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Artist paints meaningful flower shop mural
Haines City artist hopes her mural can bring the community together. FOX 13's Carla Bayron reports.
HAINES CITY, Fla. - Every mural has a story.
For one family in Haines City, their shop's mural represents growing their business from the dirt up, their love for their vibrant, diverse community, and their passion for the arts.
What we know:
MaryCruz Ruiz's mural is called "Welcome to My Orchid Garden."
"There are amazing orchids native to Florida. There are beautiful orchids native to Mexico, so this is bridging that gap for me," Ruiz said. "It's a representation of what we've built, what we're building, and where we come from."
Her family's flower shop in Haines City has grown vibrantly over the last eight years.
Her parents uprooted their lives in Mexico 20 years ago, starting from scratch and selling a variety of items before selling flowers — all to support Ruiz, her brother and the rest of their family.
"It's a scary thing to leave your country and start anew for the sake of your family, so it's something I valued growing up," Ruiz said. "It's one of my goals to make them proud, and now it's my chance to take the load off their shoulders and make them proud."
What they're saying:
The 50-foot mural took her and her boyfriend, David Coombs, who has a background in construction, two months to complete.
"There's beauty all around us that we can overlook pretty easily, and we might be able to identify it, but it's universal to find beauty in flowers," Coombs said.
They painted it last year while her parents were away on a trip to Mexico, so it was a big surprise.
"I never imagined she could do something like that. It's something she created, and she used her imagination, her hands," Ruiz's mother, Veronica Ruiz, said.
Ruiz says representing the colors of Haines City, a city of immigrants, is vital to its heartbeat.
"I love this town, and I grew up here. It's my goal to make Haines City beautiful, and I think art is the way to do that," Ruiz said.
What's next:
Her parents sowed the seeds, and now Ruiz will continue to nurture their business — much like tending to a garden.
Ruiz hopes to paint more murals in Haines City in the future.
The Source: Information for this story came from interviews with the creators of the 'Welcome to my Orchid Garden' and their family.