July 15, 2022

By Courtney Collen, for SiouxFalls.Business

Call it a work of heart.

The cultural experience at a new downtown restaurant is now even more enchanting thanks to a Sioux Falls woman.

Courtney Hardie, a part-time server, supervisor and art enthusiast, re-created the famous Escadaria Selaron in Rio de Janeiro on the stairs inside Roots of Brasil this summer.

Earlier this spring, Mark and Kaila Gillespie together with their Brazilian family, opened the restaurant inside the historic Stockman’s Exchange Bank building at Eighth Street and Weber Avenue on the east side of downtown.

They want patrons to feel transformed with a Brazilian experience in Sioux Falls.

So far, they’re doing just that.

Hardie, an Augustana University alum, graduated with an art degree in 2017 and had worked part-time for the Gillespies at their former restaurant, Kaladi’s Bistro on Minnesota Avenue.

Over the course of five years, she and Mark Gillespie discovered a mutual passion and shared bond over art.

But it wasn’t until she saw photos from a friend’s trip to Rio de Janeiro that Hardie was inspired to re-create that inside the new restaurant.

“I saw the stairs, and I knew it was perfect,” Hardie said. “I told Mark this is what we should do.”

While the restaurant was closed over the Independence Day weekend, Hardie got to work, spending just over three full days on those stairs.

“Once I start painting, I don’t stop until it’s finished, so when I say three days, I mean it,” she said.

The original stairs were created by a Chilean painter, Jorge Selaron, who moved to Rio and began his work on the now-famous steps outside of his home in the 1990s.

She said Selaron found various tiles around Rio and used colors from the Brazilian flag to paint the stairs. As she learned, the process snowballed from there.

“Selaron claimed the stairs were ‘my tribute to the Brazilian people,’ and I look at the re-creation I did as tribute to my Roots family,” she said.

Hardie referenced several photos to create the replica while using stencils, acrylics, alcohol-based markers and other materials. Painter’s tape helped create the look of separation along with a mix of stencils for repeated designs and free-handed work for more intricate details.

She had some help from her friend Khalil Hesvik.

“You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to do stencils on a vertical plane versus a traditional flat plane,” she laughed.

By the end, her goal was simply to do the famous stairs justice.

“The owners of this restaurant are from Brazil, and they know the famous stairs, so I wanted to do right by them in doing the replica well,” she said.

“We love it,” Mark Gillespie said.

The art has added to the cultural and aesthetic vibe.

“We’re trying to capture elements of different regions and states in Brazil, and she really nailed it,” he added.

That’s not all Hardie did inside the restaurant.

She re-created the black-and-white tiled sidewalk on the first floor after the famous Copacabana beach sidewalk, also in Rio de Janeiro, designed by Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx.

Admittedly, she said the flooring and stairs aren’t perfect — and for good reason.

“The painted imperfections on the tile and floor are somewhat of an invitation as it scuffs that makes it more authentically real,” Hardie said.

She doesn’t claim to know much about Brazilian culture but enjoys learning as she works at the restaurant.

“It’s an amazing experience to be able to offer something that not everyone has the ability to contribute,” she said. “Knowing that they trusted me and allowed me to use my talents and be creative at work is huge. It means the world to me.”

The team is already planning more colorful art around the restaurant. See it all in person by visiting Roots of Brasil, and follow the business on Facebook.

Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.