Window-Shoppers Treated to Whimsical Art Along Sylva's Main Street

What makes it feel like Christmas in downtown Sylva?

For some people, it's the wreaths on the old courthouse. For others it might be the big tree at the bottom of the courthouse steps. But for everybody, it's the annual festive window decorations on Sylva's Main Street, hand-painted by local artist Austen Mikulka.

You've probably noticed Austen at work, perhaps accompanied by his loyal dog, Benro. He's the fellow crouching on the sidewalk with paint on his sweatshirt and hands, studying notepad sketches and skillfully turning them into full-color humorous scenes on the plate glass windows of shops on Main Street.

Thanks to his focused attention, each window not only is a bright bit of cheer for downtown Christmas shoppers, but also is a beautiful advertisement for each shop. You'll find snowmen in camping gear at BlackRock Outdoor (roasting snowballs over "coals" of ice); Santa Claus at Nick and Nate's restaurant, where Santa has cheese shredders and pizza cutters in his sack of toys; Santa Claus doing a wheelie at Motion Makers bicycle shop (where the tires are made of wreaths); and many more. The key is to hunt for the delightful details.(Below: two spoons warm themselves in front of an oven, sitting in the snow next to the pizza-slice trees, on the window at Nick and Nate's restaurant.)

You might recognize the Three Wise Men painted on Guadalupe Cafe's front window. On a starry night, on a snowy hill, we see not the three kings from Bethlehem, but loyal Guadalupe Cafe patrons John McCarley (local landscaper), Adam Bigelow (everyone's favorite hippie gardener) and Austen himself.

After moving to Sylva in 2001 from his hometown of Douglas, Georgia, Austen began working at Meatball's Restaurant. The restaurant had a large plate glass window in front, so Austen decided -- between cooking pizzas and waiting tables -- that he'd like to learn how to paint on windows, the way he'd seen an artist do back home. He had not been formally educated in art techniques, and he says "I started painting windows to teach myself how to paint."

Local businesspeople liked the results at Meatball's so much that Austen began to get requests for work on other shop windows. By paying Austen to design and paint the expressive and original scenes on their windows, shop owners enjoy greater sales and attention from window shoppers. Awnings above the glass windows along Main Street protect the art from rain, hail, snow and direct sun, which gives Austen's artworks a long lifespan.

Two of Austen's earliest Main Street customers were BlackRock Outdoor and Nick and Nate's Pizzeria. Newer customers include Bear Lake Reserve, Fantasy Travel, Jake's Mountain House, Guadalupe Cafe, Motion Makers, Lily's Treasures, the Friends of the Library Bookstore, Terri Clark Photography and the Sylva Herald.

(Below: Jake's Mountain House (the "Life is good" store) seems to be announcing that "Christmas is good!" Click photo to enlarge.)

Austen first sketches his masterpieces on paper, trying various shapes and characters. He uses his imagination to create a different scenario that fits each of his business customers. At Halloween on the window of the new Lily's Treasures boutique for children, for example, one could spot a pumpkin-headed lad atop the shoulders of his pumpkin-headed dad. A ghoul appeared atop a bicycle on the window of the Motion Makers bicycle shop. Three varieties of carnivorous plants created a sense of impending Halloween doom on the window of the Guadalupe Cafe.

Austen is thrilled with the response from both locals and visitors, though he sometimes worries his work will not be received well (the ghouls on various windows for Halloween "were pretty creepy," he admits). "I've gotten a lot of encouragement," he said. "It's good, because I'm not just pleasing myself and my friends, the people I know downtown, but also people who are complete strangers, and that's a really cool thing to do."

(Come downtown to Main Street to view all of Austen's Christmas work. The photos in this article are only a portion of the scenes you'll see.)

In addition to his work on Main Street, Austen likes to stay busy with other artistic jobs -- it's his living -- and he's available for photography, hand-painted signs, murals, portraits, graphic design and illustrations.

Several striking pen-and-ink drawings and illustations are available for viewing at the Guadalupe Cafe (which hosted a reception for Austen on Thursday, Dec. 13). Go by and take a look -- and if you can't, call Austen at 828.371.0695 for more information.