1,100sqft mural for Austin FC at the St. David’s Performance Center. I started hearing rumors about a pro soccer team coming to Austin back in 2018 as I was working towards being a full-time artist. At first, I was just excited that my hometown was finally getting a pro sports team, and then I started thinking about how cool it would be to create artwork or even a mural for the team. Then when I saw the Austin FC logo and learned how they were embracing trees and nature in their team identity, this dream really took hold. I've always been obsessed with trees, and the live oaks we have in Austin are especially magical and inspiring. So getting to create a huge tree themed mural for Austin FC was a dream project for a dream client.

In addition to my excitement about the tree theme, I had fun incorporating other native plants and animals into the design. For me, the armadillos, bats, and grackles that are cheering on the team in the mural represent the different generations of Austinites. When my parents were younger, armadillo imagery was everywhere in Austin because of the Armadillo World Headquarters, which is one of the original music venues that defined Austin as a live music town. Then when I was growing up, Austin was all about the bats under the Congress bridge. And in recent years, I've watched grackles become another iconic local creature. So all the animals in the mural are symbolic of the different generations of fans in the Austin FC community. The coyote/wolf/dog is also symbolic in multiple ways - coyotes are native, shoutout to coach "Wolff", Austin is a dog town, and the team is partnering with a dog rescue :)