Meet the Artists

Nik Burkhart

Nik Burkhart is an interdisciplinary artist whose art practice encompasses painting, drawing and object making. Much of Nik’s recent artwork is an exploration into how we symbolize and interpret the natural phenomena that we encounter in the environment around us. Other important themes in his artwork include land use, agricultural practices and how we physically and psychologically inhabit space. His artistic projects often delve into stories of place to explore how these histories shape our current lives. Nik uses abstraction as a means of considering the mysteries inherent in any interaction with the natural world and enjoys how this allows ordinary objects or landforms to take on other symbolic meanings.

Early in his career, Nik painted two murals in the city of Petoskey, MI; one at the Emmet County Fairgrounds & Community Building and the other in the Petoskey Public Library. Nik Burkhart received a B.A. in Studio Art from Hope College and has exhibited his artwork in Chicago, New York and abroad. Nik Burkhart’s artwork is represented by the V Gallery in Omena, MI and he teaches painting at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, MI.

Dania Grevengoed

Dania Grevengoed is an artist and muralist based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Her work serves as a contemporary ode to the green growth of the natural world, shaped in part by an introspective narrative on feminine ideals within nature and a deep fascination with the sublime. In her murals, this translates primarily into a focus on native and hyperlocal wild plants, celebrating the quiet power and presence of the natural world in our everyday.

Grevengoed believes that every person and every place deserves access to the beauty and peace of nature. She highlights the unique plant life of each mural’s location—often referencing native wildflowers found near site or species with special ecological or cultural significance to the area. Her murals are freehanded to reflect the organic, unstructured essence of the natural world.

Since beginning her mural practice in 2020, Grevengoed has created large-scale works in both public and private spaces throughout North America.

Jamie John

Jamie John (he/they) is a 2 spirit queer and trans Anishinaabe and Korean-American multidisciplinary artist based in the United States. They are born and raised in the Grand Traverse area surrounded by their tribal nation and community of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

Jamie’s work draws upon both traditional and contemporary aspects of Native life, powwow regalia design, relationships to land, and current events. Their cultural and familial background gives a profound sense of kinship and belonging as well as what it means to connect to land, ancestry, and to each other. The responsibilities Jamie has to their community(ies), kin, and culture is a mindset that extends throughout their body of work.

Daisuke Okamoto

Daisuke Okamoto was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, and currently works and resides in Los Angeles, California. Okamoto's art is heavily influenced by science fiction and psychedelic culture. Given his intense passion for repetitive line drawing, Okamoto has been known to work over a year on a single piece. Okamoto partnered with Microsoft on a Microsoft Surface Pro 8 and made a mural for the ad campaign in 2022. And he has also done collaborative projects with PBS KCET in Southern California. Okamoto’s murals are at CA, TX, NV, OR, UT, NY in the United States, Tokyo Japan, and Berlin Germany.

Dominic Laporte

Dominic Laporte is an award-winning muralist and illustrator, and co-founder of DRIFT Mural Co. Known for his striking blend of realism and surrealism, his work merges traditional painting techniques with mixed-media approaches to explore themes of nature, identity, and community. Deeply rooted in early influences like graffiti, urban-contemporary art, and traditional painting, his work has evolved into a refined visual language centered on symbiosis and storytelling. His murals invite viewers to reflect on their relationship with and responsibility toward each other and all species in our shared world. With over a decade of experience and more than 100 murals completed internationally—from Mexico to Romania—Dominic has collaborated with institutions such as the Royal Canadian Navy, Adidas, Lexus, Microsoft, and Live Nation Canada. His large-scale public artworks transform spaces into meaningful landmarks that reflect local culture and foster connection. 

Son Visual

Eddie Chaffer (painting as Son Visual) is a Michigan-made community organizer & traveling muralist. Their mural work is inspired by hyper-local environmental themes (jack rabbits in Joshua Tree, mangroves in Key West, sturgeon in Lake Michigan) that connect communities to their ecological landscape. By amplifying stories of biodiversity, conservation, and cultural heritage through the universal language of public art, they aim to inspire widespread ecologic literacy. 

Eddie is also the founder and director of the Pleasant Peninsula Mural Festival—a fest dedicated to environmental education through public art. Each mural at Pleasant Peninsula features a different endangered Michigan species. By doing so, Pleasant Peninsula familiarizes their city-dwelling community with Michigan’s unique ecology and fosters a sense of environmental responsibility to the Great Lakes State. Stay tuned in to their eco-art fest @pleasant.peninsula !