Abigail Staffelbach Applies Her Artistic Touch to Broad Ripple
Writer / Shay McCoy
Photographer / Michael Durr
Spring has finally arrived here in Indy and people are out and about, going on walks, enjoying patio dining, and riding bikes in and around Broad Ripple. One thing passersby might see around the neighborhood are the lifelike floral murals by local artist Abigail Staffelbach. Her murals are eye-catching and larger than life, depicting flowers that are native to the region.
Staffelbach got started with these murals during the pandemic by reaching out to local organizations like the Beautification Committee for the Broad Ripple Village Association, and eventually settled on the firehouse for her first mural. This gave the spot its own life, and inspired Staffelbach to be on the lookout for other blank walls in Broad Ripple that could use some art.
While she may call Indiana home, Staffelbach was inspired while studying abroad in Florence, Italy, where she says there is art on every corner, including the sides of churches and street-corner graffiti. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Notre Dame, and has been painting murals in the Broad Ripple area for more than a year now.
Staffelbach finds her subjects for murals from the space she has available, and after finishing the floral mural on the firehouse, she continued to do murals of the same subject.
“Art is a part of people’s lives, and getting to do that with murals is inspiring – to see them be part of people’s lives,” she says.
Check out Staffelbach’s work online at instagram.com/abigail.staffelbach.
