13

continued painting murals for anyone interested in their art. They also host workshops with local high schools, including George Washington High School and Prep Academy. During these workshops, students design and make the mural with their guidance. “The first one we did was super involved,” Kremer said. “We let the kids have full rein over the designs. We just showed them some of the murals we’ve done, asked them some questions about what they wanted to represent, what their school means to them, and then let them find images, come up with a full design, and then, we guide them throught it.” MAKING A LIVING OFF OF MURALS 13 One of the biggest issues budding artists come across is getting enough business to escape the starving artist phase and dedicate themselves to their passion while financially supporting themselves, an issue Kremer and Luna had to figure out. After the couple painted their first mural at the Never Summer factory, Kremer turned to social media to get their names out there. Initially, Kremer opened an Instagram account and posted ads featuring before-and-after photos of their mural and other projects. He hoped people would find them and reach out. Social media alone wasn’t enough to grow their brand, so Kremer reached out to Influential Walls, a national muralist group. He spoke with Derrik Diza, their founder, who taught him how to do email outreach so he could contact companies he wanted to work with, rather than wait for them to contact him. Diza also suggested that since Kremer had several years of experience teaching kids to skate, he should work with schools and teach kids how to make murals. This advice has been incredibly helpful in growing their business. “All of our jobs have come from direct email outreach,” Kremer said. “Finding the founders or decision makers, whether it’s principals or marketing directors of companies, and reaching out to see if they’re interested.” Kremer said he would advise any artists struggling with turning their art into a stable business not to lose focus. “I think a lot of artists feel like they’re not good enough, and I would say, ‘You are good enough,’” Kremer said. “If you’re making art, you’re good enough, and I think that holds a lot of people back. When I was at that starving-artist stage, I was posting my stuff online and going to art shows, hoping people would find me, but the big change was going out myself and directly finding people I wanted to work with. That opened up so many more jobs that would not have come my way otherwise. I mean, that’s even why we’re here talking to you today. We wanted to get our name out there more, so we started reaching out to different magazines and newspapers.” HOW TO CREATE A MURAL Developing a mural can be a lengthy process, taking around six months to a year of preparation and up to a month to paint. When a client shows interest in their murals, the first thing they will do is arrange a meeting to discuss what they want. They will ask them a variety of questions to understand what message they want, any ideas or subjects they have, and what impact they want to leave on their audience and the community. After the interview, Kremer and Luna each come up with their own designs in vastly different art styles to see in which direction their client wants to go. “It’s usually a collaboration,” Kremer said. “They like parts of [her design], they like parts of [my design], and then we come together to make the final product.” They will then work with their client, making adjustments to their design based on their feedback until they are satisfied with the result. Following this, they will trace the design on the wall. Usually, they do this by going out at night with a projector to display the image onto the wall. They also use doodle grids, a muralist technique in which they draw doodles all over the wall, acting as anchoring points when tracing the design. While the painting process may seem simple, many factors can complicate it and increase development time. “It really depends on the size of the wall and the conditions of the wall,” Luna said. “We’ve had walls that we’ve had to come and prep before we could paint, which adds time, but if everything is perfect, we can take anywhere from a week or two to a month, depending on how big it is.” NEXT UP: A MASSIVE WALL PROJECT Bright Space Murals is currently working on a couple of new projects. They’ve recently started a new workshop with Prep Academy, working with 10th- and 11thgrade students to make a mural for a massive 100-foot wall, which is expected to be completed by the end of the school year in May. Beyond that, Luna is working on a project that combines her love for art and murals with her experience as a massage therapist. “With my massage therapy background, I’m starting to reach out to different businesses, and schools [that] would like a mixed collaboration,” she said. “We will be offering wellness services like massage therapy, yoga, self-care, guided workshops, and murals.” Although they’re currently juggling several projects, that doesn’t mean Kremer and Luna are too busy to work with anyone else who has found interest in their work. “I think we’re just excited to be able to share what we have to offer to the community, to businesses, and to schools,” Luna said. For more information about Bright Space Murals, visit brightspacemurals.com or follow them on Instagram @brightspacemurals. ACROSS 1. Family nickname 4. Design detail 8. Overly sentimental 13. -like 14. Arm bones 16. ___ Haute, Ind. 17. This, in Toledo 18. Pope after Sergius II 19. Vicinities 20. *Simulated, immersive technology 23. Prefix with plasm 24. Year’s record 25. When doubled, a Gabor sister 27. Mattel’s version of the Spite and Malice card game 30. Brunch orders 32. Paid, as the bill 35. Día ___ Muertos 36. What each of the starred answers does to itself 38. “It ain’t over till it’s over” speaker Yogi 40. Oust 41. Scrunch 43. Solicit, as business 47. Businesses: Abbr. 48. Viral infection for which a vaccine was first created in 1957 51. Walking stick 52. *”Whatever” 56. “The butler ___” 57. ___ nous (between us) 58. Pull along 59. “It’s so easy, ___ could do it!” 60. Scattered, as seed 61. Future fish 62. Under attack (by) 63. Get rid of 64. Tankard filler DOWN 1. Paragons of leakiness 2. Has an illness 3. “Little” sound? 4. “Star Trek” navigator 5. Entreaty 6. ___ Gay (W.W. II plane) 7. Manmade pile of stones 8. It needs a jump (or a 58-Across) 9. Prefix meaning “gas” 10. Auntie Annie’s specialty 11. Seeks divine help from 12. Survey choice 15. *Toss-up, to a bookie 21. Peak condition 22. Winnie the Pooh creator’s initials 26. Stubborn one 28. Words before a meal 29. ___ and aboot 31. Leaves for dinner? 33. *1994 spy movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis 34. Suffix with Caesar 36. Aggressive campaigns 37. Roadside bomb, briefly 38. Include invisibly in an email 39. Wearing down 42. Tel Aviv suburb 44. Meditative phrase 45. Not with it 46. He had a big adventure in a 1985 movie 49. “Otherwise...” 50. Lesser ___ evils 53. Greedy cry 54. “___ Tu” (1973 Spanish-language hit song) 55. Roulette bets 56. Cotillion girl 38 41 47 52 56 59 62 53 57 60 63 48 39 42 49 50 54 55 58 61 64 17 20 23 27 32 36 40 43 51 44 45 46 28 29 33 34 37 21 24 30 35 31 18 22 25 26 19 14 15 16 PUZZLES PUZZLES COURTESY OF STREET WISE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DENVER VOICE APRIL 2026 13

14 Publizr Home