With summer slowly approaching, a new 55-foot-wide mural by Luna Creative Collaborations is coming to life outside Paleteria Yayo, 1727 W. Lincoln Ave. The art project was commissioned by the Milwaukee Brewers. 

Luna Creative Collaborations is a collective of Latine artists in and around Milwaukee that produce public art, exhibitions and community-centered collaborative projects.

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Whitney Salgado works on a mural commissioned by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Aisha Valentín hand-paints a mural.

Rene Adan and his wife Galy Montes, the owners of Paleteria Yayo, have built good relationships with area artists, and with the Milwaukee Brewers and some of the other local sports teams.

“We’ve been the first paleteria inside the Brewers stadium and the Bucks stadium,” Adan said.

Rene Adan and Galy Montes, owners of Paleteria Yayo, pose in front of the new mural on the outside of their business.

According to Aisha Valentín, a co-lead muralist on the project with Luna Creative Collaborations, Adan can always be seen repping Brewers merch at the paleteria.

The logo of Paleteria Yayo in its store window.

“I think Rene is a big Brewers fan because every day he’s got the hat, a jersey, without fail,” Valentín said.

Adan also spoke about the pride he feels having a Major League Baseball team support the work of his small business. 

“Being an immigrant here in the United States, having such a huge company see us and work with us is nice,” Adan said.

Whitney Salgado works on detailing a mural on the outside of Paleteria Yayo.

Before painting began, the project’s co-leaders, Whitney Salgado and Valentín, visited a couple of fourth grade classes across the street from the mural at Lincoln Avenue School, 1817 W. Lincoln Ave., to get input from students. 

They asked the students to draw their idea of “play,” what they see in their neighborhood and what they like to do in the summer.

Several spray paint cans and buckets of paint sit on the sidewalk outside Paleteria Yayo.
Whitney Salgado holds a paint tray with paint brushes while working on a mural.
Different spray can nozzles sit in a bin while Whitney Salgado and Aisha Valentín work on a mural.

“Even before we talked to the students, I had very similar concepts on focusing on youth and nostalgia,” Salgado said.

The color palette of the piece is meant to tie the mural to the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers City Connect jerseys. Both feature a similar gradient designed to represent Wisconsin’s summer sunsets and the state’s natural beauty.

Aisha Valentín uses spray paint to create a mural.
Whitney Salgado and Aisha Valentín work on a mural together.

The owner and creative director of Luna Creative Collaborations, Katie Avila Loughmiller, plans on hosting an official unveiling in the coming weeks, once the mural is complete.

Whitney Salgado works on a mural commissioned by the Milwaukee Brewers at Paleteria Yayo.

Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a photojournalist as well as a Report for America corps member and Catchlight Local fellow. Before coming to Milwaukee, he spent two years as a photographer at one of America’s oldest daily newspapers, The Blade, in Toledo, Ohio. Aguilar grew up in the Chicago suburbs. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from DePaul University and his master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism.