Digital map features hundreds of Houston murals
Houston’s lively mural scene can be hard to track, as fast as new walls appear. Many express the city’s energy and culture or address social issues.
Among the newest, Israel McCloud’s mural for Houston and Harris County’s #YES to the Census campaign was unveiled July 14 at S.H.A.P.E. Community Center, 3815 Live Oak in Third Ward.
Now a new website allows viewers to see hundreds of works of street art across the city. The HoustonMuralMap.com website launched July 15.
The site is a project of UP Art Studio, a for-profit firm that has curated hundreds of civic commissions, including the Mini-Murals program on traffic boxes in Houston and Austin. Many UP Art projects populate the site to start, but the map is crowdsourced, so others can add to it.
“It’s up to nearly 900 murals so it includes many others as well,” UP Art co-founder Elia Quiles says. “We have photos for about 550, so we are asking people to submit photos so we can get to 100 percent. The site will be updated indefinitely.”
Quiles collaborated with website developer and photographer Alex Barber to create the map. The listings were submitted by a network of artists, community partners and volunteer mural hunters and includes more than 250 mini murals installed by UP Art Studio. Pins on the map make it easy to locate the city’s mural hot spots.
The tour includes iconic walls such as Leo Tanguma’s “The Rebirth of Our Nationality” on Canal, originally painted in the 1970s. (Gonzo247 collaborated on its colorful re-creation in 2018.)
Viewers can “tour” the murals from their couches, learning more about the artists involved as well as the artwork. They also can use the interactive site to create driving or biking tours, selecting specific neighborhoods.
The map was funded in part by the city with a Let Creativity Happen digital grant through Houston Arts Alliance and is sponsored by the nonprofit Fresh Arts.