University of Mississippi Art Student Paints Local Mural
by Lexie Ownby
Oxford Canteen, located at 766 N Lamar Boulevard, recently added color to the outside of their building. Victoria Daily, the artist behind the mural, is a senior BFA art major at the University of Mississippi.
“The owners of Oxford Canteen, Cynthia and Corbin Evans, got in touch with me through my professor Dr. Hoeksema,” Daily says.
The idea behind the mural started off with the fact that Chef Corbin Evans has a honeycomb tattoo on his arm. Victoria Daily wanted to make the mural something special, so she decided to incorporate the honeycomb tattoo in to the mural. The mural features a honeycomb, bees, and yellow and white flowers.
It took Daily a little under a week to complete the mural in its entirety.
“They have been so kind to me and were great to work with. I am thankful to Dr. Hoeksema for helping me get in touch with business owners around Oxford.”
Originally from Vicksburg, Mississippi, Victoria Daily has had a passion for painting ever since she was a child. Her mom would put watercolors on the kitchen table for her and her brothers growing up, and encouraged them to be creative.
When Daily was 15, a real estate agent saw her paintings inside of her high school and commissioned Daily to paint watercolors of every house she sold. “The paintings became very popular in my hometown,” says Daily.
As a senior in high school, Daily was unsure as to what to do and what to study in college. She prayed about it and ended up getting the Art Merit Scholarship here at Ole Miss. From there on out, she has painted two murals, completed multiple commission works, and succeeded further than she could have ever imagined when in high school.
“I have been blessed to be surrounded by the art community we have here in Oxford, and my amazing professors,” she says.
