New mural blooms in Newberry

NEWBERRY — Downtown Newberry officially has a new mural. This new piece of art is located on Tiny Paris Carolina (1109 Caldwell Street, Newberry) and has brought a new splash of color to the area.

The owners of Tiny Paris Carolina hired Ricardo Ramirez (Octopusink) to craft this mural downtown.

“When we hired Ricardo and Emily to paint a room in our house, we had no idea that they we such accomplished muralists. I wanted to add something to the raw wall (that was just perfect for an installation) on the side of Tiny Paris and we contacted them after seeing some of their work on Instagram,” said Alexandra La Noue Adler, of Tiny Paris. “My inspiration for the mural was a design on an antique water pitcher that I wanted to update with modern colors and turn into a “sticker” like painting on the unfinished brick. After a year and a half of planning, we were able to get it done.”

Ramirez was born and raised in Minnesota and said he always loved art; in fact, he mused that he would get in trouble in school for drawing.

“Over the years, I started developing my craft, until I started mural painting; which kind of fell on me. The director of the city I lived in Iowa came in, I use to work at a newspaper company, he came in and asked if anyone knew someone who could paint a mural, I said me,” Ricardo said. “But I couldn’t paint a mural. I never painted a mural before.”

Ricardo went straight to work and, that night, he did research on YouTube and Google. He got as much information on how to paint a mural as he could and he said it all came together.

“That was in 2016 and since then, we’ve been painting murals. I think this is number 10,” he said.

In the process of making the mural, Ricardo said the design and behind-the-scenes details took longer than the actual painting.

“We went back and forth for three to four months, until both of us got it right where we needed to go. That was half the battle, the other half was getting the city to approve it,” Ramirez said. “When we met with the Architect Review Board, they unanimously approved it and then it was the Newberry City Council, which was also unanimous.”

The mural itself shows poppies of multiple colors and blue forget-me-nots. To paint it, Ramirez said it took their team about two and a half weeks.

“What I think was scary was operating the lift. What I didn’t realize was when you’re up there and the wind blows, you start swaying,” he said.

Ramirez said he really likes the style of the mural because the style is really colorful and really bold.

“You feel like it should catch your attention; it’s outlined in black and contrasted in really bright colors, so you cannot miss it. It is important if you are going to do something of this scale, make sure it’s going to be seen,” he said. “I love the colors and style of it.”

He’s not the only one, Alexandra La Noue Adler said Ramirez did an amazing job translating this idea into reality for Tiny Paris Carolina and the community.

“What is more exciting is the precedent this sets and hopefully other artists can do something similar,” Ramirez said.