Art in Tidal "Waves"

Calling all art lovers, this one’s for you! I had the immense pleasure of sitting down with two artists in Polk County who are hoping to make a “splash” on the art scene come November. Gillian Fazio and Katerina Santos have a festival in the works running from November 6 through November 14, 2026, that is sure to knock your socks off. Coming from a shared love of each others’ work and a serendipitous meeting through murals at Disney Springs, Gillian and Katerina are the geniuses behind Color Wave Walls, Lakeland’s first-ever mural festival, featuring live mural paintings across 10 different locations in Downtown Lakeland, along with artist talks, community events, and so much more!

RIPPLES

How it all began: It’s 2024, and Gillian and Katerina are both working on murals for Disney Springs’ “Art Walk: A Canvas of Expression” exhibition. Each has admired the other’s work for years. The stage is set for the professional meet-cute of the century. For Katerina, one of her favorite murals in town is off of Massachusetts … and one of Gillian’s, “your butterfly wall is our family’s favorite. When we moved here, we went there to take my maternity photos, and we used [it] like a backdrop. We didn’t know each other yet, but I’ve always been a fan.” Katerina and her family had just recently moved from Miami to Lakeland. She and her husband Juan Travieso are both artists and together they form a company called TRATOS.

Meanwhile, Gillian had a fangirl moment after finding out from the Disney Springs mural representatives that Katerina and her family lived in Lakeland and not Miami like she had previously thought. “What Katerina is not gonna tell you, because she’s very humble, is the caliber of walls that [she and her husband] were doing before they moved to Lakeland were bananas. They were working for international companies! There was definitely a level of mutual respect, but I felt like Kobe Bryant was moving to Lakeland. I felt like some titans of the mural industry were coming here,” says Fazio. After Disney Springs, the pieces all fell into place for the two artists, and Color Wave Walls felt its first ripple.

MAKING WAVES

Polk County is in for a treat this fall, since Gillian and Katerina will be pulling off a festival of “tidal” proportions. With 10 new murals going up on businesses across downtown Lakeland, at no cost to the building’s owners, all within two weeks, the Swan City is about to be drenched in new art! Gillian talked about one of the reasons murals are important. “When you have people come to visit in town, you’re not just taking them to your favorite restaurant, you’re taking them to see things that are visually exciting or that you take ownership of. So the murals really become part of the landscape. They become another point of uniqueness and what makes Lakeland stand out and feel like its own thing.”

Festival goers will be able to watch the murals go up, stroke by stroke, color by color, and at the same time, be able to ask the artists questions while they’re working. The muralists will also be hosting talks delving into topics like how to scale art from gallery pieces to paintings on the sides of buildings; the intricacies and banalities of the job; and how to make art more accessible to the general public, something Gillian is a huge champion of. “Accessibility has always been a really big thing for me. I really want to make sure that I’m catering to where I come from, meaning, some people may never step foot into a gallery. So I’m going to bring the art to them and make it digestible,” she said. Both women went on the record to say that there will be community painting zones during the Lakeland Downtown Farmers Curb Market on November 7 and November 14, as well as a public artist talk on the evening of November 12. Heads up, they’re planning a celebration on the final day of the festival (with the full details to be announced soon!).

Encouraging our arts community to thrive is at the heart of every decision that Gillian and Kat are making, as Gillian stated, “[the festival] wouldn’t be able to happen if it was just me or just Kat. It’s a partnership that has the intricate, local knowledge that I bring to the table and then exponential industry knowledge that we both have, but mostly [Kat] from the national exposure that TRATOS has.” The two were quick to point out that what sets Color Wave Walls apart from other mural festivals in Central Florida is the pair’s intimate knowledge of what muralists need on the job. While most mural festivals are run by creative directors, who know their stuff for sure, they aren’t up on the walls with their artists. Gillian and Kat have an innate understanding of what these high flying creatives need.

“We’ve been so lucky and fortunate to have the applications we’ve been receiving (record scratch: 438 applications submitted from 33 states and 21 countries) because people trust that we’re going to take care of the muralists, we’re going to take care of the business owners. We’re going to make sure that basically, the needs that we wish to be met when we’re working in other festivals, are accommodated,” Gillian states. Of course, you can’t have an art’s festival without a little healthy competition, so this year’s slate of judges will include, as of now, “Lakeland Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley; former Publix executive and current Expert in Residence at Catapult, Tim Cox; Vice President of GiveWell Community Foundation, Lori Martini; LDDA Vice Chair and Senior Project Manager at Summit Holdings, Donna DeStefano; Campbell Rice of Indie Atlantic Films; and of course, Gillian, Katerina, and Juan (the other half of TRATOS).

