Meet the San Diego Artist Bringing Walls to Life

There’s a good chance you’ve spotted Allison Hunsley’s sizable murals and other artwork around town, perhaps at One of Us Bar or Brickhouse Apartments in North Park, Slowly Restaurant & Bar in Pacific Beach, or Mary’s Salads in Ocean Beach. Or maybe you’ve seen her live painting at an event like last year’s Del Mar Food & Wine Fest or Ballast Point’s The Art of Beer. A Pacific Beach resident, Hunsley lands clients through word of mouth and Instagram inquiries—businesses and individuals asking her to come paint on the side of their building or help beautify their space with a mural.

Hunsley uses both acrylic and spray paint in her work, often blending the two together. Observers especially like watching her spray paint in action during live painting events, where she makes freestanding murals and canvases while strangers walk by and make comments.

We interviewed Hunsley about her art career, live painting with a crowd watching, and the rigors of painting massive murals (our fingers are cramping just thinking about it). Here’s what she had to say. 

How did you get your start in the art world and become a professional artist?

I always knew I wanted to be an artist ever since I could hold a pencil. When I said I wanted to be an artist, people told me it was a better hobby than a job. I didn’t have many examples of people close to me in Minnesota who were doing it full-time, so I just made small commissions at first. I was always really into drawing and was in all the art classes in high school, where people started having me draw tattoos for them or paint small family member things.

Later in high school, I started winning a few awards and gaining a bit more confidence and recognition. From one of those awards, I got a scholarship for a summer program at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where I did three weeks in a painting course. That was the first time I ever fully painted, so it was a crash-course in learning to paint. I fell in love with it.

I went to college at the University of Minnesota for product design. It was a good mix of art and engineering—because I’ve always loved math, too—and I thought it was a more realistic career where I could still use my creativity. While in school, I was still making art on the side for people, and my Instagram was getting a little traction. It was the summer after my first year of college when I was at a coffee shop and found an old bucket list I made, and one of the bullets said: paint a public mural. 

So I opened my laptop and sent an email to a few local businesses. One antique shop got back to me immediately and said they’d love for me to come paint on their building. It was a very steep learning curve and initially I had no idea what I was doing, but eventually I figured it out and loved it. The community loved it, too, so from there things slowly started ramping up. I got a few community grants and then started juggling mural painting with school—to the point where I was showing up to class covered in paint and going back to paint in between classes. I was trying to juggle it all and slowly realized I could make money with it. I knew if I graduated, I would still only want to do murals. So I took a leap of faith and left school to pursue art full time starting in December 2019.

What brought you to San Diego?

My friend and I started traveling around the country to figure out where we wanted to live. I didn’t want to be in the Midwest forever where it’s far too cold, which makes mural painting really hard. When it got too cold there, I’d have to blow-dry the paint as I go. We kind of stumbled upon San Diego—I had never been here before, and we were only planning on staying for a few months… but four years later we never left.

It was a pleasant surprise coming somewhere with a year-round window so I don’t have to think about my paint freezing. It was kind of tricky starting over when I got here because I didn’t have a clientele built up. I walked around with business cards throughout Pacific Beach and La Jolla and slowly built a bit of a network. After landing my first project here in California, I remember jumping up and down excited.

How is the painting experience different when you’re working on a massive mural versus a smaller canvas?

You’re watching your hand paint all day without necessarily seeing the full piece always come together. I do a lot of painting and then take 10 steps back to look at the wall, then come back to make a tweak. It’s almost like a fun surprise sometimes because I’m breaking it down into smaller pieces and being more strategic about color blocking, and then standing back and seeing how it’ll all come together. When you’re working small, you’re working the whole scene and it’s a lot more technical.

Certain projects require more manual labor, especially the big outdoor ones. I’ve worked on boom lifts and scissor lifts, which was another fun learning curve that I didn’t expect when I first got into this. I can be navigating a lift, climbing up and down ladders all day, or on a job site fully working in dirt and wearing a hard hat and yellow vest. If I’m wearing a respirator outside working with spray paint, it’s a very intensive process. It’s also a lot of my body being put in positions that it maybe doesn’t want to be in… definitely a lot of arm soreness and back straining.

The largest mural I’ve ever painted was about 1,200-1,500 square feet. Most of my mural projects take between one to seven days, usually about four days depending on how big and detailed they are.

On one of my first-ever jobs when I was about 20 years old, I was working in a dark warehouse so I was super nervous because I was projecting at night before virtual reality was really a thing. So my mom would come and sleep in a lawn chair with me so that I wasn’t out there by myself.

How does live painting with an audience compare to painting in your studio?

When I first started doing murals, I was super anxious about people watching me paint because all paintings go through the ugly phase. I was so embarrassed and would want to tell everyone walking by “It’s going to look so much better when it’s done, I promise!” So it’s funny that now I’m doing live painting. Through murals, I learned that people loved watching them come together. In a way the murals felt like live paintings.

Depending on the event, a live painting can last anywhere from two hours to a multiple-day installation. I’m definitely feeding off the energy of the crowd and I love hearing people’s comments. I think people are a little hesitant and I can see them get confused about why I put a certain color down somewhere, and then slowly they watch it come together. I think it shows people to trust the process and it’s fun because you’re working a lot faster. I find myself being less meticulous, more free-flowing and social. It feels more energetic, quick, and fun versus being a bit more perfectionist in my studio.

What are some of your most favorite projects you’ve worked on recently?

I’ve done a few Boys & Girls Clubs up the coast now. I just got hired for a really big Boys & Girls Club mural in Santa Monica, which was a really fun one because we had the students all help. Murals like that are really fulfilling—directly watching young kids feel inspired and see that art and creativity is a path and can be a career.

When I was younger, I never really saw any muralists or full-time artists. So it’s been really cool to listen to some of the kids tell me they want to be an artist when they’re older. I watch them light up while putting paint on a wall—which is something they’re told not to do in day-to-day life—and then see it come together. They look at the concept at the beginning and it’s super daunting and they don’t think they can do it. But when we do it piece by piece as a group, it’s really cool to see their reactions at the end and know they had a hand in it—and that it’ll live there forever. They’re always so proud to show their parents and friends.

I also did live painting at a Jonas Brothers concert which was awesome. I love live music and was a big concert goer when I was younger. It was really cool to see how art and music can play together. I feel like people at live concerts tend to have an extra appreciation for art and music, so I found that crowd to be really excited and involved. It was definitely one of my favorite projects I’ve ever done.

I did a baby nursery recently, which was a lot of fun. It’s interesting working in people’s homes and going off of the vibe, knowing that they’re going to live with it and be so close to it. I want it to be perfect and feel like it belongs naturally in their space.

Why do you think arts and culture is so important to a city like San Diego?

I feel like buildings have gotten more muted… everything has turned more beige. We have to actively fight to bring more color, uniqueness, and joy to our spaces. The whole mission of art is to literally bring brightness and leave the world a better, more beautiful place. It directly impacts everyone’s mental health and helps build community. A small community grant is actually how I got my first-ever paid mural (the antique shop I did for free). That grant really kicked off my career and changed the trajectory of things.  

Photos Courtesy of Allison Hunsley

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