Alicia Cardenas, killed in shooting spree, painted dozens of murals around Denver
DENVER (KDVR) — Alicia Cardenas is getting remembered as a chief in Denver’s art local community.
“I cannot imagine she’s absent,” Sara King advised FOX31.
On Monday, Cardenas was shot and killed around 1st and Broadway outside the house Sol Tribe, the tattoo shop she owns.
“Knowing how it occurred in her own company it’s — there’s no phrases,” King reported.
King stated she initially achieved Cardenas in 2016 when she walked into Sol Tribe to get her very first tattoo. Because then, Cardenas went on to train King about operating a tattoo shop and the two turned good friends.
“I’m so grateful I obtained tattooed by her and she’ll often be with me. She usually has been. But now it’s way more significant,” she said.
King claims Cardenas fought to legitimize the tattoo company and even assisted craft condition guidelines and specifications bordering it.
In accordance to her web page, she had been an teacher with the Countrywide Basic safety Council due to the fact 1999 teaching classes on blood-borne pathogens to aspiring tattoo artists and piercers. She also served on the board of directors for the Association of Professional Piercers, a position she identified as “one of her proudest achievements.”
Outside the house of becoming a tattoo artist, Cardenas was a muralist.
“Art is gorgeous. Art is all over the place. It would make existence significant. But when that human being that’s creating that art is like Alicia, it’s so significantly much more powerful,” King stated.
Just one of her most popular is effective is a mural at 27th and Larimer Road that Cardenas painted throughout the Crush Walls 2020 celebration. She has commissioned functions at 8th and Federal, Simms and Colfax and numerous other locations throughout the Denver metro region.
“Her art justifies to reside on for the reason that she showed imagery by indigenous populations and how potent that is, how we have to have to give interest to that. She was an advocate for that,” King reported.
King explained Cardenas also experienced a enthusiasm for operating with small children and instructing them artwork.
In 2021, she worked with Babe Partitions and the City of Arvada to make a wall of 19 mini-murals painted by children. The wall is located on the recreation route in close proximity to Ralston Highway and Lamar Street.
“She was a staple of Denver. Not only was she proficient but she held so lots of people up. She was a significant mom to so numerous. She served me,” King reported.
Aside from her get the job done, Cardenas leaves behind a 12-12 months-outdated daughter.
You can obtain a lot more about Alicia’s mural and others in this article.