NHS graduate Anthony Cuadros livens up bare wall with colorful mural
2020 Northport High School graduate and current FIT student Anthony Cuadros in front of the mural he completed at Batata Cafe and Grille in Northport.
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You can’t miss it – bright colors popping off Batata Cafe and Grille’s west-facing wall, a welcome sight to travelers on 25A in Northport.
“This mural puts a smile on my face every time I see it,” said cafe owner Nicole Offermann. “I hope it does the same for everyone else.”
Anthony Cuadros, a member of Northport High School’s class of 2020, approached Offermann this past summer with an idea: “I’d been staring at that blank wall for years, wishing it had some artwork on it. It’s in a highly visible spot, so I figured my art is better than just a blank black wall,” he told the Journal.
Offermann was all in. “I’ve always wanted a mural on that wall,” she said. “I had a few other artists approach me over the years but for one reason or another, nothing panned out.”
She and Cuadros worked for a month on the mural’s design. “It was important to me that we created something organic and natural,” Offermann said. ”Filling that wall with native flowers, pollinators and little creatures seemed like the only way to go.”
Cuadros completed the mural in less than four weeks, working around his full-time college schedule at Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, where he is studying illustration.
“It was awesome to finally make this dream of mine come true,” Cuadros said. “I’m super amped on the final product, it came out just how I envisioned. I’m glad I finished strong and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity.”
At 25-feet-wide and 8-feet-tall, the painting showcases native flowers, via a vibrant color palette, and the pollinators who love them.
“It’s obvious to me that Anthony put everything he had into this piece,” Offermann said. “The amount of detail that went into every inch of the wall far exceeded my expectations.”
When asked if he had any mentors throughout his Northport-East Northport education who might have influenced or supported his passion as an artist, Cuadros was not short on answers. “So many people here influenced my love for art and encouraged me to chase an art career and I’m so grateful,” he said. He mentioned specifically Thuy Pham, John Derosa, Anthony Klinger-Cooley, Christine Driscoll and Lenore Kmiotek (Cuadros’ guidance counselor “who yelled at me when I told her I wasn’t going to pursue art initially,” he said) for helping him along the way.
“All of those people really enriched my life back in those years and I owe it to them for putting a torch under my butt to pursue the things I truly love,” Cuadros said.
Cuadros will graduate from FIT in May.
Batata Cafe and Grille is located at 847 Fort Salonga Road in Northport. You can follow Anthony Cuadros (@cuadrosa), and see his process for painting the mural at Batata Cafe here.
