Painting the Town
A talented artist transforms Seaside with her brush strokes
By Margaret Abrams
Artist Sarah Page, who was named 2024 Artist of the Year by Walton County Tourism, has transformed the town with her bold, brilliant murals.
Most recently, Sarah created a stunning aquarium-themed piece that included the town founder’s dachshund, Bud, alongside starfish and mermaids that both children and adults are sure to love. Sarah told The Seaside Times she wanted to capture the sea life theme of the store and explained her process for creating the 55 Central Square art.
Over time, her ideas for the mural naturally evolved. “When I originally designed the octopus on the in-store mural, he was just stretching a leg down the side of the door. After sharing the design with my dad, he said, ‘You should paint him grabbing the doorknob!’ I loved that idea and changed the design to paint the door and make it look like the octopus was trying to escape.” The subtle change completely transformed the store and created a character and personality for this sneaky octopus.
The murals for Kids + baby by The Seaside Style® were done in three phases, taking a month to complete. The first was the interior mural behind the cash register, which needed to be completed before the construction started. The second was the snorkeling Bud with whale and manatee scenes on the windows, as they wanted to include the pup in a playful element. The third was the open coral reef in the northern windows, which was completed after the store opened.
Sarah grew up outside of Atlanta before moving to Santa Rosa Beach in 2003.
“I grew up as a creative kid and always had an interest in art,” she said, adding that her dad always liked to draw as well. But once she started South Walton High School and then enrolled at the University of South Florida in Tampa, art became a hobby.
“Out of fear of becoming the dreaded ‘starving artist,’ I opted for a safe advertising and communications degree,” she said. “Despite my best efforts, the creative hook never fully lost its hold, leading me to discover graphic design as the perfect blend of artistry and business.”
When she was living in Tampa, one of her neighbors asked if she’d be interested in painting a mural for a small boutique, and she took on the job for free. After that, she was asked by a friend to paint his brewery. “It took me over a month to finish his mural as I fumbled my way through the process of figuring out how to paint a larger mural,” Sarah admitted. “I was painting it on nights and weekends while I worked my full time job, and I learned a lot about the physical demands of painting a mural.”
In October 2018, she applied to the Shine Mural Festival in St. Petersburg, Fla., where she was living, and was able to use those first two murals as an example of her work. She was then selected to be a featured artist. She completed a 65’ long 20’ high wall in seven days after taking a week off of work during Hurricane Michael. The equal parts exhausting and exhilarating experience convinced her she had to become a muralist full time.
Since leaving her career in non-profit fundraising, she now creates murals, graphics and illustrations inspired by the outdoors, including multiple pieces around town. Sarah has painted a construction wall with illustrations of Seaside life, which can be reassembled to camouflage construction projects – so don’t be surprised if it pops up throughout town. Around the holidays, get ready to see her paintings on the pop-up kiosks.
“The Christmas murals feature Seaside scenery, Seaside Santa (available for purchase at The SEASIDE Style® store) and of course, Santa Bud,’ Sarah said. “Whenever I create for Seaside, we want to make it personal to the town and make a design that couldn’t be duplicated anywhere else.”
Look for Sarah’s work in Grand Boulevard in Miramar Beach, Point Washington,Watersound Town Center Pavilion, as well as downtown DeFuniak Springs, where she lives with her family. One of her favorite pieces is the mural she painted at Point Washington Medical Clinic, which highlights plants and wildlife from all over the state.
“Throughout my career, I’ve designed countless marketing pieces, created cartoon illustrations, developed strategic campaigns and have even done acting and voice over work for TV commercials,” Sarah said. “Mural painting is what I’m doing now, but I don’t anticipate it will be where my career ends. For the time, I feel like the luckiest person alive to color on people’s walls for a living.”