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Art matters, and having art at such a large scale does nothing but uplift communities. “It’s really funny what happens when paint goes up on a wall, right? It’s as simple as a design and paint, but people gather, and you start creating, and there’s suddenly an arts district happening. And when there’s an arts district, more people are willing to invest in an area, more people are willing to travel to the area, are willing to walk through an area. That’s ultimately our goal for Lakeland, to have more people come here, to have more people appreciate its uniqueness, its beauty. This is a gem of a place, you know? Why not attract more people?” Kat said. She even went on to reference the Polk Arts and Health Collaborative, an offshoot of Watson Clinic that aims to research, educate, and integrate best practices for incorporating the arts into holistic health, as one of the reasons they want to put on the festival.

There are some benefits for the artists participating as well, since Kat pointed out that being a muralist often means walking a lonely road … I mean, lift. “We get to bring together 10 artists who might have never crossed paths because muralists tend to work after hours, at night, or when places are closed. As a highlight for all of these artists, we’ll bring them together at the same time and they’ll get to meet each other,” she said. The two women are hopeful that not only will the festival uplift the community’s mood and the artists’ networks, but it will uplift our local economy too! “It’s going to invigorate our city and make everyone feel this sense of pride, but it’s also going to boost local businesses. People are going to think, ‘ooh, let’s walk over to this mural, grab a coffee, then stay for dinner, then, maybe we’ll go to a couple of different murals tomorrow. Maybe we stay at the Terrace,’” imagines Gillian.

Their goal is for approximately half a million people to interact with the festival via social media, and 25,000 in-person participants in the inaugural year of Color Wave Walls. Gillian warns, “Don’t travel during that week, because things are going to be popping off here!”

While looking at the broad strokes of what this festival could mean for the community is definitely on Gillian’s and Kat’s minds, they’re also looking at the smaller, more individual impacts too, especially when it comes to being an inspiration for a younger generation of artists. Gillian lamented over the feeling her younger self had that, “there was nothing that I could do in a creative capacity if I lived near family. If I stayed in Lakeland, I was gonna have to get a ‘real job.’” Though she was also quick to elaborate that she had very supportive parents who knew she would never be happy in a 9-5 without some creative capacity. Fazio and Santos both reminisced on how seeing their first muralist impacted their younger selves. Kat describes growing up in Miami, “There were a lot of male muralists because it still is a male-dominated career. And I was like, ‘amazing, that’s something I wish I could do,’ but it wasn’t until I saw that first woman on the street painting these incredible bees 50 feet up in the air that I just lost my mind. Seeing that, I thought, ‘that is what I have to do.’” They hope that a festival like this can show kids living here that a creative career doesn’t have to be far away from home and that Polk County has a thriving visual arts community that is always hungry for new artists and perspectives. Gillian shared, “The feeling that Katerina and I both shared when we saw a muralist for the first time, we can actively be that for somebody.” The impact of seeing someone who looks like you doing the thing that lights you up inside CANNOT be overstated.

TIDES OF FESTIVALS FUTURE

Gillian and Katerina are planning for this festival to be a biannual event. Additionally, you can look out for TRATOS’ home base in Lakeland, called Emerald Arts, which is planning to open at the end of 2027. Located in what was formerly the Thom Downs Antique Store, Katerina and Juan will be hosting workshops, teaching classes, and creating space for artist studios. Gillian’s (totally unbiased) review: “If I was somebody that was looking to get into art, I would want to learn from these people. If I could gift that to my younger self, [Katerina and Juan] are who I would have been so, so excited to learn from when I was just getting into art.”

In future festival years, Emerald Arts will host even more events, specifically catering to the crowds around town. Now, if you’re like me and are now chomping at the bit for November to JUST GET HERE ALREADY, there’s good news! A new mural collaboration between Gillian and TRATOS is available for the public to view on the outside of the Summit building. Tour tip: start outside of the building and look at that stunning new mural, then ask about coming inside the building to see the internal mural walls, completed by various local artists and muralists for Summit.

The excitement and passion that both Gillian and Kat shared about this festival were of tidal proportions. They are committed to not only make this year’s Color Wave Walls festival a “splash” but to also set the stage for even bigger, more involved festivals biannually. After all, a wave always creates more ripples with its passing.

HOW TO HELP

Wanting to have a more hands-on approach to experiencing this arts festival? Never fear, they are going to need a lot of hands to pull this off and will be opening applications for volunteers in the months closer to the event, so keep checking the Color Wave Walls socials and their website at colorwavewalls.com for more information. Additionally, sponsors of the event can know their money is going to a good cause, with the 501c3 certification that the two women are pursuing. Perhaps the easiest way to donate would be through their partnership with the LDDA and GiveWell, the link to access that is givecf.org/color-wave-fund. Keep your eyes peeled on their socials and website for more updates about the festival, and get ready Polk County … to make a splash!

COLOR WAVE WALLS

November 6 –14, 2026

Various locations in Downtown Lakeland

IG @colorwavewalls

colorwavewalls.com emeraldarts.com