Art is often solitary.
It hasn’t been, and it is not, on Magnolia Street just off Vine Street east of downtown Kissimmee.
There, on the wall that separates the street from The Transition House, a recovery and reentry program helping rebuild lives that once included addiction, homelessness, or incarceration, you’ll find a collaborate mural spanning some 180 feet in four panels courtesy of Osceola Arts’ ARTisNOW program that now boasts nearly 40 such murals across the area.
The four artists—Jennifer Veal, Gabriella Shepherd, Eric “The Wise Knight” Wise, and Mike “2Esae” Baca—gathered together again, with the work finished, for an official ribbon cutting Thursday with Transition House and city of Kissimmee officials.
The mural is visible on the left side of the street by turning south on Magnolia Street from Vine Street. Transition House CEO Melissa Lucas said residents are now talking about embarking on their own art project on the side of the wall facing the facility.
“This is about more than murals. It tells stories, like the stories of those we serve,” Lucas said.
Unlike the other artwork around Kissimmee that captures a scene on one wall, or maybe two pieces, the Transition House work can’t be all captured in, say, one photo.
“This installation represents everything ARTisNOW was built to do,” said Brian Camacho, Public Arts Coordinator at Osceola Arts. “We continue to re-invent this public art project. Thanks to the Transition House, we were able to expand the project to Vine Street.” Starting at the north end, “ 2 E s a e ” captured the power of strong feminine presence— in this case Mother Nature—in an abstract portrayal that includes lush garden tones.
Veal, from Jacksonville, depicted an underwater portrait with an impressive madusa that the artist said depicted, “Diving int our roots.”
“The Transition House people were great,” she said. “At first I thought they were just checking on how we were doing, but then they started making sure we had water and food. It’s a project I won’t forget.”
Shepherd, who lives in St. Cloud, connected the area’s lake life to the project, depicting sandhill cranes flying about— we usually just see them walking slowly—in a sunset scene.
“It symbolizes the unity of our community because sandhill cranes find their partner and they choose their partner for life, and they always work on building that bond with one another,” she said. “Now that it’s all finished and connected, it’s an honor to have my art connected to my community this way.”
Wise, who added a family scene—his own grandchildren, he said—playing in Kissimmee’s Lakefront Park.
“Working with Osceola Arts has been a blessing,” he said. “I’ve loved the support of the city and Transition House, and along the way I gained three friends.”
Mayor Jackie Espinosa, a one-time board member for Transition House, called the mural a “one-of-kind” project for the city.
“This mural symbolizes what happens on the other side of this wall,” she said.
