Voices that Inspire

What inspires you from WFSU public media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. My name is Sarah Painter and I'm a local artist from Tallahassee. I specialize in murals and community-based art events. Murals are really important to me because they're public art. They're for the people, they're out in a public place and anyone of any demographic or socioeconomic status can interact with them. And I think they have a large impact on the community and I want my art to have a voice and to say something important. So I think murals are a really good avenue for that. Really what I like to do is cite specific work, dealing with the place that I am painting at and trying to find artwork that caters to their needs and speaks to the people of that area. I like to hear more about what they want painted and I wanna hear why they want it painted. What inspired you to open this restaurant? What's your mission statement? Why do you care so much to bring me here to paint your walls? I want to take that and put it into my work. Tallahassee is definitely growing right now as we are kind of in transition from smaller town to a little big city. How do we identify Tallahassee? How do we brand ourselves? Why do people come here? Why are we different? What makes us unique? And that's where the artist come into play. How do we make this our home but still be able to grow and evolve? To be an artist isn't just a job. It really is your life and just kind of your entire identity. I don't clock in and clock out. It's not your job to who you are. I think it's really important for Tallahassee to respect the process that artists take and to respect us as professionals. This isn't a hobby for us. This is our career and this is how we support ourselves. My name is Sarah Painter and I'm a local artist in Tallahassee focusing in murals and community-based art events. You're listening to voices that inspire.