Troy Summerell

The views and opinions expressed by speakers and presenters in connection with Art Restart are their own, and not an endorsement by the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts and the UNC School of the Arts. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Troy Summerell has become well-known in his hometown of Virginia Beach, VA for his vibrant and joyful murals of flowers and ocean creatures that can be seen throughout the region, from the sides of large buildings to basketball backboards. 

He loves bringing joy to those who need it and has therefore often worked in hospitals that serve children. He recently completed his largest commission to date, a 100-foot-long mural enlivening an entire hallway in Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk, VA. Even the hospital’s ambulances are now wrapped in Troy’s unmistakable designs. His work also brightens the pediatric emergency room and the pediatric ICU at University of Florida Health Jacksonville, and in 2019 he traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico to paint a mural for the international nonprofit Smile Train.

Troy is also a small-business owner, having launched OnieTonie Designs™ in 2014 to support his at-the-time nascent career as an artist. OnieTonie has now become a recognizable brand that sells an ever-expanding list of merchandise, from socks and beach towels to coffee mugs and T-shirts, all sporting Troy’s signature aquatic creatures.

In this interview with Pier Carlo Talenti, Troy describes how at a challenging crossroads in his life he, a self-taught artist, heeded his design and marketing instincts and risked a life-changing leap.

Choose a question below to begin exploring the interview:

• You came into your own artistry only later in life, right? Could you describe how that happened?
• How long did it take for you to develop your style and then to make your first mural?
• You mentioned that one of the tough parts of being a muralist is getting permission to use surfaces, right? But I also get the sense that you had to give yourself permission to try something kind of scary. Where did that come from, that kind of courage to go ahead and do it?
• You’ve done so much work for children’s hospitals and also for fundraisers. Is there an ethos or mission to your work?
• You’ve created a business, OnieTonie Designs. At what point in your artistic path did you come up with the idea of creating this business?
• At what point did you go all in? When was the point that you were like, “No matter how tough it gets, this is what I’m doing now and there’s no going back”?
• Do you have any advice for a self-taught artist like you who might be at a fork in his career or in his life’s journey as you were, someone who’s looking to make his artistic mark in his community?

Pier Carlo: Unlike most of the artists I’ve interviewed, you came into your own artistry only later in life, right?

Troy: Right.

Pier Carlo: Could you describe how that happened?

Troy: Sure. I was about 34. Leading up to that, I had been in sales. I have a marketing degree from JMU [James Madison University] in Harrisonburg, VA. I had started a business that didn’t work out. I had been in sales. I had done some traveling. I went back to working in the restaurants. I used to be a bartender and barback at The Oceanfront. I was at a crossroads at that point in my life, and I sat down. 

I’d always loved art. The one thing is — it ties back to the restaurants — I’d been in restaurants, and in most restaurants, you see this art. I thought, “Man, could I do that? Wouldn’t that be cool to do that?”

Pier Carlo: What kind of art appealed to you?

Troy: When you don’t have a style or a voice yet, a lot of artists like me, you start doing abstract paintings. So big abstract paintings I always thought were super cool, and I always wondered, “Could I do that?” Because at the time, I really didn’t have a direction. I knew I liked making stuff, but as an artist … . It’s kind of like when you grow up playing sports, there’s always somebody better. I learned later that there’s so much room to be an artist, you know what I mean?

That was one of the main things. Just being inspired by art, by big colorful art, I think, helped the process along for me. Then sitting down and being like, “OK, what can I do?” I did a lot of abstract art when I started. I did a ton of abstract art because, again, I didn’t really have my direction or voice yet.

Pier Carlo: How long did it take for you to develop your style and then to make your first mural?

Troy: The timeframe, it’s kind of tough because I’d revisit it or we’d start working and go into other things. But art was a constant for me for probably about 10 years from when I first started trying. I was inspired. I wanted to make something. I wanted to see if I could do it. 

