase 2 of the People’s Bridge of the Sun and People’s Bridge of the Moon for the National Western Center in Denver and a book retrospective of his art career. Visit his website for more information and to stay updated. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Allyson Burbeck

I saw on your website that you talk about [this concept of] abstract imaginism and also how you view art as energy. Could you expand on that?

David Ocelotl Garcia

I believe that art is a manifestation of energy. I don't exactly know where the energy comes from. It's really the life force of our universe, our planet for sure, and it's connected to all of nature, everything that's alive. Being that it's a manifestation of energy, [art] could be very powerful and meaningful. It's a tool I use, an awareness that I have about creating. I think of any public piece that I make, whether it's a mural or sculpture, I see it as being alive and connected to this universal life force, this energy of art. 

What's amazing about it is that it doesn't stop at visual art or arts in general. It drives everything that is creative, but it also drives everything that we might perceive as noncreative. Let's say you're a mathematician or scientist or a bookkeeper, [any role] actually involves a lot of creative energy. But we have decided to perceive art in specific ways throughout history and [we] didn't realize that it comes from the same creative energy. Artists are more in tune with this energy, which inspires them to create art. This energy really has an influence on our reality, on our daily lives, and thus could be very healing in some ways and very inspiring. [This] is why art is so important because it's not just creating something, but rather you're sharing energy that can be very positive. It's very important to, for one, know that it has energy, that it’s alive and, two, to experience it and accept and acknowledge that you are physically interacting with art, not just seeing it with your eyes.

Allyson Burbeck

What attracted you to this mural project at Resource Central?

David Ocelotl Garcia

I have some history in Boulder. I did a piece at the Dairy Arts Center quite a few years back, a mural piece that had to do with environmental awareness. That piece was called The Struggle of Mother Earth.

I've always been aware of Boulder in regard to not only the history and the school but also the community. It seems like the community in Boulder is in many ways aware of our natural environment. I've worked with many people from Boulder who are [environmental] activists. Interestingly, my work has a lot to do with the natural environment. It's very much the essence and fabric of my work the environment, all the animals. One of the things that I love to do with my work is explore the relationship that humans have with the natural environment, whether it's the plants, the animals, anything in between. This project at Resource Central is very much in line with that aspect [of my work], and so [I was interested in trying] to honor what this organization is doing and talk about it in my own way. 

Allyson Burbeck

Would you tell me about the mural you created?

David Ocelotl Garcia

When I get curious about a project, it has a lot to do with the environment and the space. I get inspiration when I go to a place, my mind starts to explore the idea and…the reality of where I'm at. I was very inspired by the work [Reource Central] does repurposing all these materials that otherwise would get thrown away. I find that fascinating and really strong material to create a message and visuals. I [took] inspiration from the work they do, and the fact that they reuse things that don't need to be thrown away. 

That's a social thing, but that also has a lot to do with the environment. I felt the idea in my mind [what] if these [materials] were just thrown into the forest, like how would the animals interact with these elements? Refrigerators, wheels, landscaping materials, wood, all these things. I was imagining if you were to throw that all in the forest, what would the animals do with it? Often in my work, I use a lot of metaphors and symbols. I was thinking of how this organization is reusing or repollinating, giving life to things that are no longer supposedly useful, like how pollinators in the natural environment go around pollinating flowers and trees and this and that. 

The piece I created I called it Repollinators. I like that “re.” We can reuse this, repollinate. It’s an exploration of words. It symbolizes the actual process of animals as pollinators, but it is also symbolic to the organization that is reusing. In the mural, there's a series of pollinators that travel across the wall. There’s a bee, bat, dragonfly, butterfly, and hummingbird - those are the cast of characters. They're carrying…all the different materials in the scene, like [bathroom] tiles, or wood, or a door, or some kind of electrical thing. It's basically an abstraction of materials composed in a way that the pollinators can carry across the wall. Again, it's speaking about the idea that they're reusing this [material]. 

It's open for interpretation too, because everyone has a different reality. I'm curious to hear what some of the stories or what people see in there, how they perceive what [the pollinators are] doing, or what the mural is about.

Allyson Burbeck

I didn't even realize that bats were pollinators.

David Ocelotl Garcia

Yeah, they are pollinators. I'm fascinated by bats. I think they're beautiful. Besides Halloween, they don't have much of a reputation beyond that, but they are such important pollinators, along with other night creatures. They have bad media representation, oftentimes even negative. I purposely try to showcase bats because I think they're so cool and so creatively composed.

Allyson Burbeck

In the project brief, Resource Central wanted the mural to have themes of hope. Could you talk about that?

David Ocelotl Garcia

There's hope because of the work [Resource Central is] doing. It gives hope to the future, right? Because that's what hope is usually - it's about the future. I think one of the things as far as from my perspective is again showing, if you look at the mural, how any one of these pollinators - they're all generally small - could actually carry so much of this material. It's more of a metaphor because these little insects and little creatures can carry all this, [but it’s] also a burden that they have to carry all this when we just throw it away. We're putting all the work on them. The idea of the pollinators carrying all these is a metaphor for the future, like hope, that they have the strength but they need our help.

