When Kyra Watkins began her first ArtWorks apprenticeship in the summer of 2010, she was a 15 year old Cincinnati teenager who loved drawing but had never imagined a future in the arts. Today, more than a decade later, Kyra is still painting murals, mentoring young artists, and exhibiting her work at one of her hometown’s most respected cultural institutions.
A Cincinnati native now based in Portland, Oregon, Kyra’s journey as an artist began through ArtWorks’ youth apprenticeship program. That early experience did more than teach her the technical skills of mural making, it introduced her to the possibility of art as a viable, sustainable career.
“Growing up, I hadn’t seen anyone in my immediate circle making a living as an artist,” Kyra reflects. “During my years with ArtWorks, I was surrounded by peers, project managers, and lead artists who were building real lives around their art. That perspective changed everything.”
Over the course of her tenure with ArtWorks, Kyra developed a network of mentors, gained confidence in her voice, and learned practical skills that extended far beyond a mural wall. Through opportunities like serving as an ArtWorks ambassador and mural tour guide, she honed her public speaking abilities and learned the importance of community engagement. ArtWorks also supported apprentices in building financial literacy and professional readiness, lessons Kyra still carries with her today.
“ArtWorks gave me a sense of confidence that is not easily shaken,” she says. “Art was the conduit, but the real takeaway was learning how to be emboldened, to speak up, and to imagine a bigger future.”
Those early years also shaped the heart of Kyra’s artistic practice. Youth empowerment has become a central throughline in both her public work and her studio practice. Largely figurative, her work often centers children as its subject, offering a powerful reminder that all children are our children. For Kyra, showing up for young people begins with honoring one’s own inner child.
Now 16 years into her public art career, Kyra is focused on blending her love for large scale work with her passion for youth engagement. She aspires to create a youth public art program that not only supports young creatives but also equips emerging artists with the tools needed to build sustainable careers in the field.
That throughline is evident in her latest milestone, having work featured in Faces: Don’t Get It Twisted at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. The exhibition marks an especially meaningful homecoming. The last time Kyra exhibited at the CAC was more than a decade ago during a youth workshop hosted through ArtWorks.
“For this exhibition, I presented seven ballpoint pen portraits of children titled The Recipients,” Kyra explains. “The series reflects on the legacy we leave for the next generation, asking whether the world we’re creating is worthy of being passed on.”
Returning to Cincinnati as an adult artist, with family present and her work on view, has been a powerful full circle moment. Walking past murals she helped paint as a teenager and revisiting the neighborhoods that shaped her youth reaffirmed the role the city, and ArtWorks, played in her growth.
“There truly is no place like home,” she says. “Cincinnati provided the foundation and support I needed to become who I am today.”
Although she has since established herself on the West Coast, Kyra credits her early start through ArtWorks with preparing her to adapt, build community, and find space for herself wherever she goes. Her journey stands as a testament to what access, opportunity, and belief in young people can create.
From apprentice to exhibiting artist, Kyra Watkins’ story continues to inspire, reminding us that when we invest in youth, we invest in a future that reaches far beyond the walls we paint today.
