Starbucks Mural
Huntsville, Alabama
Alabama mural artist Banks Compton designed and painted this large-scale exterior mural for Alabama ONE Credit Union's Alberta Branch in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Inspired by the history and identity of Alberta City, the mural brings together local landmarks, natural imagery, and pieces of neighborhood history to celebrate a community that has undergone tremendous change and revitalization.
Coffee Meets the Rocket City
Client: Starbucks
Location: MidCity District, Huntsville, Alabama
Artist: Banks Compton
Project: Custom Starbucks Mural
Completed: 2023
Artwork: Interior mural
Project at a Glance
Designing the Mural
At the center of the mural is a deer constructed visually from coffee plants, tropical foliage, animals, and other natural elements.
The deer references Artemis as the goddess of the hunt, while the surrounding coffee plants connect the imagery directly to Starbucks.
Wrapping around the composition is the form of NASA's Space Launch System rocket, which carries the imagery upward toward the moon.
Rather than simply painting a rocket or a Huntsville skyline, the mural uses symbolism to tell a more imaginative story about the city.
From a distance, visitors experience the overall composition. Up close, smaller plants, animals, and details emerge throughout the artwork.
Starbucks and the Rocket City
Huntsville's identity is inseparable from its history of space exploration.
When developing the mural for this Starbucks location, the goal was to create artwork that felt specific to Huntsville while also connecting naturally with the visual world of coffee and the Starbucks brand.
The inspiration came from Artemis—the Greek goddess associated with the moon and hunting—and NASA's Artemis program.
Those two ideas became the foundation for a mural where coffee, nature, mythology, and space exploration could exist within the same landscape.
A Mural Designed for Huntsville
Site-specific storytelling is an important part of Banks' approach to mural design.
A mural created for a national brand can still belong specifically to the community where it is located. For this project, Huntsville's role in American space exploration provided an opportunity to create artwork that visitors could immediately associate with the Rocket City.
The combination of the Artemis story, the moon, the SLS rocket, coffee plants, and natural imagery creates a mural designed specifically for this Starbucks and its Huntsville location.
Murals for Businesses and National Brands
Murals can give businesses an opportunity to connect their brand with the communities they serve.
Instead of using artwork that could appear in the same form at any location, site-specific murals can incorporate local history, culture, landmarks, industries, and stories while remaining consistent with a company's broader identity.
The Huntsville Starbucks mural demonstrates how public-facing artwork can combine those two goals—creating something recognizable to the brand while giving an individual location its own visual identity.
About Banks Compton
Banks Compton is an Alabama mural artist and RISD alumnus creating large-scale murals and public art throughout Alabama and across the United States. His work combines storytelling, local culture, history, nature, and site-specific imagery to create artwork that reflects the communities and environments in which it is located.
His mural clients range from local communities and public institutions to nationally recognized companies and brands.
Looking for a Mural Artist in Huntsville or Alabama?
Banks works with businesses, developers, cities, institutions, and organizations to create custom murals and public artwork throughout Huntsville, Alabama, and the Southeast.
Each project begins with conversation, research, and collaboration to develop artwork that reflects the client's vision, brand, and location.