Glendale teen spreads love with mural at Anthem outlets
A high school artist is hoping to spread some love in Arizona through a mural she painted at the Outlets at Anthem.
Influencers, families, cars and even dogs have all been photographed with the wall, using the hashtag #pinkwallaz to spread the love online.
“I’m enjoying it and I’m glad they’re enjoying it. This is my first mural and my first art piece that was ever this large scale,” said Chloe Merriweather, a senior at Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale.
Titled “Love Wall,” Merriweather painted an array of pink, red and white hearts with matching X’s and O’s on the outlet’s popular pink wall near the Vans and North Face stores.
The wall in Anthem draws comparisons to the pink exterior wall of fashion designer Paul Smith’s store in Los Angeles, which became an Instagram hotspot in 2017.
“I was super excited, but I wasn’t super confident going into it. Once I got the hang of it, I was like okay, I can do it.”
“People are really desiring that human connection because we’ve been separated for so long,” said JoAnn Truax, director of real estate operations and marketing at the Outlets at Anthem. “We wanted to remind people that there’s still hope and there’s still love.”
Truax said the outlet is the host of Deer Valley Unified School District’s annual art show, so they reached out to the district to give a student the opportunity to paint the wall. Merriweather stepped up to the challenge and pre
sented three different designs.
In addition to being an artist, Merriweather is also a photographer and the editor-in-chief of Mountain Ridge High School’s yearbook. Her goals are to attend Arizona State University to study graphic design and become a creative director in the fashion industry.
Truax said the mural will be up through the summer and was created as an opportunity to not only send a message to the community but to also connect with student artists.
“What better way to send a message of love and hope than (with) the next generation of leaders?” Truax said.
Elizabeth Montgomery is Arts and Culture Reporter for The Arizona Republic,
azcentral.com. Reach emontgomery@azcentral.com Follow her on
her at or 602444-8764. Twitter
@emontnews.
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