I tell the story a lot: Any surfer, we grow up in school on the notebooks drawing waves. That’s a pretty staple thing if you surf or bodyboard. It wasn’t until later … . I had gone through a tough period where I didn’t really have any inspiration or know what I wanted to do. I was at a real low point, and I was like, “Let me sit down and draw these drawings.” I didn’t feel like I was ever a great drawer, but I sat down and I drew. I drew these four drawings. There was the fish, the turtles, the whale, and a peacock, and they all had waves. It was four pictures. I drew these four pictures, and I was like, “I think I have something here.”

Pier Carlo: Your artwork is huge. It sometimes covers entire trucks and walls. So what happened between the four drawings and creating these huge pieces?

Troy: If you saw my fish, if it was six inches, it might not be that good or inspiring. But what I quickly found out was if you make it 60 feet, then you’re really making an impression on people. It comes back to the first thing: I didn’t know. I feel like it’s the same thing for a lot of artists out there. I didn’t know if I could do it. “Can I make this thing that’s 8 by 10, can I make it 80 to 100 feet long?” 

I was lucky enough. I believed in these drawings and this idea so much, and I got a space at the Oceanfront studio. The landlord was super-supportive. I wanted to do a mural, but I wasn’t sure what, and he said — Lee Jones is an awesome guy — he said that he had put a mural on his building in the ’70s and they got on the front page of the paper. That’s the biggest thing with murals is you getting permission. This is before using projectors, and I sat out and did the first mural. It takes a lot of time to scale it. I didn’t use the grid. Mural artists use grids or projectors.

Pier Carlo: So it was freehand. You hadn’t developed the techniques that you use now as a muralist.

Troy: Correct. What I was doing was I was teaching myself through trial and error, just like any other parts of my business where I do these surfboard sculptures or the murals or the textiles or whatever. I’m self-taught, so in the grind, you don’t really realize it, but I had taught myself.

We painted on brick. That’s one thing: priming the brick, knowing that you have to prime the wall first. Or knowing what kind of rollers to use. We were using tiny rollers. I mean, I was using like the 4-inch rollers for this huge wall! That was a time too when you bought only the paint. I didn’t have a lot of money then. I say “then”; it’s five years ago, six years ago. You’d buy just enough paint. Now, if you have the paint, you have the rollers, the projector, it’s super-easy. That first mural took me almost a month off and on to do, when now if I did it, it would probably take me about three days.

The most important thing is I was teaching myself in those moments how to do it. Looking back, I’m thankful for those really tough times because it helps me now going forward now with the confidence to be able to paint anything really.

The most important thing is I was teaching myself in those moments how to do it. Looking back, I’m thankful for those really tough times because it helps me now going forward now with the confidence to be able to paint anything really.

Pier Carlo: You mentioned that one of the tough parts of being a muralist is getting permission to use surfaces, right? But I also get the sense that you had to give yourself permission to try something kind of scary. Where did that come from, that kind of courage to go ahead and do it?

Troy: Right. Well, at the time when I went all in on this, this is what I had to do. I jumped all in on it. There was no alternative. I wanted to do it. I thought it would be so awesome to be one of these artists that could do something like that. 

Especially with the first handful of murals I did in my hometown, I got a lot of negative initial feedback. And that’s tough. You’re trying to put up something that you want to be good in the first place. You have enough pressure on yourself to do that, insurmountable pressure like, “Can I make this good enough?” That was my main thing: “Are the lines crisp? Does it look good when you step back? Is everything to scale? Does it make sense? Is it happy?” 

For me, my art is really simple. It’s really simple, but my goal in my art is to make people happy in that moment. There’s not a lot of depth to it. It’s trying to get people in that moment to be happy, so I put a ton of pressure on myself. But the great part of that, of getting the hate at the beginning … . A lot of these people, they wanted to know who gave me permission. Who did I think I was? I was going to ruin the neighborhood.

