A Collective of Creative Minds
We are Juniper Creative Arts, a family collective of passionate artists, educators, storytellers, and healing arts practitioners creating at the intersection of spirituality, nature, identity, community, and Hip-Hop culture. Our mural initiatives focus on creative placemaking to foster community-building, sense of belonging, and the celebration of African diasporic culture within themes of Afro-Futurism, mythical fantasy, surrealism, and nature. Our healing arts practices merge artistry with healing and spiritual alignment.
Our multi-faceted, award-winning team consists of Will Kasso Condry (visual artist, illustrator and doyen muralist), Jennifer Herrera Condry (creative director, assistant mural artist, and herbalist), and Alexa Herrera Condry (assistant mural artist, fine art photographer, and massage therapist).
Since 2017, Jennifer and Will have facilitated numerous community mural projects, provided speaking engagements to educate others on topics such as the history and value of community murals and graffiti as forms of democratic art, and the intersections of nature, herbalism, culture, and art, and facilitated community arts-based workshops and youth camps.
Since establishing Juniper Creative in early 2020, we intentionally sought to diversify public art and iconography in ways that express Vermont’s aspiration to be more inclusive and welcoming to all members of its communities, by centering Black and Brown people against a backdrop of mystical and nature-inspired Surrealism. To that end, we paved the way for other artists to travel on to be seen and to have their cultural and identity-based art be accepted in other public art initiatives across the state.
To date, we have created close to 40 community murals located in schools and on public buildings across the state of Vermont.
And we’re not done yet. Not by far.
Photo by Isora Lithgow Creations
Working with Juniper Creative Arts is a magical experience. Will, Jennifer, and Alexa came to our school to install the mural “Kelis the Afronaut,” and while the painting is extraordinary, the experience that they gave our students was equally as impactful. The artists worked with our students to collaborate on the painting of Kelis’s wings, and while doing so, they taught us the importance of pollination, power, and representation. The colorful wings of Kelis are a daily reminder to our school community and neighborhood of spreading joy.
It is so remarkable for our students to see themselves represented in the artwork in our city. They see themselves and are reminded of their strength, their gifts, and their importance. We are so grateful to Will, Jennifer, and Alexa for the work they do to plant seeds of respect, celebration, and power, and the way they’ve nurtured and mentored our students.
— Champlain Elementary Staff and Students
