Ode to Boca Mural
As part of Boca Raton's Centennial Celebration in 2025, the City has commissioned artists through its Public Art Boca program to create a new Ode to Boca community-inspired mural on the Mizner Park Amphitheater stage doors, celebrating Boca Raton’s identity and bringing color and creativity to Downtown Boca. One of three final artists will be selected to create the mural.

We’re inviting the Boca Raton community to share your feedback on the final artist vision statements. Your input will help guide the selection panel and ensure the mural reflects Boca Raton’s unique character. Help us choose!
STEP 1: HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Review the vision statements from the three final artists selected for the new Ode to Boca Mural. Then, please select your favorite based on the following criteria.
  • Clarity & Storytelling: Is the vision clear and does it tell a compelling story?
  • Sense of Place: Does it complement the Amphitheater, Mizner Park, and downtown?
  • Celebration of Community: Does it honor Boca Raton’s heritage, character, and people?
STEP 2: ARTIST VISION STATEMENTS

Please read through each vision statement carefully.

Artist A: AMALYAH OREN BLYDEN, JEANETTE KUVIN OREN, KRISTIN PAVLICK
Centennial Dreamscape layers history, ecology, and imagination into a luminous tribute to Boca Raton’s first hundred years. Beneath the night sky of May 26, 1925—marked by Virgo, Spica, and the faint moon of incorporation—Mizner-inspired arches frame symbols of place. A great heron and roseate spoonbill soar, orchids bloom, mangroves root the shoreline, and a palm rises at the center. A Seminole fishing boat drifts in the distance, patchwork patterns honor the first people of this land, and Japanese text with a pineapple recalls the Yamato Colony’s farming legacy. Pearl City is remembered in the strength of a banyan tree, while an iguana hints at Boca’s playful side. Rendered in an illustrative, starry, dreamlike style—enchanting, lyrical, and whimsical—the mural transforms history into something timeless and imaginative. Inspired by a local poem about “dreams in bloom,” it becomes an ode to the past, present, and future of Boca Raton.

Artist B: BRIAN BUTLER
This mural offers a glimpse into 100 years of Boca Raton, anchored by signature architecture and beaches inhabited by iconic moments of the past. The Odes it references carry the weight of the sea, and paint Boca as a dreamlike sunset paradise. Thoughtful words informed the mural’s composition, flattening time into a glowing sunset of moments that highlight Boca’s history. With a restrained palette, the mural complements the surrounding downtown and has utilitarian logic that aids in preservation. For nearby traffic, it reads quickly as a busy landscape, but for those enjoying Mizner Park at a slower pace, each ingredient is a key to unlocking more of the region's rich history. Its icons form a confluence of natural and cultural elements that define Boca. A sunbather and sea turtle, a ship passing the inlet bridge, and memories of “the Boca of before” plays alongside the activities of today.

Artist C: MAGDA LOVE
Dreaming Together in Boca. Celebrating community, creativity, and the stories of our city. My Ode to Boca Centennial mural celebrates Boca’s rich history, imagination, and vibrant community spirit. Inspired by the Ode “I sought refuge / I discovered paradise” and by Flossy’s star sculpture in the park, a man and a woman reach for a star together, an inspiring symbol of shared hope, dreams and unity. Lively colors flow from the lush greens of the Everglades to sand tones of the coast, bright oranges and pink details, and ocean blues. Abundance, native plants, animals, and mosaic patterns drawn from downtown weave through the design, honoring Mizner’s vision and inviting the community to dream together. The mural aims to go on that journey across Boca natural diversity and follow the rhythm, joy and imagination of the ode across the past, present, and the vision of the future.

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* 1. STEP 3. RANK YOUR FAVORITE

Please rank the artist vision statements in order of your preference.
(1 = MOST preferred, 3 = LEAST preferred)

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* 2. NEXT STEPS & STAY CONNECTED
Stay tuned! The final muralist will be selected in October and the new Ode to Boca mural will debut the end of November.

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Thank you for participating and helping shape public art in Boca Raton!

Learn more about the City's Public Art Boca program and the Ode to Boca initiative.

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