Allyson Burbeck

You’ve talked about your process for creating a mural and how you approach design. Do you have anything else to add about your mural-making process?

David Ocelotl Garcia

My mural process is something that I created myself because I never trained in creating art. I never went to college for art. Everything I learned has been on my own. I created not only my own style but also my own way of painting, specifically murals. I have my own palette, my own color scheme, and how I compose. The way I explain composition is like composing a piece of music. It's literally the same thing. It's composing your mural. It's a piece of music. You have to be aware of all the different things involved in creating a piece of music and which instruments can play certain things. Composition [of a mural] is a symphony of images instead of sound. That's very critical when I create murals - the placement, scale, how people can see it - those are all things that are involved with mural creation. 

The content has a lot to do with my style of art. I consider myself a Native American. The symbols in my work have a lot to do with where I come from, where my family is from. I use all these [as] the DNA and fabric of my work. I’ve created many different murals for many different people, but it has to be genuine so that means that it's part of where I come from and my perspective. We all have our own reality, but we also have our own way of creating. In the world we live in right now, there's a lot of reproduction and things that are not genuine. It's a very critical time to create art that is meaningful, but also as genuine as the artist can make it. 

Allyson Burbeck

Could you talk about how you envision how your public art affects a space, but also the larger community beyond that space?

David Ocelotl Garcia

Public art is literally that - it’s something that the public should be able to appreciate and engage with and that happens in many ways. Usually, it's visual. You engage visually with it. It's sculptural. It might be something you can touch. Either way, a mural, a public piece is alive. It's an amazing thing that someone can create something from nothing and give it life. Because it's alive, it grows like any plant would, any tree would. But it needs to be nourished and nurtured. It’s nurtured and nourished by the interaction of the public. Art is energy, murals are energy. It's your participation in viewing the mural, and it causing you to think of things. This is the transfer of energy from the person to the wall and vice versa. The more people interact with the artwork, the more it grows. It's important for an organization to have that, but also for the community because the act of engaging with the artwork elevates our creative energy, our creative capacity, which influences everything we do in our lives.

Allyson Burbeck

I never thought about it [like that]. I feel like when I view artwork, it definitely gives me energy, but I've never really thought of it as I'm also giving it energy back.

David Ocelotl Garcia

That's exactly what's happening. That's how it's able to grow. What's amazing is that it then shares that [energy] with the next person that comes to see it, and the next one. Can you imagine? How many people it can influence if that's the case? It’s a very beautiful thing that you could share. You [the viewer] think of an art piece [as] the artist created it, I might love it, I like interacting with it, but you don't think of it as you're also sharing with the artwork your energy, which then gets recycled, then goes back to the next person, and then [it] goes back and forth like that.

Allyson Burbeck

Again, you said recycled, like “re.”

David Ocelotl Garcia

It's exactly that. I think that's what Resource Central, this organization, they're doing what they are passionate about, but they're also [contributing energy]. It's all connected - this energy that we all can feel and that drives our daily lives. It's all part of the same formula. At some point in time, we've decided to disconnect things, but that's only in our minds. Physically [the energy exchange] is still there. We can disconnect mentally from things, but physically, that's not something you do easily.

Allyson Burbeck

I'm curious if there's anything else that you would want people to know about the project.

David Ocelotl Garcia

I hope people can start embracing the mural because it's not just for the organization. It’s also for the community. I hope that it can inspire the community and hope that it’s something that adds color and energy to their lives.

Meet the 2023 Art Battle Artists

Cya The Creator @cyathecreator

I am an artist from Denver Colorado. I go by Cyathecreator, I am a multimedia artist currently working with oil acrylic aerosol cans and digital animation. my work focuses exclusively on black joy and resilience. As I continue this work I find new ways to tell that story and show the beauty of my community. The stories and experiences are important to be seen because the act of being black and having joy is a protest to the white male patriarchy. I also do this work by holding events and holding spaces for black and brown communities to experience joy together.

Mike McPuff @mikemcpuff

Fort Collins based Painter and Visual Artist, Mike McPuff, has been focusing on Murals for the last several years. His typical medium of choice is Acrylic paint for Indoor projects, and Spray Paint for larger outdoor projects. Originally inspired by the D.I.Y , "Do It Yourself" mentality of his peers, McPuff began to focus on creating a career as a Visual Artist, around 2013. The style McPuff developed over the years, seems to engage the viewer with whimsical, yet surreal concepts, and a kaleidoscopic array of colors. In 2014, McPuff began to use digital software as a means to create art, which quickly lead to his art appearing on television and the front of a well known magazine. While working as a dish washer for several years, McPuff promoted his art in his free time, hanging paintings in coffee shops and networking on social media to create a following . McPuff finished his first outdoor mural on the day of his birthday in 2017. Shortly after, McPuff transitioned from working at a cell phone store to becoming a full time Freelance Visual Artist, which allowed much more time for him to focus on doing murals and other projects. McPuff has since created several large outdoor murals, as well as a number of indoor murals and installations.

