Des Moines muralist highlights identity while painting the town
By Kate Kealey, Des Moines Register
Des Moines artist and muralist Marissa Hernandez learned how to drive a hydraulic lift before a car.
While Hernandez, 28, concedes she was late to get behind the wheel, operating the machinery became second nature as she painted about 30 murals across Des Moines and central Iowa in less than six years.
“It’s surreal and I don’t have the words to describe it,” Hernandez said of seeing her work around town. “Sometimes the projects happen so fast. So you almost don’t have the time to appreciate it. I need to do that more often but it’s just really cool to even think about.”
Whether on the outside of local businesses or inside of schools, Hernandez’s artwork can be found across Des Moines and central Iowa. Since 2020, she has completed roughly 30 murals, Hernandez said.
Nos Books Owner Luis Luján sought out Hernandez’s work even before he opened the bookstore at 1163 24th St. to paint a bookmark that spans the north facing exterior wall of the two-story building. Murals of this size take roughly a week, depending on the weather, Hernandez said. And of course she needed to break out her hydraulic lift skills to reach the top of her canvas.
“I never thought I could do it as a career because I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” Hernandez said of art. “So, it was kind of a happy accident getting to do all this mural stuff.”
How did Marissa Hernandez become a muralist?
Before Hernandez painted murals, she started with crayons and composition notebooks shared among her siblings and gifted from her mom.
“Since that was cheap, we would fill it up cover to cover, just doodling and drawing,” Hernandez said.
For most of her education, Hernandez was set on going into a STEM field. Teachers told her she was good at math and she enjoyed it, but her main motivator was the opportunity to financially support her family.
She originally majored in actuarial science for her first two years of college until a mentor encouraged her to pursue painting. Her first mural she helped paint as an intern was for Boys & Girls Club of Central Iowa with New York-based artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya.
“Through there I discovered all the possibilities for murals,” Hernandez said.
After transferring to Drake University and graduating with a degree in art, the department awarded Hernandez a rent-free space for a year at Mainframe Studios in downtown Des Moines to jumpstart her career. She has since done 10 murals for Des Moines Public Schools and even had other Iowa towns commission her work.
Related: East High mural celebrates Latino identity, joy and strength in Des Moines
What style of murals does Hernandez create?
Every mural is different, but the designs still build on the previous one, Hernandez said. The paintings are not only intended to be aesthetically pleasing but also representative. The artwork often features people of all backgrounds among foliage and nature in hopes of serving as a beacon of affirmation for people of color, according to Hernandez’s website. As a daughter of a Mexican immigrant who struggled to fit in with her upper-middle-class white peers, Hernandez wants her work to celebrate all identities.
“Mostly, I hope it can brighten people’s day and gives them something positive to look at,” Hernandez said. “But if they could get more from it, I would like them to feel seen by the mural, represented in some way because I try to do that with my designs.”
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