ARTSPACE: Kayla Maxwell

Kayla Maxwell’s imprint can be found in multiple places throughout downtown Ponca City; the murals behind Main Street businesses or her smiling face when you enter Sharp’s Indian Store and Pawn to see the beautiful beadwork displayed for purchase. Kayla is a force to be reckoned with, and it does not look like she will be stopping anytime soon. Her mission is to make Ponca City the next epicenter of the art world, and while looking back on her life, this goal was planted at a very early age.

Even at a young age, Kayla Maxwell was interested in art and has been for as long as she can remember. Kayla recalls from her childhood that, “I always wanted art supplies for my birthdays.” She stated that she has always

been fascinated with colors, from “sidewalk chalk to beads.” Kayla still has a fascination with the multicolors that can be found in bead work. This lifelong love for color is now a part of her family’s business and has made this part of her career by selling beads and beadwork through the Sharp’s store and online. Kayla Maxwell’s roots are in Ponca City, but after a brief time living in Texas, she decided to return to her hometown.

While spending her school years in Ponca City, she would always choose art electives when it was offered, but it wasn’t until she met her seventhgrade art teacher that she really became inspired by art. This inspiration came from Ms. Sharon Maddox, the art teacher at West Middle School. Maddox opened Kayla’s eyes to the possibilities that she could use her talents. The time she spent in Ms. Maddox’s class is when Kayla’s hobby became an obsession.

During college, she took ceramics, but instead of learning about firing clay, Kayla learned that she did not enjoy being told what to do and realized that the structure of art school limited her creativity. After a brief time spent in culinary school, jeweler’s school and time at the Creative Arts Center of Dallas, Kayla Maxwell discovered that she found working independently and challenging herself did far better for her and her art.

“I’ve never really considered myself an artist. I just love colors, doodling and creating,” says Maxwell. She goes on to say, “Most of the pieces I’ve created have been gifts. I like to see others happy.” Mostly, she finds peace and healing when she is creating, and in the past few months, that peace is being found by creating murals.

“Painting murals is new for me but I love the feeling of exhaustion and being so involved in what I am doing that everything else is completely tuned out.”

If you ever see her working on a mural, Kayla goes on to say, “Feel free to show up with a Poweraid from Sonic. It’s my go to mural beverage in between mass amounts of water.” Kayla Maxwell is definitely a woman who knows what she wants and works until exhaustion to get what she wants. Her goal is to give back to the community where she was raised by creating these works of art for everyone to see and enjoy.

Of course, the dynamite in a small package known as Kayla Maxwell cannot stop with just creating these murals around downtown. She has found another way to have a even further impact on the Ponca City art community by donating the profits from the mural artwork towards an Arts Initiative Fund. Along with the generous support of citizens, Ponca City Arts Association, business’ and private donors; Kayla’s dream of making Ponca City the new hub of the art world is starting to come to fruition. Future plans include a annual art crawl to further support our Oklahoma Artists and act as our annual fund-raiser. A more diverse selection of Oklahoma-based artists and medias’ will soon flood Ponca City, adding to our smalltown charm, economic growth and tourism.

“If you or your business are interested in a mural, I would be happy to work with you. As I am currently donating any art-made profits to this program, payments made are eligible for tax deductions upon request. If you would like to contribute to this initiative, donations can be made to the Ponca City Arts Association with