OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — Applications for Fresh Paint 2027 mentorship are open through Oct. 18, 2026
For an emerging artist, the distance between creating good work and believing you are ready for the next opportunity can be enormous. Fresh Paint was built to help close that gap.
Arts Council Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City Thunder are inviting emerging BIPOC mural artists to apply for Fresh Paint 2027, a professional development program combining mentorship, large-scale painting, and public engagement. Selected artists work alongside two established muralists, including a teaching artist from the Thunder Artist Group (TAG), to develop and complete a large-scale work while building practical skills for future public art opportunities. The Thunder partnership extends that development onto a larger public platform, introducing the artists to its fans and supporting public voting before all five works are featured at Festival of the Arts, where the winning artist is announced.
For 2025 Fresh Paint artist Max Hamblin, the experience became much more than completing an eight-foot mural. It changed the way they saw their own professional potential.
Hamblin entered Fresh Paint as a painter who had exhibited work and traveled for art, but had never created a piece at such a large scale. Through the program, they learned how studio practices translate to mural work, how professional artists approach large-scale projects, and how to pursue opportunities in public art.
Just as importantly, Hamblin left with something harder to teach: confidence.
“It has given me the courage to apply for more things because I know that if I can get into something like Fresh Paint, then I can get into something else,” Hamblin said.
Since Fresh Paint, that confidence has translated into action. Hamblin began reaching out directly to businesses about exhibiting their work, pursued additional mural opportunities, and found a public home for their Fresh Paint piece, Coming Together, Growing Together, at Lazy Circles in Norman. They worked with the venue and Norman arts community to turn the installation into a reception during the Norman Art Walk, bringing the mural to a new audience beyond Festival.
Now, Hamblin is taking another step into Oklahoma’s mural community as a participant in the 2026 Plaza Walls Mural Expo, an initiative of the Oklahoma Mural Syndicate. Their work will debut as part of the Expo during the Plaza District Festival on Saturday, Sept. 26, and is available for viewing the following year.
For Hamblin, that growth has also expanded their vision of what an arts career could look like. They have described plans to pursue a Ph.D. in arts administration, with the possibility of someday leading a program that can provide another generation of artists with the kind of opportunity Fresh Paint provided them.
The progression reflects exactly what Fresh Paint is intended to encourage: one professional experience creating the confidence and practical foundation to pursue the next.
Hamblin’s advice to the next Fresh Paint cohort is straightforward: apply with honesty, submit strong photographs of your work and, if selected, arrive prepared to make the most of the opportunity.
Applications for Fresh Paint 2027 are open through Oct. 18, 2026.
Selected artists will develop their work ahead of the 2027 Festival of the Arts, April 22–25 in Bicentennial Park.
