The Owner's Story
Click to OpenClose
Being a service to others has always been my passion, both personally and professionally. I’m a licensed cosmetologist and have owned my own salon for over 18 years. I believe a healthy spirit and body go hand in hand and I treat every client with special care and detail in my salon as well as in my real estate profession. I’m a wife and mother and currently president of the Grandville Ave Business Association and serve actively in my community. It’s just in my DNA! When I’m not working on my professions, I enjoy spending time with family and friends singing, dancing, cooking and playing or watching sports. My mission as a community activist is to help ensure that family legacies remain intact and continue to be cultivated and opportunities for equitable growth are accessible for our children now and many generations to come.
My personal mantra is: “I believe not in what person, place or thing seems to be, but what it has the ability to become!”
Owner's Connection To GR, Thoughts on Liberation, Reclamation
Connection to Grand Rapids: Homegrown, born, and rooted, in the Southwest and Southeast.
Liberation: Freedom to be & see, to move and groove, to step in and out, to tear down and build-up
Reclamation: Walking in the destiny that was designed for me due to my people’s history. I was placed on a journey of creativity that has been untapped. It is mine and you cannot stop me from receiving it!
About the Artist
Click to OpenClose
Arturo Morales Romero was born in Mexico in the state of Guerrero in a town called Tepetixtla. He found his passion for the arts at the age of five while playing in the water where the pebbles of different colors melted and mixed between my feet while he was stepping on them since then he has used color to express himself to the world. In 2014 his wife Erika, my son Eloy, Emiliano, and daughter Pilar move to Grand Rapids Michigan. His ArtPrize entries in 2016, 2017, 2021 were featured at Lindo Mexico and Mexo. In 2022 he completed his largest mural at Supermercado Mexico. Now he is happy to call GR home, his inspiration for the mural downtown GR with the title of Aztlan (Land of Dreams) which shows his pride in who he is & where he lives.
//
Rryuhn: Creating is my offering. Whether it is therapeutic, economic, recreational or strategic. These commodities are conceived as gifts, not talent. Every piece, concept, and approach are ways of expression through many shapes, hues, and principles. These gifts are solely translated through my God, at which I give thanks. Who Am I: One who is capable of affable, visual fortitude. I create with these intentions to relate and challenge my audience to not only see, but feel the essence of my subjects. My sole hopes are to reunite my audience with a quality viewing experience that will form honor amongst us.
ARTIST'S CONNECTION TO GR, THOUGHTS ON LIBERATION, RECLAMATION
Arturo: Liberation to me means freedom from oppression from our mind, body and soul from people that set limitations on us. Reclamation to me means claiming back our culture, art, history, lost knowledge from our ancestors, and claiming back our pride.
//
Rryuhn: Liberation: For me is freedom of self, circumstance. Forming relief while building hope, creating space for refinement and self-betterment. Reclamation: mindfully, yet skillfully reasserting true ownership.