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Veteran painter Joe Starkweather completed this 65-foot long mural at Skate Reflections on Dyer Boulevard earlier this month. PHOTO/KEN JACKSON
Skate Reflections is a Kissimmee institution.
It opened in 1981 as Roller Ranch but dropped the nod to “Cow Town” in 1988 and has always been a sight to see on Saturday night when skaters of all ages and colors line up to get into the dance party on wheels.
But it’s attracting a new crowd these days thanks to artist Joe Sparks and the ARTisNOW Osceola Arts Public Murals Project.
This year, the project expanded beyond downtown Kissimmee to include Skate Reflections on Dyer Boulevard, part of the city’s Vine Street Corridor.
Joe Starkweather (www.worksofstark.com), an experienced digital artist and mural painter, produced “Animal Array”, a 65-foot long mural of diverse land and sea animals on the west wall facing Dyer, over the course of the first week of August.
The murals aren’t just pretty, said Osceola Arts’ Visual Arts Director Marilyn Cortes-Lovato.
“This project joins talented local artists and community members through the collaborative process of mural-making to create public murals that transform and revitalize Kissimmee public spaces,” she said.
A partnership between the city and Osceola Arts, the mural project provides artists with a small stipend for paint and a few guidelines.
The painters are asked to connect their work to the local culture, make them colorful and meaningful. They’re also prohibited from creating overtly political or commercial messages.
The murals will be up for at least a year and can remain after that at the discretion of the building owners.
Later in the year, the ARTisNOW Public Murals project will expand beyond downtown Kissimmee to the Vine Street Corridor to reinvigorate more of the community, according to Osceola Arts. A list of prior murals that grace downtown Kissimmee can be found at www.osceolaarts.org/murals.
