Ringling student adds flavor to walls of Circle yogurt shop

Cameron Kramer, of Chapel Hill, N.C., had finished her applications to other art schools, when her mother suggested that she look at Ringling College of Art and Design. The youthful artist was so impressed by the place and the “amazing teachers” that her other options did a fast fade to black. She moved here and is presently a sophomore majoring in illustration.

Except for her part-time job, we might not have heard about Kramer, who just turned 20 years old, for a few more years. But she wanted to work.

“I don’t like asking my folks for money; they are already helping with my education,” Kramer says.

So she applied at Sarasota Yogurt Co. on St. Armand’s Circle, which proprietor Scott Pastor was preparing to renovate. His plans included hiring a professional artist to paint murals featuring local attractions. But, he, instead, asked to see his student employee’s website (emivisuals.com/cameron-kramer.html) and gave her the job.

“I had never done a public-area project nearly as big as this,” she says.

She started with sketches then drew them on the walls. (Pastor and his wife, Keely, have rescued the original drawings to display in their home.) Her medium was three primary colors of interior house paint from which she mixes her own shades.

“It was cheaper and easier,” she says. She used no black to great effect — the murals virtually pop off the walls.

The artist created the first two paintings, featuring the sculpture “Unconditional Surrender” and fruits (pretty much matching what the shop offers in flavors and/or toppings), while the store was closed for renovation. She tried to work from 9 a.m. to 10 or 11 p.m., “as long as I could,” for a week-and-a-half. There was still a blank wall when the shop re-opened, and Kramer “became nocturnal for a week” starting work at 11 p.m. for another week.

If you notice that most of the living creatures are sporting, spouting or sprouting frozen yogurt in some way — that’s fair. These are, after all, the walls of the Sarasota Yogurt Co. the new serve-yourself specialty store at 327 Ringling Blvd. on the western spoke of St. Armands Circle.

Visit SarasotaYogurtCompany.com for more information.