Leesburg arts center tries to track down graffiti artist, hopes to form partnership

LEESBURG, Fla. - The Leesburg Center for the Arts wants to partner with an unknown street artist who has been tagging spots around town.

The artist is named “Mute,” but the artist's work is anything but.

“It’s very bright,” Leesburg Center for the Arts Community Outreach Coordinator Sarah Tremblay said. “It’s very colorful. It’s very attention-grabbing.”

The unknown street artist has a lot of people talking in Leesburg, including the workers at the Leesburg Center for the Arts.

“It’s very intriguing,” Tremblay said. “It’s like a mystery that everybody really interested in solving and figuring out.”

Art center staff has been trying to figure out who’s creating the colorful designs.

“If we can get ahold of them, I think that it would be a really cool partnership to introduce a real graffiti artist living in our community,” Tremblay said.

They doubled down on their efforts to find the artist after he or she tagged a wall near the old Lee School.

The Center for the Arts plans to purchase that building.

“I was like, 'it’s time,'” Leesburg Center for the Arts Executive Director Maria Stefanovic said. “It’s time we met.”

Mute has tagged several other places in Leesburg.

Those creations covered up because graffiti is illegal.

The arts center wants to offer Mute a space to create, without breaking the law.

“Eventually what we’re trying to do is educate the public on what graffiti is and the beauty behind graffiti because it is human connection,” Stefanovic said.

The arts center workers want Mute to reach out to them on social media or stop in to see them.

He or she can remain anonymous.