WEST HAVEN — On any given day, Elizabeth Taylor might be found on her ladder for up to 10 hours, even if the temperature is 28 degrees.
Although it can be physically arduous, she finds few things more rewarding than painting vibrant murals on storefront windows and other “nontraditional canvas” like downtown electrical boxes and retail chalkboards.
“It’s instant gratification: You walk up, and it’s an empty window, and you walk away, and there’s something beautiful,” she said.
Several store windows around New Haven County are now covered in Taylor’s brushstrokes, with eye-catching designs made of bright colors, including a rainbow of juicy fruits outside a juice bar and cheeky Christmas designs featuring the Grinch and the Krampus on the windows of law offices and coffee shops. Eight electrical boxes in downtown New Haven, normally overlooked as bland objects of a modern city, have been transformed into lush landscapes and gardens by Taylor’s handiwork under the business name Lacroix Artistry.
Five years ago, Taylor made the decision to leave her job in logistics, finding the hours untenable as a working mother and the overall work to be unfulfilling. Although the West Haven resident hoped to find another steady job, nothing really came her way. Then she made a discovery that changed her professional trajectory completely.
“I found a painting I started in high school and finished it and posted it on Facebook, which got positive feedback and people started commissioning me for little jobs and paintings,” she said.
Three years ago, she accepted a job that took her in a different direction entirely. Sarah Lorusso, a recreational softball teammate of Taylor’s, commissioned Taylor to paint a portrait of her dog as a gift for her husband on Father’s Day. Lorusso, who had recently become the second-generation owner of East Center Market in Wallingford after purchasing the business from her father with her husband, had a bigger idea.
“Under my dad, that store had an old-school mom and pop vibe,” she said, meaning the store’s windows were covered in posters announcing the week’s sales and deals. “We wanted a new kind of twist.”
Without those posters, what was visible through the store’s multiple floor-to-ceiling windows was the back of shelving units.
“Why not make the storefront look beautiful with curb appeal? It’s at an intersection so there’s a stop light,” Lorusso said. She made the decision to hire Taylor to paint on the windows to create a look that’s “bubbly, beautiful and stands out.” In the summer, the windows are adorned with picnic benches and barbecue grills; in the winter it’s snowmen and poinsettias. The window displays still announce what is for sale, but now in engaging, painted bubbly letters.
“It pulls the customers in based on what we sell, and we can incorporate the holidays, like hearts for Valentine’s Day,” Lorusso said.
Soon, Taylor began to branch out with other retail and private clients looking for appealing artwork to draw the attention of motorists and pedestrians.
“Our vision aligns with her artwork. She does a lot of really great, colorful stuff,” said Rob Vitale, owner of Yellow King Brews in Wallingford.
Vitale said that Taylor’s artwork has been an advantage to the business by integrating into its brand identity. He said it’s common for happy customers of the coffee shop and bar and coffee cocktail retailer to upload photos on social media platforms using art created by Taylor as a background for their drinks. Multiple photos of the cafe and bar on the social media reviewing website Yelp feature a Halloween design painted by Taylor with a headless horseman waving a flaming Jack-o’-lantern above his shoulders.
“It really does drive traffic and increases brand awareness,” Vitale said.
One piece of Taylor’s that generates a lot of discussion, he said, was painted on a canvass and is inspired by actress Uma Thurman sipping from a milkshake in the film “Pulp Fiction.”
“In her work, the lips pop, like a vibrant red,” he said. “It gets people talking.”
Alexis Evans, owner of Raw Juicescape in New Haven, described Taylor as “talented, creative and artistic.”
“You can send her a couple words and she comes up with a whole art exhibit,” she said.
Raw Juicescape’s windows are adorned with images of bright purple grapes, a fresh green kiwi and a shiny red apple, beckoning passersby inside for juice, salads and parfaits. Evans said she has hired Taylor to design a chalkboard inside the store to reflect the juice bar’s menu for customers.
Not all of Taylor’s public-facing work has been on windows. Beginning in September, she was hired to transform eight electrical boxes in downtown New Haven with engaging patterns.
“This was intentional to beautify more hidden areas for public art opportunities,” said Tara Von Schmidt, special projects manager for the Downtown New Haven Town Green District.
“It’s like a burst of color and joy and excitement,” Von Schmidt said, saying Taylor’s work “was so perfect for this project because it really encapsulates the vibrancy of a downtown corridor and adds a sense of joy.”
The paintings on the electrical boxes are “subtly intentional” by using botanical elements found around the city’s downtown area and are in conversation with the facades of nearby storefronts, she said.
“It enhances areas instead of covering it up,” she said.
Taylor said the downtown New Haven job was her favorite yet, as it presented her the opportunity to make art that reflects the melting pot of cultures in her favorite city.
“I’m a nontraditional canvas type of person. All shapes and sizes and different depths with little pieces on top that make it look uneven,” she said.
Besides windows, murals and chalk boards, Taylor sells prints of her work in several mediums, including stickers, magnets and patches. Although she says a day of work painting a window can be physically taxing, she hopes she can continue on as an artist into the future for a long time in any medium.
“I love what I do,” she said.
