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In Tampa Bay’s boom, can development and art mix? Ask Ya La’ford

Bronx-born with Jamaican roots, La’ford creates her geometric murals and sculptures as Tampa Bay blooms.
 
Artist Ya La'Ford sits in front of her mural titled Waterfrontier in the lobby of Strategic Property Partners on Channelside Drive in Tampa.
Artist Ya La'Ford sits in front of her mural titled Waterfrontier in the lobby of Strategic Property Partners on Channelside Drive in Tampa. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]
Published April 12, 2023|Updated April 15, 2023

Big art is all around in Tampa Bay’s building boom — massive murals. striking sculptures, hard-to-miss pieces indoors and out.

Artist Ya La’ford has been busy in that mix, painting an IndyCar at St. Petersburg’s Grand Prix, creating a geometric outdoor sculpture in Tampa’s redeveloping West River area. La’ford has worked with the NFL, Nike and Hyatt and has a current to-do list stretching 3 years out, with 7 pieces in progress.

During the pandemic, La’ford was creating a mural in the lobby of Strategic Property Partners at Water Street Tampa, rocking out to the Hamilton soundtrack as she worked in a silent, shut-down city. Today the mural, reminiscent of the grid that makes up the fast-developing area, is backdrop to a bustling hub.

A conversation with La’ford, 43, about the business of art, its role in Tampa Bay’s transformation and how corporate culture can be part of what she calls “a spirituality of space.”

Ya La'ford works at her studio in St. Petersburg. [ Courtesy of Ya La'ford Studio. ]

Where did you grow up?

I had very humble beginnings. What’s great about that is I’m able to move between my Jamaican heritage and vulnerable communities.

My dad kind of had to escape a political issue in Jamaica. That’s how we ended up in New York. That ability to sort of blend into this melting pot I think really added to my cultural experience.

My dad’s an engineer, my mom is a second grade teacher.

Did you know as a kid that art was what you would do with your life?

My mom said I was drawing on her walls. She said I was born that way, with the vibrations of trying to create a new language. Symbols, geometric designs were super-important to me.

(La’ford got a bachelor’s degree from Florida State University, a law degree from the University of Florida, then a masters from the Art Institute of Boston,)

I went to DC and practiced law first.

Was there a first big break, art-wise?

It didn’t happen that way for me. I think my life has been focused on kind of figuring out what my value was and really working hard at that. In my heart I’ve always known there is a value of art.

When do you think the world started to see you as a commercial success?

When I started to work with real estate and city development. I think I started to move these corporate cultures and climates into this spirituality of space.

There was a recognition that there was a value that art lends to the vitality of a healthy community. All of a sudden, art started attracting investment and improving development. I think it’s an exciting time to be in Tampa Bay as a region.

I’m working with people ... that are seeing it’s important to think about artwork. (They know about) activating art early on in the design-build process ... They understand you can’t just build these square boxes.

Often, many people have this idea that art is this last resource or that it’s simply decoration. I think that is a different generation.

The newer generation is dealing with stress as a common denominator. If we’re making environments that have art on hand where you’re giving the employee a place to restore themselves mentally, then art will send this message.

There’s so much geometry to your work.

I think that geometry is really exploring journeys and paths and space and metaphysical complexities ... how objects and perceptions change as we move around in space.

I’m hoping that the artwork can inspire, much like you have a Bob Marley that can inspire change. My artwork is really for all people. So these lines and patterns really seek to encourage engagement.

Ya La'ford with the car she painted at the Grand Prix in St. Petersburg. Courtesy of Ya La'ford Studio.

Are you good at the business side of art?

I do have a law degree.

I have a team of amazing people to help me.

Am I a business person? I think yes to some people, to others, no. I’m constantly trying to learn and be better. I think I can have conversations with developers and attorneys.

It’s hard for me to label myself as anything because I think I’m a great morph. What does it mean to spit something from the Caribbean out that lands in New York that loves listening to Alexander Hamilton?

Not tired of Hamilton yet?

Never.

Much like art, musicals tell the story ... He’s telling about America then and America now.

Do you have a favorite piece you’ve done in the Tampa Bay area?

I really love Boulevard Flow, which is a 10-foot sculpture, a Related project I did with the Tampa Housing Authority. There is a rhythm to that piece. I love that it’s mixed-use development. It’s rooted in community.

It has this greenery pattern on the ground. It evokes this eco-friendly kind of awareness as well.

Boulevard Flow. [ Courtesy of Ya La'ford Studio ]

I also love our Courageous Twelve project (to acknowledge 12 Black officers who fought for equal treatment in the St. Petersburg Police Department).

So how busy are you?

We are at this beautiful sweet spot.

And don’t forget that the center of my world is my boys (ages 4 and 5, growing up in the suburbs north of Tampa with their mom and dad, two labradoodles and a backyard turtle named Taco).

I want to make sure they’re able to change humanity in their own ways. They change me. They’re my ultimate project.