A new mural now covers a major underpass in Flowery Branch.
The project covers two 250-foot concrete walls and is 4,988 square feet of painted surface, 47 flowers, and 910 trees.
The scale alone made it one of the more ambitious outdoor pieces done by Fox Gradin of Celestial Studios, which took to social media recently to explain the details that went into the mural.
“I’ve been doing large-scale murals for decades now, and as far as weather goes, this has been the worst summer I can remember. The number of dangerously high temperature days far exceeded anything I’ve dealt with before,” Gradin said. “Humidity was relentless for most days, even starting back in May. The storms were brutal—sudden, heavy, and disruptive. Working outdoors in Georgia summers is never easy, but this one tested endurance in new ways.”
Gradin said the design of the underpass mural itself wasn’t the hardest part. The environment under the bridges was unlike anything she’d ever worked in before.
“I’m pretty tough, but the heat got trapped in that space, and the fumes were constant. The biggest issue, though, was the noise. I don’t consider myself particularly sound-sensitive. Even with ear protection and music playing, the constant revving engines, sirens, honking, and screeching were amplified many times over by all that concrete. It messed with my brain. It made me anxious and on edge. There were times I had to close up the paint and leave immediately—I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt myself going mad. It was fascinating, in a way.”
She said the experience gave her a brand-new respect for sound-sensitive neurodivergence, for people living with tinnitus, and for service members who have ever been tortured by sound. “I get it now in a way I didn’t before.”
If you need a mural, check out Fox Gradin at Celestial Studios.
Fox Gradin at work on a related large-scale underpass mural project.
This piece, completed under challenging conditions, adds another layer of color and local character to Flowery Branch’s public spaces, part of the broader growth of murals across the region by artists like Gradin of Celestial Studios.