This mural is called ‘The Panther’s dream’, I made it last December 2024 in Miami, during Art basel. The location is Madison Middle School, where @awallmuralprojects organized for street artists to give a makeover to the school terrain.
I chose to paint animals that can be found in Florida: the Florida Panther and whales. It is a dream-like image of a panther daydreaming of whales; two completely different species connected by a sad reality of being endangered or almost extinct. I wanted the mural to look inspirational and positive for the school kids. You would have to know what it’s about to see it as a more serious mural, I like the first impression to be positive.

The client, an elementary school in Las Vegas, asked for a painting that features a local landscape and local animals with a falcon in the center (the school mascot). The background is based on a real nearby vista and a popular hiking trail. The animals are all local and include a roadrunner, coyote, and jackrabbit.

My most recent mural, “A Helping Hand” was painted for Provincetown Public Art in Provincetown, MA. It was inspired by recent sightings of a lonely flamingo on several Cape Cod beaches. His presence this far north made me think he must be very lost and in need of a little assistance. In the same way he showed up alone in this area, many people from the LGBTQ+ community come to Provincetown because of its reputation as a welcoming community for those who have been rejected or mistreated in their own homes. I wanted to celebrate this aspect of the city, while also recognizing it as the home of Mary Oliver, a queer poet and environmentalist and one of my favorite writers. I used her poem “Wild Geese” as my doodle grid, so her soulful words are forever embedded in the piece as well.

Earlier this year I worked on a three story mural for an apartment complex turning into a boutique hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.   The idea of the work was to show the beauty in nature and to incorporate it in our environment.  As humans develop the world around us we are slowly losing our natural habitats and animals.  So I want to leave a reminder of how beautiful nature is and that we should take care of it and the living creatures we share this earth with.  The mural consisted of tropical plants, floral elements, color and two macaws. Some things that remind me of South Florida and the countries where many of the residents immigrated from.

One of my recent murals is located alongside the Minnesota River and Scenic Drive in North Mankato, MN. Inspired by this location, I aimed to capture the natural beauty of North Mankato. Whether you’re exploring solo or with family, the parks and trails in North Mankato offer abundant opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. The flowers in the mural represent the local wildflowers, and the silhouettes provide a glimpse of the many ways to spend time outside in North Mankato. The mural also features several historic elements specific to North Mankato, and the pattern throughout incorporates the city’s logo. In the background, you can see a map of Mankato-North Mankato and a river leading to a waterfall, paying tribute to Minnemishinona Falls and Minneopa Falls. This is one of my personal favorite designs because of the array of plants, people, and places that are so specific to North Mankato. Seeing this design come to life and transform a not-so-typically shaped wall was so fun!

The Eco Mural Project is Hagopian Arts’ passion-driven environmental initiative that was started in 2018.  As a series of ecologically themed public art pieces, The Eco Mural Project has two goals: to beautify blank walls and educate the public about environmental degradation. These pieces are meticulous in every aspect of their creation: they are diligently researched and incredibly detailed, resulting in one-of-a-kind pieces that transport viewers into an otherwise inaccessible environment. 

These informative explosions of color, texture, and captivating design are located in metropolitan areas (most are located in Philadelphia) where passersby can engage with them during their everyday routine and learn about habitats and species in need of active conservation. With over 20 pieces installed, each piece includes a QR code that leads the public to information about the project and subject matter, including links to environmental activist organizations. 

Hagopian Arts, through its Eco Mural Project, aims to reintroduce environmental awareness into urban communities by creating ecological artworks that spark conversations about our role on Earth. Addressing climate change, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss requires a nuanced and multifaceted approach. Our mission is to equip citizens with the knowledge to reduce future damage and repair past mistakes.

The following Articles were recently written about Hagopian Arts’ Eco Mural Project:
Philly Green Article: https://www.greenphl.com/water/kala-hagopian-turns-natures-canvas-into-beautiful-eco-murals/amp/
34th St. Magazine: https://www.34st.com/article/2023/10/kala-hagopian-street-art-eco-mural-project-west-philly

This recent mural was completed in August of 2023. It’s an agriculture-themed work titled, “Gazing Into Infinity” off of Hwy 113 and 5 in Woodland, CA. It’s over 60’ wide and the apex sits at 65’ so I rented an articulating boom lift for it. It’s actually a “repaint.” The severe storms in the previous January created 70mph winds that ripped the siding with the old mural (painted in 2013) off the wall. After resurfacing the building, they hired me to come back and repaint it bigger, more colorful and with Golden Paintworks paints and a new technology sealer. 

Although I focus much of my work around the ocean and I live near the sea, I am a farmer’s daughter. I grew up in the farmland near the Sacramento valley in California. Because of this, I get some commissions for ag-themed artwork. With this large project, my client, Grow West Inland Terminal facility (Woodland, CA) knew they wanted something iconic that represented farming. Other than that, they gave me artistic freedom, so I chose a special moment in my life. During tomato season, my dad used to take off at 3:00 in the morning every summer day. I was intrigued. At 8 years old I asked to go with him. He said we were ‘going to check the fields.’ What I saw was a beautiful moment in time; as I watched the sunrise lighting up the late summer clouds on the horizon, I saw him scoop up a handful of soil and smell it. He looked towards that sun and the illuminated clouds after he did that. I think he could detect the different minerals in soil and what he needed to create an ideal growing environment for the next round of crops.

This project was my mural entry for ArtPrize 2023, a yearly, international art competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan. My entry won this years First Place Public Vote Grand Prize out of over 900 entries. Special thanks Golden Paintworks for making awesome bold colors of acrylic mural paint that helped me realize my vision! The mural is called “Raining Wisdom”, and is a 30’ high by 66’ wide landscape of elephants and humans interacting in a tropical water environment. My inspiration for this mural came from my favorite activity growing up which was going to the river with my sister and friends, and the national symbol of my country, the elephant. In Guinea, elephants are revered for being strong, wise, and community minded beings who love and protect their family and community. I believe humans could learn a few things from elephants – so the elephants are inviting the human community to bathe in the “wisdom” they are raining down on them. Grand Rapids is known for the Grand River which flows directly through the downtown area, so the use of water and river is a homage to that location as well.

I recently finished a mural for a local Elementary School here in Louisville, Colorado. It’s a special mural because nearly all of the students were affected by the wildfires that destroyed a large portion of their hometown. The school was not damaged by the fire, but many of the homes in the immediate surrounding area were a total loss. I live less than 5 miles away from the school, so naturally this project and its intentions also have personal meaning for me. My goal for this mural was to create something that is more than what I would call, a standard schoolhouse mural. This mural is meant to help inspire the students and encourage artistic thought and creativity. It is also meant to be a source of school identity, pride and to be a representation and a celebration of the resilience of the students and their community.

This past year we were commissioned to create a mural on a new building in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.  After digging into the local history, we discovered that the town owes its existence to its proximity to a natural bend in the Minnesota River.  Originally, this bend was a place where native tribes would cross the river.  Eventually, a trading post and fort sprang up and with it, a hand-pulled ferry.  The ferry-pullers would heave and ho as they hefted the heavy hemp rope attached to the modest flatboat ferry. The ferryman would guide the vessel across the river.

Once we found The Bloomington Ferry in our research and started sketching out its possibilities, we knew we had our idea. We also learned that the Bloomington Ferry was eventually replaced by a bridge. We decided to place a vestige of a bridge in the distance behind the riders, an homage to the passing of time and the jobs it will inevitably render obsolete.