What’s funny about how this thing has worked out is usually the people that were complaining at the beginning have turned out to be the first people taking a picture in front of the murals when they’re done. ... It’s funny how art does that to people.

What’s funny about how this thing has worked out is usually the people that were complaining at the beginning have turned out to be the first people taking a picture in front of the murals when they’re done. It’s happened multiple times. Literally, my first five murals, I had people yelling at me, cursing me out, asking who gave me permission, who did I think I was. Then those people, over time, there they are, taking pictures in front of it and couldn’t be happier.

It’s funny how art does that to people. I don’t know if on their end it’s maybe not having input. I think a lot of people want to have input on where they live. For us down here in Virginia Beach, it was a new thing. There’s been murals for a long time, but this whole movement of revitalizing areas and neighborhoods — not for monetary gain; that usually comes later with the gentrifying — of somebody like me who wanted to express themselves and wanted to make a positive impact, that was new to a lot of people even five years ago.

Pier Carlo: You’ve done so much work for children’s hospitals and also for fundraisers. Is there an ethos or mission to your work? 

Troy: At first, it was to do these things for charity or for silent auctions or to raise money, because I could. “Oh man, I could make something and put it up and raise money!” Just to be able to put it out there, just to be able to get it in front of people. 

It’s a great question. The charity thing is a little tough because you don’t want to brag. I don’t necessarily want to brag about it. I think just the ability to do it is what I really loved about it. I like showing people that that’s what I could do with the art, that we could raise money with it. We could do some positive things with it. I think that just keeps going, just the ability to do it. That’s where I’ve kind of thrived off of it. Things change where you can’t give as much as you want. 

That’s the other thing, that the children’s hospital stuff and getting these large-scale installations can help. I’ve got a packet that I’m working on for kids fighting pediatric cancer. I do socks, hand-printed socks. It’s the same kind of thing. You take somebody that’s maybe in a challenging time, and you give them socks that can help lift their spirits a little bit. The socks or the art isn’t curing anyone’s cancer. It’s not doing that, but it can help a little bit in that moment. It is just the opportunity to do that.

Because, like I said, my art is not real deep, except for that it’s trying to make you happy in that space. I’m in on it. I know it. My fish. People have been critical of my little smiling fish. But you realize I had to put those fish everywhere to get it going, to get it known. It’s just funny how things have worked out that way, but I’m grateful for the opportunity that I’ve had to raise money. I’m grateful for the stuff I’ve been able to donate. And I’m grateful for what’s coming, and that’s the opportunity to do these positive things for people that are going through a tough time.

Pier Carlo: You’ve created a business, OnieTonie Designs. At what point in your artistic path did you come up with the idea of creating this business?

Troy: Well, I have a marketing degree. I mean, that’s 20 years ago, but I feel like it’s helped me have a focus because I want to do this, so how can I do it so that I can have the things that I want? I have a son now who’s just turned a year old and an awesome supportive fiancée, who unfortunately gets to hear all the tough times. She gets kind of the brunt of that stuff. But for us it’s how do I make a business that can support us and have the life that we want? Then how can we do these positive things? 

Because we’re fully aware how short life is and what the lifespan of even this idea is. I believed in the designs from the get-go; that’s why I went all in on it. Then it was, “OK, we believe in it. Let’s do these projects to prove it works.” Which it has. 

The other thing is I had to keep going to pay the rent. I had to do things that weren’t necessarily for marketing but ended up getting a lot of attention. But I also had to do it to pay the bills. It was, “I have to do this to keep going.” I might not have wanted to do certain things — I feel like I really haven’t compromised my vision or what OnieTonie’s about — but keeping going, never stopping and never really doing anything else but this, even when it’s gotten super tough, and maybe do some things that may not be exactly for the vision then but down the road it’ll help us get there.

Pier Carlo: At what point did you go all in? When was the point that you were like, “No matter how tough it gets, this is what I’m doing now and there’s no going back”?

