Carve/LiveOak Distillery Mural
We’d like to thank the awesome owners of Carve Vodka and Live Oak Whiskey for this opportunity to bring art to their new distillery and tasting room in Mayport.
When it comes to supporting local businesses and drinking finely crafted spirits, we couldn’t think of a better combination, and had a blast working with Allison, Paul and Oliver to make their mural idea come to life.
Keeping with the local theme, the logo for Live Oak Whiskey is inspired by the Treaty Oak, which is in downtown Jacksonville. Wanting to incorporate this in the mural, and pay homage to our city, Philip took the tree and made it his own with his classic color combinations and style of subtraction.
You might be wondering what's so cool about a tree, and don't we have about a billion of them here in Florida? Well, for those who don’t know, the Treaty Oak we're talking about is believed to be around 250 years old. The many-limbed Live Oak tree is located in what is now known as Treaty Oak Park, and was nearly ripped from the ground as part of a development project.
Thankfully, a news anchor got wind of the plans, and reached out to a member of the Jacksonville Garden Club. Together they devised a plan to save the tree by saying it was on land which a famous deal was struck between early White settlers and the Native Americans that inhabited northeast Florida. None of this was true, but they pulled it off and the tree was saved.
Carve Craft Vodka is Jacksonville's first craft vodka. Established in 2014, Carve Craft Vodka and Live Oak Whiskey has been distilled and bottled at Grey Matter Distillery in Jacksonville, FL. Their new location is located on Mayport Rd. in Atlantic Beach Florida.
Carve can be purchased at most liquor stores in North Florida. They are at Total Wine, ABC, and many other locally owned locations. If you have any questions feel free to contact them directly.
On day one of this job, Philip and myself laid down the background colors, which take several coats each and a steady hand to make sure the lines are perfectly straight. Elizabeth kept us in line by making sure we had everything we needed and captured little teaser shots and videos that made their way to social media.
While we STILL always seem to forget something, thankfully this location is just a few blocks from The Aquilla Studio, so running back for a bologna sandwich and more paintbrushes was an easy task.
Happy with how swiftly things were moving, Elizabeth and I helped Philip knock out phase 2 of the mural the next day. We were able to have the image of the tree painted and finishing touches completed by dinner time. When I say dinner time I actually mean 5pm where we were quickly drawn into Oliver and Paul’s office where Oliver (the brains behind the whiskey and moonshine recipes) gave us a private tasting of the product. Casual conversation and drinks flowed as we all got the scoop behind the spirits and enjoyed each other’s company after a long days work.
It’s safe to say we enjoyed this part of the job as both teams came together and were able to share our passions and love for local collaboration.
Things really came full circle, as many folks don’t know, but the team was actually looking into leasing the very same space as the distillery before our home studio was built, and old office converted into the gallery.
Looking back over a year ago, none of us thought a Philip Bennett Walker mural would go in the vacant space, and that we’d end up becoming such good friends with the people who occupy it now!
The team is always looking for opportunities to work on projects that beautify and inspire both private and public spaces. Head to the Finding Philip page at www.philipbennettwalker.com to contact us.
Also be sure to stay tuned for the opening of the distillery and follow along for future projects and installations!
