|
Location: Nolan Street Underpass
Dimensions: 220' x 20' Date: 2013 Lead Community Muralist: Alex Rubio Mural Coordinator: John Medina Restorations: 2020 - Lead Restoration Muralists Crystal Tamez and Cassidy Fritts |
San Anto Cultural Arts and Blue Star Contemporary collaborated to produce this 220 x 20-foot mural on the East Side of San Antonio. Lead artist Alex Rubio designed this mural to be accessible at a glance to people driving through the Nolan Street Underpass. Three youth artists worked in the Mosaic of Youth Artists in Community (MOSAIC) Studio at Blue Star Contemporary to draw, paint, and assemble the mural from 160 sheets of polytab material. Since Vortex, Rubio has completed similar curvilinear murals throughout San Antonio, including Yanaguana at Hemisfair Park and Aqua at San Pedro Creek Culture Park.
|
|
Content and Design
Rubio has used the curvilinear design technique exemplified in Vortex since 1989. He selected this technique for Nolan Street Underpass because of the mural’s scale and location. Most people drive through the underpass and thus only experience the 22o-foot long mural for a few seconds. The consistent pattern and bold colors make the piece simple and eye-catching. Rubio explains the strategy behind is design:
It’s a very long wall so I tried to make this mural flow across the surface of the wall, creating a wave of color as you drive through the underpass…people that are driving down through an underpass where there’s no place to pull over and park and actually look at the mural, or slowly drive by the mural, have just a split second for it to register. This curvilinear design made the best sense in an underpass mural. The driver going at 20, 30 miles an hour gets that split second to enjoy pure design and pure color and actual movement. |
History
Vortex is an anomaly on multiple levels: the mural is not in the Westside, the design is abstract, the crew did not follow a community process, and the lead artist was not contracted by San Anto Cultural Arts. The project expanded San Anto’s portfolio and geographic reach, and provided Westside youth with the opportunity to explore new styles and mediums. Vortex is a collaboration between San Anto Cultural Arts and Blue Star Contemporary Art Gallery. San Anto and Blue Star connected through Alex Rubio, Blue Star Contemporary’s MOSAIC Artist-in-Residence and a former Community Mural Program (CMP) coordinator for San Anto Cultural Arts.
Although Rubio designed the mural, he worked closely with a crew of three youth artists and multiple groups of volunteers. The youth artists were Zoe Palacios and Christian Murillo, participants in Blue Star’s MOSAIC program, and Jorge Palacios (no relation to Zoe), a high school intern from San Anto Cultural Arts. The youth crew worked in Blue Star’s mosaic studio for three hours a day, fifteen days a month. Sometimes groups of youth volunteers from organizations including Girls Inc., Spurs Team Up Challenge, and of course San Anto Cultural Arts assisted in the studio. Other partners included Martinez Street Women’s Center, Texas Juvenile Justice Department, Bexar County Juvenile Probation Center, Haven for Hope, San Antonio Public Library Teen Services Department, and the Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association.
Using Rubio’s design, the crew produced Vortex on a puzzle of 5x5’ Polytab sheets. In the Blue Star Contemporary MOSAIC studio, youth laid out the polytab sheets and drew the design, using templates to make sure each panel aligned with adjacent panels. Artists then pinned the polytab sheets in sections on the studio wall and painted in the color, using color charts to ensure the panels would harmonize. 160 different Polytab sheets had to fit together seamlessly to fill the 4000 square foot wall. After painting, the crew applied the polytab to the concrete underpass using novagel. Installation was tedious work because every line on the mural needed to register, i.e match up perfectly, to create the seamless, flowing effect Rubio intended. San Anto and Blue Start unveiled Vortex at a community celebration on Saturday, August 31, inviting people to bring pets and bikes to enjoy local art and music, as well as free paletas and tacos.
Funding: Public Art San Antonio (PASA), the Department of Culture and Creative Development, District 2 Councilwoman Ivy Taylor, the Graffiti Abatement Program, City Public Works and St. Vincent dePaul.
Although Rubio designed the mural, he worked closely with a crew of three youth artists and multiple groups of volunteers. The youth artists were Zoe Palacios and Christian Murillo, participants in Blue Star’s MOSAIC program, and Jorge Palacios (no relation to Zoe), a high school intern from San Anto Cultural Arts. The youth crew worked in Blue Star’s mosaic studio for three hours a day, fifteen days a month. Sometimes groups of youth volunteers from organizations including Girls Inc., Spurs Team Up Challenge, and of course San Anto Cultural Arts assisted in the studio. Other partners included Martinez Street Women’s Center, Texas Juvenile Justice Department, Bexar County Juvenile Probation Center, Haven for Hope, San Antonio Public Library Teen Services Department, and the Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association.
Using Rubio’s design, the crew produced Vortex on a puzzle of 5x5’ Polytab sheets. In the Blue Star Contemporary MOSAIC studio, youth laid out the polytab sheets and drew the design, using templates to make sure each panel aligned with adjacent panels. Artists then pinned the polytab sheets in sections on the studio wall and painted in the color, using color charts to ensure the panels would harmonize. 160 different Polytab sheets had to fit together seamlessly to fill the 4000 square foot wall. After painting, the crew applied the polytab to the concrete underpass using novagel. Installation was tedious work because every line on the mural needed to register, i.e match up perfectly, to create the seamless, flowing effect Rubio intended. San Anto and Blue Start unveiled Vortex at a community celebration on Saturday, August 31, inviting people to bring pets and bikes to enjoy local art and music, as well as free paletas and tacos.
Funding: Public Art San Antonio (PASA), the Department of Culture and Creative Development, District 2 Councilwoman Ivy Taylor, the Graffiti Abatement Program, City Public Works and St. Vincent dePaul.
About the Artist
Artist Alex Rubio met Manuel Castillo, founder of San Anto Cultural Arts, at a platica delivered by renown Chicana artist Judy Baca. Rubio had already made a career from public art, starting as a muralist with Community Cultural Arts (CCA) from 1985 to 1991. Juan Hernandez, CCA cofounder, recruited then sixteen-year-old artist when he noticed Rubio’s “black spray paint on brick wall” pieces scattered around the Mirasol Housing Projects. Rubio later worked as a muralist at the Bexar County jail, a traveling artist through an Artpace grant, and Artist in Residence for Guadalupe Cultural Arts. Castillo recruited Rubio to be the Community Mural Coordinator for San Anto Cultural arts, where he facilitated four murals in 2001 and 2002: Tradición y Cultura, Breaking the Cycle, Words, and The Good, Bad and Greedy. During his time as mural facilitator at San Anto, Rubio focused on training and supporting other artists, especially local youth. For the past 10 years, Alex has served as the Artist in Residence for Blue Star Contemporary’s Mosaic of Youth Artists in Community (MOSAIC) program. Rubio also curates two of his own galleries, R-Space and Rubio Gallery-South.