Meet the artists: South Bend 4th Mural Mania kicks off through 4th of July weekend
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July 3, 2025
SOUTH BEND — Five days. Seven artists. Six murals. Five downtown sites.
Yes, Mural Mania is underway for the fourth summer in South Bend, and, local mural artist and Mural Mania founder Alex Ann Allen says, the first three years were so successful that more local businesses are now willing to offer their walls as public art canvases.
“That opens more doors for artists to work with local businesses,” Allen tells The Tribune.
Three of the sites this year belong to businesses, while two are city-owned properties.
“People are coming into the city to visit the murals, and that brings them into local businesses,” Allen says.
Willow Wetherall, executive director of Downtown South Bend, which is a leading partner in the event, says DTSB is honored to support Allen’s vision of bringing more color and vibrancy to downtown.
"The power of public art is unmatched in its ability to activate space, celebrate identity, and inspire connection,” Wetherall says.
Painting the town: South Bend hosts first-ever mural festival. Here's what to know.
About the murals and where to find them
The public is invited to visit the artists while they work through July 6. A map on Downtown South Bend’s website shows where to find each mural.
● Howard Park: Two murals, located in Howard Park across the river from Karl King Tower, tell a loose story woven by couple Brittany Johnson and Efren Rebugio Jr.
Johnson employs a brushstroke technique rather than spray paint for a more “painterly effect.” Her mural uses a nature-inspired nod to her fertility journey — much like her friend, the woman in the mural — while having her 10-month-old daughter, Elsy, with her.
The concept for Rebugio’s mural, which faces the water, was inspired in part by his conversation with a local fisherman in Howard Park on July 2. He includes local birds — including a blue heron — and plans to paint a flathead catfish and an image of himself reaching for Elsy. Rebugio says it's important not only to uplift the space to spread color and shape but also to highlight local narratives.
Though Rebugio says he and Johnson have two very different styles, he says their murals will tie into each other.
● Aloft Hotel at 111 N. Main St.: Daniel Toledo, inspired by the JW Waterhouse portrait Mariana in the South, paints his friend, Rose. He asked Rose to look in front of a mirror and comb through her hair when developing the concept for his mural, he says. Toledo likes to create art showing people doing things, he says. What did she feel or think when she looked at herself, Toledo wondered. People seeing his mural can imagine what she’s thinking, he says. Rose is shown in various shades of brown with gold and silver ornate details on the mirror and comb.
● Purple Porch Co-op at 123 N. Hill St.: Inspired by the early 2000s, Taylor "Taylord" Barnes’ depiction of a girl listening to music on her iPod mini holding a Hercules beetle — which can lift up to 850 times its body weight — represents inner strength, change and transformation, though Barnes says it's up to the viewer to interpret the image. Barnes calls the mural — titled "Commit This to Memory" after the 2005 album by Motion City Soundtrack — her Y2K take on a coming-of-age story. The mural speaks to any place, not just South Bend, Barnes says. The mural, with a background of purple, orange and blue hues, pays homage to the building it’s on, with hidden Easter eggs related to the business.
● ZStone Creations at 711 S. Main St.: “It’s a surprise,” artist Cameron Moberg says when asked to describe his design concept for his third mural on the ZStone and Roselily wall facing Main Street. A backdrop of black offsets a vibrant color scheme of orange, yellow and magenta, showing a butterfly surrounding a person’s face. This year, he’s itching to challenge himself, he says. “What we do is not about us,” Moberg says. “It’s for the people who pass by everyday. We try to make basically outdoor galleries for everybody. It could be for the rich or the poor — anybody’s welcome to look at it. It doesn’t shut off anybody from the community.”
● Parking garage at Main and Colfax Avenue: Nico Cathcart and Allison Bamcat — wearing matching pink Hi-Vis vests — paint 80-foot murals right next to each other. Cathcart says she’s “euphoric to be painting next to Bamcat,” who’s her close friend. Though their designs aren’t complementary in appearance, Cathcart says, "there’s a connection in the thought and empathy we both use when designing and thinking of our work."
Allen had to make a last-minute pivot on Monday, June 30, and move Bamcat from the Wayne Street garage to the Main Street garage because there wasn’t enough room to operate the lift.
The two murals on the Main Street garage by Bamcat and Cathcart allow people to view them from all parts of the city, Allen says — a change in a “beautiful way.”
Bamcat says she’s inspired by Cathcart. They might find a way to connect their signatures when they’re finished, she says. Together, the murals show a full range of what is possible on walls, Cathcart says. “The walls show what women can achieve when given the chance to go big,” she says.