Troy: I mean, I’ve had some tough times. When we were setting the studio gallery up and things weren’t going the way I wanted, I thought I was in over my head. 

Pier Carlo: You opened a storefront?

Troy: Yeah. Well, it was a gallery/studio space. It was called Studio 17. We had it for about two years, and then I didn’t renew my lease. It was the best thing that could have happened for me, for the art, for the business, because it freed me up then. I’d gotten romanced into a community space where artists could have shows then transfer into a popup shop. You learn through all these things what works and what doesn’t. The neighborhood started taking off with the arts district. Rent started going up. But I had all of these experiences. We had events where we raised tens of thousands of dollars for local charities. I had taught myself how to paint murals. I had gotten really good at the surfboard sculptures. We made an impact in the community.

Once I closed that or didn’t renew the lease on that, it suddenly freed me up to be mobile with all these skills. Then that’s when things really started picking up because then I could paint murals all over town and not have to worry about that rent. Then you realize it’s so impossible as an artist, at my price point, to have a studio space and to just sell art without anything else. What’s helped me is the murals because nobody started caring about my art or wanting to buy surfboards or whatever it is until I started making people happy in the community. The murals and shutting the gallery ended up being the best thing for me.

Pier Carlo: When somebody asks you what you do for a living, do you now say, “I’m an artist?”

Troy: That’s a good question. Well, I used to say that, and then people would be like, “OK, what else do you do? What do you do to pay the bills?” 

On a real level, I don’t really consider myself to be an artist because I’ve seen real artists. I’ve even had them in my gallery, or I’ve been to the MoMA in New York and been to these galleries. There’s an art that makes you just stop in your tracks and be like, “Oh, I could never paint that.” It goes back to the sports thing and never being the best athlete but loving to play baseball or basketball. But it’s OK to not be the best because, just like I found out, I have this niche, I have this lane that I can excel in. It’s hard for me to say that, but I have this lane that I can be that. But for me, on the basic level, I don’t really consider myself to be an artist. I just believe in this thing, and that belief has translated into this stuff. 

People ask me to paint a golfer or something like that. I don’t do that. I have this set of designs; I just call it OnieTonie clip art. It complements the fish or the turtles, and that’s what’s helped build the brand and establish it. People say they see my stuff everywhere. I get that all the time: “Oh, see your stuff everywhere!” It’s because it all has that same feel and look.

There are thousands of black-outline artists in the world, trying to do the exact same thing I am. I just feel like I’ve gotten lucky that I got those characters, and I like the way they look. I’m OK with how they look on the buildings. I’m OK with how they look on the ambulances. I’m OK. From where I started to what I’ve done, I’ve already done it. I went to Mexico and did a mural at the foundation. I’ve traveled. I have murals in other countries.

For me, I want my fiancée and my baby to have a good life. After we’ve caught up from the sleep deprivation and the tough first five months … . I’ll show him the mug — it’s got the fish on it — and he loves all the stuff. He seems to smile every time he sees the stuff. But just to think that that could be his … I hate to say legacy, because I never even thought, even when he was born, that this would be his thing that he could look back on and be proud of.

For me, it’s how can I do as much positive, happy stuff — art, installations and murals — in the time I have and reach as many people and make as much difference as I can? That’s the mission.

But there’s also a lot of weight with that and a lot of pressure. For me, it’s how can I do as much positive, happy stuff — art, installations and murals — in the time I have and reach as many people and make as much difference as I can? That’s the mission. 

Financially, I pay the rent, we have a house, we have a roof over our head, and we’re happy right now. More money means I’m able to fund my own projects. It’s OK that I can go paint these elementary-school backboards at this elementary school that needs it or I can put up a mural here where I want without having to get permission or having to get funding. 

Pier Carlo: It sounds like you have some smaller passion projects that you just do on your own.

