Meet Meredith Raiford Akins (@meredithraifordart), the fine artist behind some of Atlanta’s most spectacular botanical murals. Here, we discover more about the Athens-based creative, her journey into art and her most memorable works to date.
Akins has a large artistic portfolio including botanical paintings. PHOTO BY KAYLEY LORRAINE AND LIZ MCSHANE
What is your background, and how did you start your journey in the art world?
I began by apprenticing under my high school art teacher. She did murals on the side, and during the summer, I would go with her on different projects that she did. Then, I went and got my Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Georgia, and, while I was there, I spent my summers and spring breaks painting murals up in Virginia. In my senior year at UGA, I got an assistantship with one of the main painting professors, and he and I plotted out an entire year where, post-grad, I went and traveled the world and painted about 20 murals in different countries, starting in Mozambique and finishing in Jamaica. So, by the spring of 2016, I had a pretty hearty portfolio.
You’ve created quite a few murals in the Atlanta area - I’d love to hear more about these particular works. I have a lot of pieces in the Greater Atlanta area. So, in Atlanta itself, I do some of the windows for a really lovely boutique called Waiting on Martha Home in Vinings. I have a handful of murals in the Blue Ridge Mountains, too, as well as a handful of additional murals that are both public and private.
Meredith Raiford Akins received her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Georgia. PHOTO BY KAYLEY LORRAINE AND LIZ MCSHANE
From the murals you’ve done in Atlanta, what was the most memorable? Of late, I’ve really been enjoying doing different ones in the Blue Ridge area. I just finished one for their new city park that is water park-themed. That one was wonderful. I did one in Watkinsville, Georgia, at a DGD Farms farm. For some reason, that one always stands out to me. It was just so beautiful and intentional, and it’s a great photo spot. That one is more of a postcard-style mural.
Is there a particular style or motif that connects your work?
I focus mostly on botanicals and natural scenes—historically inspired botanical paintings. As a muralist, I focus a lot more on collaboration and playing with the owners and the people who hire me for a project. So, instead of bringing my own vision, which I love to do with murals, I tend to focus a lot more on just hearing from the person who’s hired me and what it is that they’re envisioning.
Akins has painted a mural at The Hadden Estate in Watkinsville Georgia. PHOTO BY KAYLEY LORRAINE AND LIZ MCSHANE
What hopes do you have for the next five years?
I am currently 36 weeks pregnant, so I’m getting ready to introduce a baby into the picture. I thankfully have built our business up to a point where I’m able to take a nice break for the baby for the next few months. After that, I’ve been focusing and leaning more into wholesale and licensing as a business. All of that is really wonderful and it’s exciting to get to see my work in different stores and to get to meet a wider audience with my artwork. It’s also what funds my ability to drop everything and paint a mural. So, murals will always be a steady part of my career, just because it’s my favorite part of my career.
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