Interactive Murals for Kyruus
Where do I start with Kyruus? Going from a healthcare system to a healthcare IT vendor was quite the adjustment. I remember walking in to the office at Melcher Street and thinking to myself “I’m not in Kansas anymore.” I didn’t know anything about SEO or APIs and I had never been in account management. But the people at Kyruus (it has always been about the people at Kyruus) were incredibly welcoming and generous in every way. In no time I was a Kyruuvian, and shortly after that Captain of our winning kickball team (just kidding, we lost nearly every game but we celebrated like champions).
Kyruus gave me many opportunities. I co-led DEI Initiatives, contributed to our culture and was mentored by incredible leaders. Kyruus even invested in 1:1 coaching to help me grow. Needless to say, I’m beyond grateful for the experiences I had there, especially while we had an office.
The pandemic wasn’t easy. A huge part of the joy of being at Kyruus was actually being there. And yet, the culture prevailed. We found ways to connect and maintained traditions that we established. One of those traditions was announcing our veggie-matches when we joined the company. I chose a beet. They always leave their mark and, as an artist, that spoke to me. But, it never occurred to me to combine my art world with my professional one until a coworker suggested that the new offices might need some art. I didn’t just want to make art, I wanted it to be an experience so I put together a proposal to have interactive murals for both Boston and Portland office opening events. Coming back together after so much time apart was a big deal! I designed the murals and painted the backgrounds, leaving the people and their veggies to be painted in by my coworkers, hence giving everyone the opportunity to leave their mark. The hardest part of designing this was keeping it simple so that all levels of artistic ability were able to partake. If you take a look at my other art pieces, you will see that they are much more complex. Despite the simplicity, I really had to hustle to make this project happen and I couldn’t have done it without the support of my husband who flew with me and my daughter to Boston twice and painted a significant portion of both murals with me.
The opportunity to design these murals and facilitate painting them at both opening events meant the world to me. It was also a very vulnerable thing for me to do but vulnerability is what you need to connect and I hope that these murals helped to do just that.
Below are pictures from both events.
I will always have a very special place in my heart for Kyruus and all the amazing people I met there.
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