“The waiting game was a little bit rough because I depend on people paying me-- particularly restaurants--to do murals.”
--Matt McAllister, artist, on living through uncertainty last spring, as the world and this area shut down because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Every week for the last year and a few, we’ve talked to people from all walks of life in the Tampa Bay area, about finding a way through “Life in The Time of Coronavirus.”
We return to the very first interview from March of 2020 about a mural artist confined to home continuing to create.
What You Need To Know
- One year later, we meet up again with Matt McAllister
- The muralist was our first "Life in the Time" interview last year
- More Life in the Time of Coronavirus stories
- More Coronavirus headlines
Matt McAllister talks to us again - about this year’s journey.
What a different scene one year later.
In March of 2020, we met Matt McAllister on his Manatee County driveway amid a flurry of colors in a 3-D chalk landscape, confined to home, but still making art.
Fast forward one year later, we meet Matt McAllister in a different county and literally off the ground.
He’s on a hydraulic lift, painting a lush tropical scene out of the “Roaring 20s” based on the swimming pool behind the building.
Again he amid a flurry of colors, this time using paint.
“So we're in Sarasota, Florida. This is a Villa Serena Inn,” McAllister explained. “This building was built in 1926, and it's currently Sarasota's oldest, still functioning inn.”
A year ago at this time, McAllister was finding ways to adapt.
He used his art skills on driveways for Quarantine birthdays.
“The waiting game was a little bit rough because I depend on people paying me--particularly restaurants--to do murals,” said McAllister. “And since all the restaurants and bars were closed down, that sort of eliminated my work.”
By September, work picked back up.
McAllister says he feels blessed and grateful, especially to work on places like Villa Serena.
“Creating art on this particular building was an honor because this is on the list of national historic places,” McAllister explained. “So adding my own touch into something that's as old and historic as this was probably one of my favorite canvases so far.”
If you’d like to see Matt’s first interview, or the other stories about your friends and neighbors, you can check them out here.