Image courtesy of Julia Reyes
Artist Julia Reyes in her studio
For artist and muralist Julia Reyes, art rarely begins on the canvas—or even on the walls of a historic building. It begins in her mind, as she walks in natural places, rides her bike along the Gulf, or paddles down a stream or bayou. From there, the images travel onto the pages of one of Reyes’s ever-present journals.
Years’ worth of these journals line the shelves of the artist’s Biloxi studio. “Since I was little, I’ve kept a book with me to write down the things I see in nature,” she said. “It was just a way to pause and observe and document what I was experiencing. As I got older, I incorporated shapes and sketches with the words. Eventually, my journals evolved into mostly images.”
Once Reyes returns to her studio, the art—which has moved from the outside world into her mind and from her mind onto the pages of her journals—now finds its way onto a canvas or into a design for a mural installation. Or, it may simply be popped on a shelf to marinate for a while. “When I’m looking for inspiration, I go back to those journals, sometimes years later,” Reyes said. “Sometimes I notice themes that have persisted. If there’s something that’s captured my interest over the years and I haven’t explored it yet, I might grab a brush and see where it takes me.”
In her practice, Reyes takes much inspiration from the work and the lore of one of the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s most iconic artists, Walter Anderson. “Walter was relentless in his observation of nature and our kinship with the natural world,” Reyes said. “His paintings celebrate nature . . . our interconnectedness and interdependence with it. And he painted many of the same themes that intrigue me. We both like painting the ‘underdogs’ of nature. For him, it was opossums. For me, it’s raccoons.”
Courtesy of Julia Reyes
Julia Reyes
A mural by Julia Reyes
Reyes has even followed Anderson’s footsteps to nearby Deer and Horn islands, staying on these remote coastal isles for stretches of time, immersing herself in the wild wonders that take place there and becoming, as Anderson wrote in his journals, “a part of nature instead of just observing it.”
Also, in the spirit of Anderson, Reyes works in vibrant colors and energetic strokes. But it wasn’t until she read through the artist’s meticulously documented travelogues that she realized their shared tendency towards bright colors came from similar influences. Just as Reyes is inspired by her Latino heritage and time she spent in Peru, Anderson was influenced by his extensive travels through Mexico and South America—drawing on the objects, people, and animals he encountered there. Back home in Mississippi, he explored that same aesthetic in his paintings of regional flora and fauna, celebrating the rhythms, patterns, and interconnectedness in the style of the "artesania.”
Reyes’s work has been described as kaleidoscopic—animal themes repeating and echoing around her canvas with a playful sense of movement. “I like to deconstruct recognizable things, think about the shape, peel back the layers, and explore the patterns, the systems within a system, the relationships of shapes.”
Just as Anderson stayed close to the land on his rickety, old bike or his barely seaworthy skiff, Reyes finds the most inspiration when she’s not painting at all but just “removing herself from walls,” moving her body, experiencing new landscapes, and being in nature. “It doesn’t have to be a grand place,” she said. “In fact, the simpler the space, the more you can experience the miracle of the smallest elements of nature. Often, those are the ones that intrigue me most.”
“Sometimes I notice themes that have persisted. If there’s something that’s captured my interest over the years and I haven’t explored it yet, I might grab a brush and see where it takes me.”
With so much Anderson influence in her work, Reyes was a natural choice, when the Walter Anderson Museum of Art was commissioning artwork for the newest addition to The Art Block in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. A combination coffee house/art gallery/community hub, The Traveler is a four-dimensional tribute to Anderson’s travels across this country and others and is situated directly behind the Walter Anderson Museum of Art on Joseph Street.
For her mural in the dining room of The Traveler, Reyes was provided access to Anderson’s extensive bike logs, which have recently been published, and carte blanche to design and create her own tribute to the man many consider to be the South’s most prolific artist. Drawn to one log entry in particular, about an encounter Anderson had with a herd of cows in Texas, Reyes designed a mural she named “Cows on the Border.”
She drew inspiration not only from Anderson’s written description of falling asleep in a roadside pond and waking to find himself surrounded by curious cows, but she also worked from photos of Anderson’s own mural of the incident, which he painted above his bathtub at his Ocean Springs home, Shearwater. Reyes incorporated influences from her Mexican heritage and her own life experience into a vibrant retelling of the story.
Courtesy of Julia Reyes
Julia Reyes
Julia Reyes
Reyes has other murals scattered across Coastal Mississippi and as far away as Nashville. And although she works extensively on canvas and has done some installation work, she’s particularly passionate about her murals. “Public art allows people to experience art who might never set foot in a gallery,” Reyes said. “Murals tell the story of a local community, its history, and its residents, or of the artist themselves. Murals encompass a space, rather than just a square on the wall. They take in the environment, and you find yourself suddenly a part of it. It’s hard to pass public art without taking a moment to reflect—at least that’s my hope.”
And just as images from Reyes’s sketch books find their way into her murals, themes from her murals sometimes develop into a series on canvas. “Walter referenced many birds in his bike logs,” she said. “Painting The Traveler mural sent me down rabbit holes researching those birds, the white ibis in particular.”
[Read this: Conversations at The Traveler - The Walter Anderson Museum of Art's new curated café]
Even as Reyes found a kindred spirit in Anderson’s celebration of wild beauty, she hopes to encourage young artists coming up behind her to find their own way. “I try to tell younger artists, ‘You may have a concrete idea of what you want to do, but be open to the doors, even if it’s not what you originally anticipated.’ It’s only when you walk through those doors— keep making and keep paying attention to the things that feel right, keep being curious—that you’ll find out what kind of artist you are. Don’t box yourself in to one idea of art. There are many different roads your art can take.”
Reyes’s murals can be seen around the state of Mississippi, including at MacGown Art Retreat and Studio in Starkville, YaYa’s in Biloxi, the Gulf Islands Waterpark in Gulfport, Bob Boyte Honda in Moss Point, Driftwood Motel in Bay St. Louis, and a crosswalk at Reynoir Street in Biloxi, as well as Peach by the Beach in Gulf Shores. A favorite of many—Reyes’s Dolly Parton mural at Graduate Nashville Hotel in Nashville is a must-stop.
See more of Reyes’s work on Instagram at @juliareyes_art.