Titled “Flower,” Cathcart’s mural is of Shae Evans, a freelance American Sign Language interpreter and direct support professional in Richmond, Virginia — where Cathcart lives — signing the ASL word for flower while holding a yellow sunflower and a white peony — a mixture of Indiana’s state flower with one of South Bend’s colors.
As a hard of hearing member of the deaf community, Cathcart says, there’s very little deaf representation on the walls of the world, which, she says, was a “big factor in the design” when undertaking the large mural. “I feel a lot of responsibility to provide positive representation for the deaf and disability community,” Cathcart says by email. “I think walls should create conversation, and maybe teach the viewer something. It's my hope that a great amount of hearing people see this and start to think about learning a bit of ASL.”
Bamcat was spraying words and symbols at the top of her mural July 2, which. she says, is part of the system she uses to plot out her murals at scale. It’s mostly stream of conscious, she says. When completed, the mural will feature a mother goose with magic eggs — inspired by amazing mothers in her life, including Cathcart and Johnson, she says.
“There’s another bird carrying magic beans as well, because when I can’t feel creative, I say, ‘I’m missing my magic beans,’” Bamcat tells The Tribune by email. “I think it’s important to foster creativity in children, and also in adults, so I hope my message will inspire folks to explore their own creativity by experiencing public art in their day to day.”
Who’s creating the murals?
The participating artists come from several parts of the country. Some are veterans of Mural Mania, while others are painting in the event for the first time.
They're chosen because they’re highly experienced and have created many murals, Allen says.
Visit the artists as they work from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through July 6.
● Brittany Johnson, of Austin, Texas, specializes in works that bring joy, personality and bold color as she depicts her friends in the works she creates. Her 2024 Mural Mania mural featured Mandy Krause, the Love and Macarons baker. This is Johnson’s third Mural Mania and first since having her daughter.
● Efren Rebugio Jr., of Austin, Texas, who’s creating a mural on the opposite side of the mural by his partner — Johnson — compared their styles, calling Johnson’s hyper-realistic while his work is closer to graffiti in character, whimsical with a bit of an abstract feeling and hard outlines. Inspiration struck Rebugio after experiencing South Bend’s nature and the “sunny” feeling of life in Howard Park, he says. This is Rebugio’s second Mural Mania, having first participated in 2024.
● Daniel Toledo, of Los Angeles, is a Mexican artist who goes by Mister Toledo and explores personal themes of the human experience. Most murals Toledo does are of his friends, he says, saying he typically paints Brown people in murals. “There’s not a lot of Brown people portrayed in murals in certain states,” he says. “… It’s me trying to connect with my roots and culture.” This is Toledo’s second Mural Mania, having participated in the first Mural Mania in 2022, with a mural at Cloud Walking Coffee. To him, Mural Mania grants artists the opportunity to have more creative freedom, he says.
● Taylor Barnes, of Austin, Texas, known by her artist name, Taylord, is participating in Mural Mania for the second time, having created a mural in 2024 in the Leighton Parking Garage. To her, public art is everything, she says. “It being accessible to people, I think really does brighten people’s day. The colors, the imagery — I get so inspired by public art,” Barnes says, saying she thinks everyone gets inspired by public art. “I just love being able to contribute to that.”
● Cameron Moberg, of San Francisco, known by his artist name, Camer1SF, is back for his fourth Mural Mania. Moberg says he’s here to support Allen, whose own work spans the city and greater-South Bend area. Artists are often painting by themself, which can get lonely, he says. “That’s a big deal to use when you can just support what the rest of us are doing and just having the opportunity to be together as artists,” he says.
● Nico Cathcart, of Richmond, Virginia, described her style as soft and realistic, with no lines and painted with traditional bucket paint. She paints using a grid to work as accurately as possible because “math does not change,” Cathcart says. Using pure pigment colors formulated for outdoor use and by mixing alla prima on the wall with large brushes, Cathcart says, she’s able to paint rapidly, covering large spaces with a small amount of paint. This is Cathcart’s second Mural Mania — she painted on Z-Stone in 2024. This year’s mural is one the largest she’s done, she says.
● Allison Bamcat, of Los Angeles, says this year’s mural is the largest she’s painted by herself. She’s visiting South Bend for the first time to take part in Mural Mania to provide art without a barrier. “Murals are for everybody,” Bamcat says, “I always say that we don’t consent to seeing billboards everywhere, so why not add as much art to our cities as we can? I’d rather see something beautiful over an advertisement.”
For more information on the artists, visit https://www.downtownsouthbend.com/muralmania.