Kai Gaynor @momoxoart

Kai Gaynor is a Colorado Springs based artist specializing in portrait art. Inspired by women and nature, Kai's artwork celebrates the beauty and complexity of the human experience.
Her work is inspired by the essence of femininity and the natural world. In addition to portraiture, she is also exploring subjects like space, metaphysics, and nature of both terrestrial and cultural aspects. Her creative process involves a blend of digital and traditional techniques, where she uses traditional media such as drawing and painting to create sketches and compositions before further bringing them to life through digital media. In addition to her creative work, Kai has extensive experience working as an art teacher both privately and for her part time job at Concrete Couch, a Colorado Springs nonprofit. She has also planned vending and art events, such as AFC (Art Flow Collective) Nights, which was a series of events that offered a fun environment for multidisciplinary artists to socialize and create together. In addition, she has conducted numerous art-based workshops for businesses like Lil Miss Story Hour and has created murals for various organizations, including the Pikes Peak Children's Museum, CC Mobile Arts, and Simple Body Products to name a few. She has also designed logos and sells her merchandise under her business, Momo-XO Art, which features a variety of art prints, stickers, apparel, and more. Her shop is located both online and at local shops in her area.
Through her artwork and teaching, Kai aims to tell the stories of the people she portrays and encourages viewers to embrace their own unique identities and creativity.

Nicolas Heilig @heilig_art

Heilig is a performance painter born and raised in the Green Mountains of Vermont.
He creates artwork to uplift humanity and restore balance with Mother Earth. His signature dendritic line work is a reflection of Nature's genius witnessed firsthand throughout his formative years. Heilig commands a unique technique fusing modern art with the elegance of Japanese wood block artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige. Balancing chaos and intricate pattern, Heilig coalesces complexity with simplicity to the great dance of Yin and Yang

Jorge Cuartas @jorgecuartas

Jorge Cuartas (Born in 1972) has been painting graffiti since 1985. Heralded as one of the Pioneers of the art form, Cuartas has been credited with being the first graffiti artist to paint in Costa Rica, and Colombia, while also having the distinction of being the first Miami graffiti artist invited to paint at New York City’s Legendary “Wall Of Fame”. In 1990 (his freshman year at the Savannah College Of Art & Design), Cuartas began traveling the United States in order to paint in as many cities as possible while earning his BFA in Illustration and Graphic Design. By 1994, he had painted every major city on both Coasts, as well as just about every town in between.

Dan Levinson @dlevi_studio

Daniel Levinson earned a BFA degree in Art from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MFA in Painting/Drawing from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. His art practice is a steady mix of drawing, painting and murals. His work has been featured in Medellín/Bogotá, Colombia and Brooklyn, NY. Returning to Colorado, his work was exhibited at the Colorado State Capitol as well as a number of venues across the front range. Levinson was featured in Studio Visit Magazine, Pueblo Chieftain, Channel 13 news, and Westword Magazine. Levinson is represented by Blo Back Gallery in Pueblo, CO. Levinson works as a full time art educator and visual artist. He taught art at Colorado State University at Pueblo (2016) and has been a high school art teacher since 2017. He currently lives and works in Littleton, Colorado.

Grace Gutierrez @gracerspeedracer

Grace Gutierrez is a Longmont, Colorado based artist working in a variety of mediums including painting, ceramics, sculpture, and video art. Her work celebrates her mixed-race, Chicanx identity, and is a response to deeply personal experiences as well as her family’s experiences navigating culture, heritage, and stereotypes. She is inspired by Mexican folk art, folklore, and literature. Constant reflection of community and cultural pride helps Grace build sentimental narratives to encourage empathy, equity, and pride within our communities.

Victor Escobedo @victor_j_escobedo

Victor Escobedo has developed a compelling style expressed in various forms of expression through the use of ceramic masks, marionettes, murals, paintings, and performances rooted in reimagined ancient iconography with dynamically textured installations. Heavily influenced by Hip Hop, graffiti, and culture Escobedo explores mythology, intuition and Shamanistic practices as inspiration for contemporary transformation. His artwork is a reinterpretation of ancient, indigenous art and mysticism for a contemporary audience, that integrates seemingly unrelated disciplines in search of something universal.

Hayley Knowles @_arts.n.cats_

Haley Knowles is an emerging artist from the foothills of Colorado. She uses art as an instrument to explore the relationships we develop with our surroundings- bringing to light the small things in life that influence our behavior.
Creating public art is one of Haley's ongoing goals because it is accessible to everyone. Instead of being barred behind a paywall or gallery, it's part of our community.

Zaida Seiver @zaidasart

Among art’s many powers, the ability to capture the viewer’s empathy is among its greatest. I strive to tell the truth in the imaginary situations I paint, sketch, and design. I’ve found art to be an incredible outlet for expressing my love for being a biracial person, even when I’m white-passing and I physically do not represent my black heritage. Thus, much of my personal works are often love letters to black women and the multicultural experience from my perspective.