Making his Mark in Downtown Garland
The GRM is proud to be associated with a true Renassance man, one whose artistic talents seem to know no bounds. The amazing artist we are referring to is an Argentinian born man, 33 year old Lucas Cervellini. He shares his Garland home with wife Martina, a GISD 5th grade teacher and their 3 year old son, Nicholas. Cervellini is a formally trained artist who enjoys and has taught cartoon art, but his creativity is expressed in myriad genre and media. Seeking a way to make a living in the art world, Cervellini was attracted to the field of tattoo art. Now, ten years later, he has his own shop with 2 apprentices.
We met Lucas Cervellini about 8 years ago, when he was a volunteer art teacher for a South Garland non for profit. Our paper was in print at that time, and we dabbled with the idea of a cartoon character who would do amusing restaurant reviews. Two years ago he officially became the graphic designer and party in charge of postings to our online GRM.
When Mayor Douglas Athas created a public blackboard on the wall of a building at Fifth and State Street, it didn’t seem to be garnering any attention, so we asked Cervellini to create a chalk drawing that would bring it to life. The Mayor, Robert Smith and many others stopped by to watch the artist at work. This was his first work in chalk, but it was so impressive that he was asked to create a piece of art for the upcoming Christmas on the Square event. For that event he created a 3D Santa photo prop, which was very popular with families visiting the downtown square to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season and the tree lighting ceremony.
Since then he has contributed his talents to the downtown Garland landscape with signs painted for Emily Low, owner of Resurrected Designs and the Intrinsic Brew Pub. When we took on the project to restore and beautify old wooden benches surrounding the square, Cervellini contributed his talents once again. His bench is titled “Eyes” and faces out to Main Street on the square.
While his public art continues to grow in scope and size, he continues to operate his tattoo shop and, thankfully, work for the GRM. His current and largest public art project is a mural commissioned by Robert Smith, who owns several properties in the downtown Garland area. The work currently in progress is intended to bring attention to the City of Garland Pet Adoption Center located at 813 Main Street. It’s at the rear of the building, facing out to State Street, painted on a red brick surface. Among the other projects he has planned, our artist is also working on an online comic strip.
While Lucas Cervellini has done the blackboard project, the Santa and the signs, he has also inked several tats on the limbs of downtown shop-owners. It’s safe to say that Lucas has left his mark on the downtown Garland area in many ways, and will hopefully continue to do so for many years to come. He’s also a musician, but we’ll save that subject for another article.
Nancy Ghirla
Email: [email protected]
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