Atalie Gagnet, Blooming Through the Waves, 2022

As part of Rosewood Arts Center’s recent renovation, a vibrant community mural was created to reflect the spirit of collaboration and creativity at the heart of the project. Designed by Dayton-based muralist Atalie Gagnet, Blooming Through the Waves was made possible through a special partnership with the Dayton Printmakers Cooperative (DPC), students from Kettering City Schools, and Kettering residents. Three Fairmont High School students participated as apprentices, gaining hands-on experience painting alongside professional artists and community members.

Inspired by prints created during community workshops led by the Dayton Printmakers Cooperative, Gagnet designed a mural that bursts with color and movement. The artwork features a geometric pattern influenced by the architecture of the original 1965 building and the Op-Art movement of the same era. Waves of vivid blues, reds, yellows, and magentas weave across the surface, intersected by a bold black grid. Within this dynamic design, bright blue flowers bloom—symbols of growth, resilience, and community flourishing through change.

The mural’s title was contributed by one of the student apprentices, who reflected on the meaning of the imagery:
“I came up with ‘Blooming Through the Waves’ because I feel like it encompasses both parts of the wave and the flowers. It shows the flowers blooming through the colorful waves. I kind of like to think of it like the flowers bloomed in the waves despite the adversity it faced—kind of like a community together.”

Atalie Gagnet brings over two decades of mural painting experience to the project. Her work has taken her across the country, including notable commissions throughout the Midwest, in Miami, Florida for Architectural Digest, and internationally in Graniti, Sicily for the Graniti Murales project.

Blooming Through the Waves was commissioned by the City of Kettering’s Art in Public Places Program, with support from the Ohio Arts Council and the Montgomery County Arts and Culture District in partnership with Culture Works.