An Artist’s Story— Kamila Zmrzla

In the early months of summer, in the course of the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, artists all over the city went to SoHo to paint over the boarded-up stores. Intrigued by this idea, Brooklyn artist Kamila Zmrzla and her two daughters Adrien and Nelly joined the movement to spread their love through creativity and art.

Painting their souls onto those boards, Kamila discovered a new passion and creative process. After being locked away for so many months of quarantine, it seemed that mural painting was a new way for her art to thrive.

Kamila’s colorful, whimsical murals have been featured in the news and one of her Soho boards was even featured at an exhibition at the renowned National Arts Club. Many projects and opportunities have since arisen, Kamila’s prolific catalog of beautiful creations can be found at @topbunartist on Instagram.

Kamila grew up in the Czech Republic and moved to the United States when she was just 17 years old. Kamila is an artist and owns a sustainable textiles and fashion business called Juni. Juni is a Brooklyn-based studio that works with hand-dyed accessories. Juni, out of her love for art and fashion, was inspired to create beautiful well-made items. Kamila is also the mother of two children, and her dream for them is to “be true to themselves, to trust their intuition, to study hard, and to follow their dreams.”

Kamila spent most of her childhood and adult life loving art. Growing up in the Czech Republic, she was at the mercy of having to come up with stuff to entertain herself with, not having any of the modern technology children have today. A lot of the time, she would make art projects, put on plays, or just use her imagination and play outside. Kamila says she feels like she was lucky to have grown up the way she did because there was less pressure on what to decide to do.

Kamila moved to the U.S. when she was a teen, went to college in New York, and has since lived in Brooklyn for most of her adult life. She feels that “Brooklyn is the epicenter of fashion and small business owners,” and that we are all fortunate to be here, as it is full of so many different creative people. Kamila started off as a makeup artist for 26 years. She had many different clients, from celebrities to regular people in her community. However, as much as Kamila loved working as a makeup artist, she strongly wished to pursue her main passion: art, textiles, and working amongst her friends and colleagues. From this came the creation of Juni. Kamila and her friend Julie, who now lives in New Zealand, started the company in 2014. Juni started off as a small hand-sewn, hand-dyed beach- bag-making company. The women were inspired by the idea of having the “perfect beach bag,” one with enough pockets, zippers, and compartments for all the snacks and implements considered beach necessities. After that, their company expanded. They started dying fabrics and pillows, they made all-sized bags, from small pouches to giant beach bags. Eventually, Kamila started buying vintage clothes or articles of clothing that had been thrown out because of a simple rip or stain, and she would fix them up, re-dye them, and sell them good as new, a brand of beautiful, handmade, sustainable fashion.

In 2018, Kamila went off on her own as an artist and started producing more art that involved paints and oils, answering a new creative calling. She started off by painting flower-inspired pieces of art, and entering local art galleries. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, her materials and comfort zone have expanded.

Kamila’s art has thrived, as it now sits in many galleries. In a piece published by the Creating without Boundaries blog, Kamila stated: “I mainly need to constantly be doing something with my hands. Art is a necessity for me, like eating and breathing.”

As a mother, her dream for her two daughters is to “be true to themselves, to trust their intuition, to study hard, and to follow their dreams.”

Kamila has been doing art for as long as she can remember, whether it be painting beautiful murals in SoHo, to her first-ever marker set as a little girl. Recently, Kamila has been offered a life-size fiberglass cow to paint at the upcoming summer 2021 CowParade in NYC.

You can see Kamila’s murals painted on the facade of the ILD jewelry shop in Park Slope and on the Baba Cool restaurant in Fort Greene. You can also find her sustainable textiles at @junibk on Instagram and at www.junibk.com.