Raphaella Brice: the artist behind the Fletcher Free Library mural on her rise to success
Walking through downtown Burlington, it's hard to miss: a 16-foot-high, 12-foot-wide mural hanging high on the east side of the Fletcher Free Library. Designed with vibrant colors and eye-popping shapes, the mural depicts the revered Haitian Vodou figure Erzulie Dantor as a Black Mother Mary with the Christ Child, both with third eyes on their foreheads.
A reimagining of the famous 14th century Italian painting "Madonna and Child," the mural was created by the 25-year-old Burlington resident Raphaella "Raph" Brice.
"The Madonna piece is an acknowledgment of love — of pure love," Brice said, "And a cosmic love at that."
She may have made one of the most prominent murals in Burlington, but Brice is just getting started in the art world. Brice started making art as a senior in college, when she took a computer graphics class, learned the programs Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop, and fell in love with digital art.
"A painter, for example, would have to, like, get the brushes out and clean the brushes," Brice said. "With digital art, you don't have to do any of that. All you have to really do is just open up the app, open up a new board, and then just go to town."
Digital art allows Brice to be spontaneous, make bold decisions, and click "undo" if needed. When asked what she was going to draw at a live art event she hosted on March 24, she laughed and said, "I have no idea."
A child of artistic Haitian parents, Brice grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, visited 14 countries, worked as a travel writer, and moved to Vermont two years ago for a job at the University of Vermont's youth mentoring organization DREAM. The wide range of influences and experiences in Brice's life are channeled through her art.
While working as an artist-in-residence at the Burlington nonprofit Generator, Brice created the "Mushroom Head Series," a digital illustration series that combines Haitian art with psychedelia to portray women in different stages of life.
The story behind the 'Black Madonna' mural
In late 2021, Brice received a grant from Burlington City Arts and the Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging to create a mural for Juneteenth. For the project, Brice collaborated with former Generator artist-in-residence Josie Bunnell to print Brice's digital art onto holographic vinyl panels. After working for a month straight in summer 2022, Brice and Bunnell completed the piece: a larger-than-life mural decorating the Fletcher Free Library, titled "Black Freedom, Black Madonna & the Black Child of Hope."
"It's a commentary on the trauma that comes with being religious," Brice said. "It's a commentary on those who have disconnected themselves from the Catholic church in some sort of way, even those who suffer from Catholic guilt. It's a commentary on how religion plays into the roles of society and how we think."
Brice was raised Catholic, and sees the mural as a challenge to the status quo that comes with the traditional Catholic archetype of Mother Mary and Christ.
"It's such a Catholic archetype that it seems like it can only be in the Catholic church, but it actually isn't. It's something that everyday people can connect with, and that's exactly what happened," Brice said. "People were coming from all types of all walks of life, coming to me, and being like 'it's so beautiful.'"
Up next for Brice? A project at The Flynn for Burlington's upcoming Discover Jazz Festival and a mural for the Winooski organization Conscious Homestead. Now a full-time artist, Brice is looking forward to what the future has in store.
Contact April Fisher at amfisher@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AMFisherMedia
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Raphaella Brice: artist behind Burlington's Black Madonna mural
