‘Shoe muralist’ puts ‘that Baltimore swag into everything he does’

Akio Evans is creating art. Celebs have taken notice

Akio Evans, a Baltimore artist, filmmaker and shoe muralist, creates shoe designs for celebrities.

Above: Evans often uses safety pins in his designs in honor of his late mother, who was a seamstress.

Left: Evans was inspired to create this boot design because of the Key Bridge collapse. Barbara Haddock Taylor/Staff photos

In August, East Baltimore’s Akio Evans put the finishing touches on a one-of-a-kind pair of Nike Air Force 1 skates commissioned by CFG Bank Arena. The souped-up kicks — featuring lyrics and imagery from Usher’s nine studio albums — were then presented by Mayor Brandon Scott to the “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” singer himself, during his “Past Present Future” tour stop in Charm City.

“What [Akio] did with the skates is what he does every day: put that Baltimore swag into everything he does,” Scott said in an email to The Baltimore Sun.

Evans, 40, says his work is about “changing the way we look at shoes.”

“You add your heart, your art into this piece,” Evans said from his home studio, pointing out goosebumps on his arm as he talked about his creative process. “Anybody is an artist.”

He’s a man of many endeavors: a director and producer working on a film about how Baltimore saved Air Force 1’s; the founder of a fashion brand called AkiO’s Glorious Heroes (you can find a capsule collection of shirts for sale at The Sound Garden); and a former animal cage washer at the Johns Hopkins University.

Perhaps his most unique title, however, is that of “shoe muralist.”

Evans crafts his shoes using a mini iron-like transfer tool he’s relied on for the last two decades, with comic books and TV shows among his influences. He’s made pairs for a roster of celebrities and athletes including comedians Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart, basketball legend Allen Iverson, and “The Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood, among others. He’s also collaborated on creative projects with the American Heart Association, HBO and Marvel.

On Thursday at 6 p.m., he’ll lead a free tote bag art workshop at Lexington Market using archival photographs.

“I take selective imagery that is very rare … and I put it onto clothing like blazers, fedora hats, sneakers — to be able to allow the art to live outside of a museum,” Evans said, adding outdoor murals to his list of inspiration.

“If you are wearing the mural, you become the mural. You become the art and you’re able to educate people.”

A Pac-Man design fashioned from the fabric of a knock-off Burberry bucket hat and applied to a pair of hospital shoes was the first pair Evans made, around the time of his graduation from Northern High School in 2002. In those early days, he would use whatever materials he could get his hands on to make shoes and clothing, including his mother’s scarves.

Years after a fortuitous encounter in Baltimore with actor Michael K. Williams during the filming of “The Wire,” he made shoes for both Williams and Felicia “Snoop” Pearson. He also directed a 2016 documentary film called “Grace After Midnight Pain,” about Pearson’s life.

A Timberland boot in his studio shows the Francis Scott Key Bridge as part of a scene Evans created to represent Season 2 of “The Wire,” made after the bridge collapsed. His shoe designs, which can be worn but are intended as art, have sold for as much as $2,000.

No matter the subject of his creations, Evans’ own journey is apparent in his work. The value he sees in pictures stems from having to leave many photos behind when his family was evicted from their home during his childhood. The name of the clothing brand he launched almost a decade ago, AkiO’s Glorious Heroes, is an ode to his mother, Glorious Taylor, who died of a heart attack in 2012.

One of his logos, an anatomical heart design wearing a red cape, is also a nod to Taylor.

“Dr. Dre and all these celebrities who have my art … they have a piece of my mom there,” he said.

“Evans is intentional with his friends and with his art,” said Brian Dawkins, who met Evans over a decade ago when the two collaborated on a music video.

“What he’s doing and presenting to people, it’s thoughtful. … Different pieces have different stories,” said Dawkins, 38, the owner and founder of From Baltimore With Love, a clothing brand with filmmaking and community engagement components.

“Akio is definitely an inspiration to the city and anybody coming behind him who wants to do anything similar,” he said, adding that Evans is making “a great name for Baltimore.”