MACON, Ga. — The Pinkest Party on Earth starts this week and a Macon artist has created a mural to mark the occasion.
As colorful as her work is, not everything on her journey to be the artist she is today is as bright.
Wesleyan College graduate Arrin Freeman-Burgand started as an elementary school art teacher before discovering her passion for mural art.
"It's just therapeutic when you put the brush on the glass and the way it glides. There's just an internal excitement that I can't explain that kind of keeps me going," Freeman-Burgand said.
She's worked on murals across Central Georgia for a total of eight years. However, in August 2019, she had a serious car accident and for two of those years she had to put painting on pause.
Someone crashed into her at a red light. She tore ligaments in her wrist, elbow, and hip.
"A bit of depression definitely comes with it. I ended up with three surgeries. Two on my elbow and my wrist, and then I ended up having hip surgery," she said.
But, she didn't let the accident stop her from doing what she loves. Freeman-Burgand says after the surgeries, she had to ease back in.
"I really just took one day at a time. I mean just one day. When they say baby steps, I literally was thinking baby steps," she said.
Now Freeman-Burgand says she's overcome those injuries and is back in full form doing what she loves.
"I definitely want joy. I want people to feel the feeling of joy when they see my work," she said.
Some of her most recent windows designs have taken place at Reboot, The Lazy Donkey, and Blairs Discount Furniture store.
"Being able to fall back into what I love, which is art, and working with people, painting. Being back in the town, I am grateful," she said.
She says she's always admired Vincent Van Gogh's work because of his bold lines of black in his work, as well as how his use of color makes someone feel.
"I often get it a lot that people are attracted to my work. It could be for the subject matter and a lot of different things, but I get mostly that people just fall in love with the colors that I use," she said.
Aside from murals, Freeman-Burgan also paints various art commissions including pet portraits, canvas works, murals and window paintings for local businesses.
To check out more of her work take a look at her Facebook page, website or Instagram.
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