ORLANDO, Fla. — If you’ve driven around Orlando, you’ve likely seen his work or could recognize his style: colorful, bold and influenced by pop art.

Artist Harry Foreman said that he hopes people draw more than recognition from his expansive murals. Instead, he wants them to feel inspired.

“It’s nice to know you are making a difference," he said. "People are walking by the neighborhood and they got smiling faces on. Brings people together.”

Screen printing and design got the University of Central Florida graduate by at first, so he could expand his canvas from sides of supermarkets to banks and academic commons plopped on his alma mater’s downtown campus. That’s where he painted the words, “Unleash Your Potential.”

One of his larger projects is various murals that wrap around Winter Park Village; he’s finishing them as the shopping plaza, too, undergoes a renovation.

“Working at such a scale, you get to move your entire body. I call it, ‘Ballet with a spray can,’ in a sense. It’s a beautiful dance,” he said. “We’re called muralists. Other people call them street artists. In certain neighborhoods, people call them hooligans.”

Foreman goes by the artist name, Akyros, which he explained is a loose translation for “cancel” or “retreat.” Yet, the muralist wants just the opposite for his life, as well as for others, hoping to leave a “big impression in a good way.”

It was something that already materialized, as a Winter Park High School student and aspiring artist drove by one of Foreman’s murals one day.

“She literally hopped out of … her parents’ car and was like, ‘I need to help you guys! How can I help?’” he recalled. 

“My mom was like, ‘Go ask Spain, I’m not helping you,’” said Spain Sattizhan. “I didn’t think he was going to let me do it to be honest, but in my mind I thought, ‘Hey, the worst thing that could happen is he could say no.’” 

Much to her surprise, Foreman let the teen, who explained that art has “always been” her life, get right to work.

“He showed me how to do it and trusts me a lot, like, ‘Here’s your can. Have fun,’” she said.

Now, as master and apprentice work side-by-side, Foreman said that he is grateful for the opportunity to share not only his artwork, but his tutelage. 

“Someone who is so young makes me really happy we’re out here making an impact,” he said. “I think being able to transform something from nothing, putting a smile on someone’s face, is certainly worth it.”