About the Artist
Taylor White is an American painter and muralist whose work engages with the fundamental nature of being. Raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, she earned her BFA in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2007. From there, she took an unconventional path—first to Norway, where she became the only full-time illustrator ever hired by acclaimed advertising agency TRY/Apt, then to Melbourne, Australia, during the zenith of that city's legendary street art scene.
"Melbourne was very embracing," White recalls. "There wasn't a lot of tribalism. It was like, you're good at art, let's do art together." The artists she met there helped her scale up her illustrations, and soon the children from her sketchbooks found their way onto Melbourne's walls.
White's signature style presents a compelling fusion of figurative and abstract painting—skillfully rendered human forms set against bold geometric elements that fragment reality. Her subjects often capture the fluidity of dance, bodies tumbling through space in unexpected colors.
In 2018, she collaborated with Google Fiber to create one of the largest public-facing augmented reality murals in the world. Her work has graced walls from the Richmond Mural Project to Murals in the Market in Detroit, from BLINK Cincinnati to Wynwood Walls in Miami.
About the Mural
The wall is the rear facade of the historic Granada Theatre, built in 1926 to the designs of architect L.A. Smith. As the second Fox Theater building on the West Coast, the Granada didn't just show motion pictures—it hosted live vaudeville acts, bringing variety performers to Ontario during the golden age of American entertainment.
Taylor White's mural is a love letter to that era.
A figure in full vaudeville splendor leaps across the wall, suspended in mid-performance. She wears a patchwork costume of brilliant colors—golden ochre, magenta stripes, cherry red billowing pants, sky blue trim—each panel a different pattern, a different act, a different story. The costume itself is the metaphor: vaudeville was the art of variety, where singers shared bills with acrobats, comedians with contortionists.
But look at her feet: modern tennis shoes. This is White's statement about the endurance of live performance.
About the Sponsors: City of Ontario & GOCAL
City of Ontario — The City of Ontario (population 185,000) has emerged as a major supporter of the arts through initiatives like O-Town Walls, the newly formed Public Art Commission, and the state-accredited Ontario Museum of History and Art. The city also supports the Chaffey Community Museum of Art, honoring the legacy of founders George and William Chaffey. The region recently surpassed the San Francisco Bay Area as the 12th largest US metropolitan area.
GOCAL (Greater Ontario California) — Officially launched in 2023, GOCAL is the destination marketing organization for the cities of Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga. The name blends "Greater Ontario" (GO) with the spirit of California (CAL), reflecting the region's role as the gateway to Southern California.
The mural is painted on the Granada Theatre, built in 1926 by architect L.A. Smith as the second Fox Theater building on the West Coast. The "Baby Fox" hosted vaudeville acts and motion pictures during the golden age of American entertainment. Together, the City and GOCAL represent a public investment in the idea that art belongs to everyone.