Today we’d like to introduce you to Xaivier Ringer and Ellie Borromeo. Them and their team share their story with us below:
We met in 2019 after Xaivier walked into Ellie’s workplace to pitch a story. We connected later through social media, and at the beginning of 2020 began talking about our ideas and desires for our hometown of Rome, GA as well as mural collaborations. Ellie had 10+ years of experience doing brand design, and she wanted to explore mural making and help create more murals in the city of Rome. Xaivier had 10+ years as a community-based muralist, and she also had bigger ideas for the vision of her hometown and bigger ideas for her artwork with a desire for intentional collaboration. Thus after the start of the pandemic and seeing an opportunity to bring the community together via public art, Rome Mural CoLab was founded in July of 2020. We launched a fundraiser and successfully raised $10,000 for our first mural.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The road has not been smooth individually. I, Xaivier, started with a dream of creating public art right after college yet it took five years following to figure out how to pair my project manager skills and mural making skills into a viable career path. Today I have successfully worked independently for almost nine years, yet I have learned to divide life as an artist however necessary to ensure I can live my passion and thrive economically. For Ellie, it has been a road of adapting, in leaving a full-time contract job to operate as an independent designer and artist. Overall the road has been one many business owners know well – one where you’re figuring things out and problem-solving along the way. Our positivity and flexibility have been our grounding values in the midst of any of life’s turbulence.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Rome Mural CoLab’s mission is all in its name: Rome Mural CoLab. Using murals, we seek to engage the Rome community in the arts in a way that is accessible. We combine skills, industries and a creative workforce that drives economic empowerment—co-op—and our aim is to activate spaces that produce high-impact results to ignite change, that’s our lab. Color revitalizes otherwise normal spaces and breathes life, that’s how we beautify. Our belief is that murals have the power to display images and themes that speak to our unique identity and unify using imagery that highlights common themes in spaces we share.
We paint commissioned murals as well as works of public art in public and private spaces for businesses, organizations and individuals.
We are proud of how our murals activate pride, beautify and unify via our community engagement model. We paint murals that engage communities and invite them to be a part of the mural creation process, thus participants have a stake in beautifying their spaces, whether public or private. We are set apart in our identity as a company and in this multifaceted approach, we take to mural making.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
My (Xaivier’s) advice is to determine one thing at a time that you want to develop as a creative and do not put too much stake in the first idea. Our ideas and visions lead us to our niche and we can always be flexible, change and adjust. As a collaborative, I love working with Ellie. I have had unsuccessful partnerships before and I am glad I took the risk because it has led to maturing and working well in our current co-lead process. I would say learn how to work with people whose strengths complement your own. Ellie’s advice is to not be afraid to jump into something new and take lead in what you’d like to see or do. Long inspired by Tina Roth Eisenberg’s quote, “don’t be a complainer; make things better, let it go, or take action to make it better”, Ellie started following that advice with the pursuit of mural making and seeking to help cultivate collaboration within the creative community of the Rome area. Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions and initiate meeting new people; you’ll be able to learn quickly, especially if starting something new, by doing those two things.
Pricing:
- Our pricing for mural/hand-painted work starts at a $3500 minimum. Pricing otherwise ranges dependent upon the project, at $35-50 per square foot.
Contact Info:
- Email: romemuralcolab@gmail.com
- Website: romemuralcolab.com
- Instagram: @romemuralcolab
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=rome%20mural%20colab
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzNnF1QS7KdijNt6z4EmIRA
Image Credits:
Cameron Flaisch Ellie Borromeo
