"The Characters of Rosko's" Mural Interview

Interview with Muralist, Kaitlin Hallabuk, is above. Read before for transcript.

Adam started working with Kaitlin Hallabuk on the "Characters of Rosko's" mural in November 2024. Recently, in August 2025, the vision came to life and was installed on the back of the building at 601 Pine St, Williamsport PA. A few days afterwards, Adam sat down with Kaitlin for a joint interview discussing the background of the project and how it came to fruition. The video of the interview is above, and the transcript is below. Enjoy!

Adam: Okay. So, hey, I'm sitting here with Kaitlin Hallabuk. She is the muralist that just completed the mural here on Pine Street at Rosko's Brew House. First of all, I just want to say congratulations. I mean, this is a pretty big deal for Rosko's, but I think it's pretty cool that you have a piece of your art in such a prominent location here in downtown Williamsport.

Kaitlin: Yeah, thank you.

Adam: So, thank you again for all the work. We're going to go through a interview here and just tell you a little bit more about the background of the project.

Question #1: Tell us more about your background. How did you get started in art?

Kaitlin: Well, I've always liked art ever since I was little. I was always drawing and kind of just accepted the fact that it was something I wanted to do and I wouldn't make much money from it. But then my art teacher introduced me in high school to graphic design and I was like, "Oh, sweet. I can actually have a job." And yeah, I just kind of got into that and I went to school for commercial design at Lycoming College and then I started out working at the Graphic Hive. I worked there for seven years and last year I went freelance and I've started my own business and yeah, I've been getting into murals which has been a lot of fun. So I appreciate the opportunity here.

Adam: Yeah, definitely. Well, I'm actually wearing the Party Possum sweatshirt for you. Shout out to the Graphic Hive, which prints a lot of our merchandise. This design was from when Kaitlin was working there, and you designed it, correct?

Kaitlin: Yep. Yep. That's right. That's how me and Adam got connected was through that shirt at first. And the Party Possum made it onto the mural.

Question #2: How did Rosko’s & Kaitlin first get connected?

Adam: Well, we first got connected through the Graphic Hive like mentioned. Caitlyn did the design on the Party Possum shirt. Then what was actually interesting is I was having a little business meeting with some friends and we were talking about signage at the building and one of my friends, shout out to Carnie at Kitchen Repose, said, "You know, you should really look up this Kaitlin." And I'm like, "You know what? I know her." So I looked up her website, sent her an email, and kind of started the process.

Question #3: What made your partnership feel like a good fit?

Adam: You know, honestly, I really liked Kaitlin's art and when Carnie mentioned Kaitlin, I had already seen a lot of her work around town. I really like that it it's fun. It's engaging. It's has a little bit of this cartoonish vibe that I think really fits the Rosko's vibe because that's what we strive to do: to be fun.

Kaitlin: Yeah, and that's what I was excited about when he reached out. It seemed like he was pretty open to it being fun, cartoony, just packed full of stuff.

Question #4: Where did the inspiration for the mural come from?

Adam: Inspiration for the mural just came from wanting a general, more enhanced art scene in Williamsport, frankly. I really wanted to do something fun. I wanted to do something that was on brand for Rosko’s. I truly believe that culture in cities is really driven by art. You know, if you go anywhere in the world, especially in bigger cities, you see art everywhere, and that's really what creates such a good culture and scene. So that's what inspired me. I really think that this mural encapsulates that. I think it's different for Williamsport. I think it's eye-catching. I think it's thought provoking. I think Kaitlin did a really good job.

Question #5: Describe the creative process. How do you go from concept to creation?

Kaitlin: All right. Well, Adam came to me with a bunch of different ideas; all these little references that he wanted to incorporate in the piece, like some of the characteristics of his regulars by incorporating the names, the fun names he has for a lot of his beers. So, it was fun to try to personify all of those things and make them interact with one another to create a cohesive image and this little Rosko's universe.

Adam: I'm big on community, and I think she nailed it. She made this cohesive environment with these characters of Rosko's. What was also interesting too is that I just threw mud at the wall with ideas early on. I was like I want it to look like street art, graffiti, refined, and, oh, I want it to look like “this.” You were like, “Adam… that's difficult.” But what I thought Kaitlin did really well is she actually took like this graffiti aspect and used the Party Possum to make it look like the Party Possum was spraying graffiti on the building. So even though the art doesn't look like graffiti, she was able to incorporate some of those ideas. It was really cool.

Question #6: Were there any challenges in designing or completing the mural?

Kaitlin: How do I describe this? Um, I guess kind of what you were saying - it was tough, like you wanted this graffiti vibe to it and this building is an old historical building, and your branding has the classic like gold and maroon colors. So, it was a fun challenge to try to merge those two worlds together and still make everything feel cohesive and on brand, but with all those fun elements and “out there” elements that aren't something you typically see on a building built in 1870.

Adam: And I'll say from a completing process, we just had a heck of a time trying to find someone to install it. So, this was dragging on for months and months, and we finally got someone to install it. Shout out to Dennis at Keystone Advertising for helping us out. They printed it & helped with installation. We actually decided to go digital and print it onto panels and then install it that way to the building. Which, speaking of that, question for you. So, you hand drew it, correct?  Can you tell us a little bit about your process on how you create that? How do you piece it together?

Kaitlin: Yeah, I actually did it on an iPad. So there's a lot of freedom doing it that way, especially just doing it digitally instead of as opposed to painting it because there's a lot a lot less limitations as far as even like time constraints, you know.

Adam: I mean, I can imagine it's especially better when you're redoing things, you're editing things, you're erasing things.

Kaitlin: Oh, yeah. Changing colors and stuff like that. You have the freedom to do all of that a lot easier and there's a lot less consequences for changes, you know.

Question #7: How would you describe the mural to someone who hasn’t seen it yet?

Kaitlin: I'm not great at putting things into words because what I do is behind the scenes and I draw, you know? [laughs]

Adam: I describe it like some of those elements that I asked for. There's a little bit of this street art element to it. There's a little bit of this “urban-ness” to it. There's a tiny bit of graffiti going on. It’s bright. It's colorful. It's thought provoking. You look at it and you think, “I could stare at this for an hour and find something new every time I look at it.”

Question #8: What do you hope the mural adds to Rosko’s and the Greater Williamsport community?

Kaitlin: I hope for Rosko’s that people see it and it's intriguing and it gets them through the door. I hope it gives them an idea of the vibe that you have here without even having to step into it for themselves, yet it gets them excited to visit. And for the community, like you were saying before, I hope it just brings some of that artistic scene back to Williamsport and maybe inspires other people to put up murals.

Adam: I would love to see Kaitlin's art just smattered across Williamsport. I absolutely love it. I agree, I think it'd be great for the community to get more people involved in the art scene. And then as far as Rosko’s goes, I think you hit it on the head. You don't even have to walk into Rosko's to get an idea of what it's like in here or the image we're trying to portray, which is fun and community based.

Question #9: If you can share, do you have any upcoming projects you are working on?

Kaitlin: I do have a lot of projects I'm working on, but unfortunately most people want it to be a surprise.

Wrap up:

Adam: Kaitlin, thanks again, especially for doing this interview. I know it’s kind of unnerving at times being in front of the camera and but I really want to just say thank you. And where can people find you? How can people get a hold of you?

Kaitlin: You can find me on Instagram, @khallbukart or my website, khallabuk.com.

Adam: I appreciate your time being here. I appreciate the work that you did. I think it turned out awesome. Hopefully we could do something again soon.

Kaitlin: Yeah, it'd be great. Thanks.