Troy: Right. I used to play basketball growing up. It’s just like when I saw my studio or when I’d paint a mural in a certain place. I’d drive by these backboards that were downtrodden with nets hanging off of them. That was easy for me at first because I could go, take my ladder, and I could go repaint a backboard. I could throw a new net on it, and all of a sudden you have this whole new thing. 

I remember the first one I did was off the interstate in Virginia Beach. It was right on the interstate, so you have all these thousands of people. That was my first time painting something. I hadn’t done my mural yet, and this was my first like, not graffiti project, but how do you say it when you ... my first public art kind of thing where I didn’t have permission.

Pier Carlo: Guerilla art.

Troy: Yes, my first guerilla-art experience. I went and took my ladder. It was wintertime. I think the wind was blowing like 20 miles an hour.

Pier Carlo: Had you scoped out the location before?

Troy: Yeah. I become obsessed with these places. I’d drive by it since I was growing up. You drive by it and you can see it right off the interstate, so I become obsessed with it. I thought, “I’ve got to paint that one day.” Yes, I went out there and painted it, and I didn’t tell anybody. [He laughs.] And then two weeks later, I think, the reporter who had done a story on me was like, “Hey, did you paint these backboards off the interstate? I see them every time I drive home. I’d love to do a story on that.” So they did a story, and it went in the Sunday paper, and I was like, “Oh, boy.”

I got a very nice call from the city that said they appreciated it but if I would please let them know next time I had an idea like that. The great part about that was the next week I’m driving down the interstate and there’s a crew out there painting the poles a fresh white. So the city had seen what I’d done, read the story and decided to repaint and uplift that park. I thought they were painting over it, but yeah, it turns out they were making it even better, even cleaner. 

I’ve found out that’s pretty much been the theme with me with certain cities, that my work’s appreciated after the fact, maybe not before or during. But once it makes that impact, then it’s appreciated and used, maybe without my permission, but that’s just a part of it.

Pier Carlo: Do you have any advice for a self-taught artist like you who might be at a fork in his career or in his life’s journey as you were, someone who’s looking to make his artistic mark in his community?

Put up your art as many places as you can, as many times as you can.

Troy: Yeah. For me, it’s easy now: Take your art and put it as many places as you can. I mean, that’s what I did. I took my art, and I put it up as many places as I could. Whether people liked it or not, they didn’t have a choice; they had to experience it. People don’t like it, people are going to hate it, but they don’t matter in the scheme of things. Put up your art as many places as you can, as many times as you can. 

It’s tough too. I put up a word mural. They called it a word mural at the time. I just wanted to put this quote up in this art district because I’d already put up so many OnieTonie murals. The quote is, “Be kind. Everyone is fighting a battle that you know nothing about.” It’s been said a bunch, sometimes in a different order, but it’s extremely important, I think, because a lot of people when I started said that I should do something else. I should give up. “It’s not good enough. You’re not going to be whatever.” A lot of the motivation behind the artwork is taking a tough time that you’ve been through or taking tough circumstances and trying to make something positive out of it. 

All my happy smiling things doesn’t come from a happy place. It comes from struggle, it comes from depression, it comes from anxiety. It comes from tragedy and loss. It comes from losing my cousin to leukemia, to my father dying, to these other challenging times I had — fighting depression and not having direction and not being able to make an impact or have a purpose in my life — but being lucky enough to get these opportunities while I was just putting up art.

Going back to that: Because I kept going, because I kept putting up art, it got me these other opportunities, and that’s what all ties in. If I didn’t put my mural up, I never would’ve gotten the ambulances. If I didn’t put this other mural up, I never would’ve gotten the children’s hospital. If I hadn’t done all that, I wouldn’t be able to do the things that I’m getting ready to do now. 

I didn’t have a choice to quit. I really didn’t, thank God for that. The only advice is to just keep putting your art up in as many places as you can. And don’t give up.