Skittles colorfully turns frowns upside down

Lisa Graves turns frowns upside down as Skittles the Clown. 

“I always wanted to be a clown growing up,” the former Callahan resident said. “I was intrigued with clowns whenever we went to the circus.” 

As Skittles, Graves dons brightly-colored wigs and a red nose and dresses in vivid colors all the way down to her Converse sneakers. She occasionally wears clown shoes. 

She can apply the mostly flesh-toned and white-accented Auguste Clown makeup, put on a wig and finish all the details to reveal Skittles within 30 minutes.

After initially creating a character named Scrubs, a nod to her part-time career as a surgical nurse, Graves chose to adopt Skittles – named for the rainbow-colored candy. Her colorful interactions that include candy Skittles caught on with young audiences. 

“Now I’m Skittles and the kids relate to it very well,” Graves said. 

Skittles performs at children’s birthday parties, corporate events, wedding receptions and community and church happenings. 

“The kids think I’m hilarious,” Graves said. “I always try to make sure they feel special, because a lot of kids don’t always have support at home.”

After graduating from Jacksonville’s Gator Clown School in 2011, Graves began performing. 

“I was just overjoyed with excitement,” she said of receiving her certificate. “I was just like a little kid, because it was something I always wanted to do. And it was finally coming to fruition.” 

Although the art of clowning and circus life may be on the wane, Graves is in tune with her profession. 

“They say that clowning is an art of the heart and I would agree,” she said. “And sadly, today’s generation doesn’t have the love of clowning that previous generations did.” 

Graves continuously hones her art with fellow clown Bill Gillespie. She learns new routines and watches videos online to stay updated on clowning techniques. 

She has also perfected her ability to twist balloons into animals of all kinds.

“I sometimes joke with people and tell them that my superpower is I can turn balloons into animals,” she said. 

Skittles presents magic shows that feature bunnies, hamsters and doves. 

Sometimes her friends the Easter Bunny, Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Santa Claus join in the fun. She’s appeared in many events in Callahan and also works off-clown-duty at Gator’s Discount Outlet. She is also an active volunteer with Be the Change Northeast Florida. Joel Pace heads the group’s efforts to assist the community. 

“My overall effort is to cheer people and make them happy and forget, at least momentarily, all the unpleasant things in their life,” Graves said. 

She even has a strategy to help children combat their fear of clowns. 

“If somebody tells me, ‘Oh, she’s scared of clowns,’ I try to stay away from them – yet keep eye contact with them and wave and smile and, eventually, they’ll see that you’re not creepy or scary and they’ll come around,” Graves said. “I find that more adults are afraid of clowns.” 

Skittles gets a lot of attention when she’s driving a vehicle. 

“When you’re down the road and you’re in clown – people are taking pictures and waving and hanging out of their car windows to look at you,” Graves said.