10/8/2024
Community Impact / Discovering The Smith Center
“Super Bloom,” the mural that fills the northeast wall inside the new Starbucks at The Smith Center, brings a welcoming, bright and colorful vibe to a space set to become a meeting place for creative types from Downtown Las Vegas and beyond.
That didn’t just happen. Upon being selected by Starbucks for the opportunity of putting his stamp on The Smith Center’s “community store,” local artist Eric Vozzola thought deeply about the elements befitting a performing arts campus such as this.
“I mix geometry and flat colors with realism and patterns, so all of the elements in this piece have some sort of meaning,” Vozzola explains. “There are art deco references that were taken directly from The Smith Center buildings, and one of the geometric patterns is drawn from the skylight roof that's inside of Reynolds Hall.
“I decided on the title ‘Super Bloom’ because the three flowers are wildflowers that grow around Las Vegas, within the Mojave Desert,” he continues. “Here, those three different flowers represent diversity, and they're front and center, almost as if they were onstage, as if they were performing.
“And then there are flowers in the background, which could be more of the cast onstage or could be seen as an audience looking at the main performers. It's all meant to show a strong freedom of expression, which The Smith Center embodies.”
The new Starbucks, adjacent to the Discovery Children’s Museum and The Smith Center courtyard, opened its doors in September, with a grand-opening celebration set for November 12. The store offers all your favorite Starbucks’ beloved drinks, bites and treats, along with an eight-seat community table that can be reserved for free for two hours at a time.
Overlooking that table is “Super Bloom,” setting the mood for the frequent exchange of ideas to come.
“I wanted it to inspire,” Vozzola says. “The community is going to be walking by on the sidewalk and seeing it, and I really wanted it to have a lot of impact.”
Vozzola’s murals been impacting all sorts of locations around Southern Nevada in recent years: a 16,000-square-foot piece on the west exterior wall of Area15; a smaller work inside that complex’s Meow Wolf Omega Mart; a massive 24,000-square-foot installation on Charleston Boulevard connecting the Arts District and the Medical District; another large piece at the UnCommons multiuse space in the southwest valley; and more.
“I feel extremely grateful to be able to do this sort of work, and sometimes I step back and realize, wow, I really put up some significant work for the community here, the community where I was raised,” Vozzola says. “It feels very special and humbling.”
Starbucks at The Smith Center is open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit thesmithcenter.com/visit/dining/starbucks.