West San Antonio Street has been blooming with new artwork over the past few years. Earlier this month, the Price Center celebrated their newest addition to their public art collection with the unveiling of a curious hummingbird exploring a red flower perched on the corner of the building facing the W. San Antonio and Comanche St. crossroads, creating a friendly face for those entering Downtown. Below, the mural is framed by the real life flowers speckled throughout the Price Center’s gardens.
Community members gathered to celebrate the work of local muralist Michelle Wilson. The Price Center’s Executive Director Clay DeStefano kicked off the celebration by walking guests through the history of the city’s revived commitment to the arts. Thirteen years ago the San Marcos Arts Commission completed its first arts master plan which created the Mural Arts Committee. A few years later DeStefano joined the Price Center team and a focus on art prevailed at the center with their first gallery show premiering nine years ago.
“Believe it or not, since then, we’ve hosted a minimum of six gallery shows a year, and now nearly 600 different artists have displayed art here,” DeStefano said.
Five years ago the Price Center turned a focus on art in the garden. The first piece of public art was the mermaid statue which is part of the mermaid march throughout the city.
Throughout the years the center has commissioned mosaic benches, hand painted picnic tables, and a mural of a giant peacock. The center also has a tiny garden gallery which hosts rotating artists displaying their small but mighty creations. The Price Center funds their commissioned artworks through application and gallery fees from their group shows.
Adjacent to the Price Center is one of their first collaborations with muralist Michelle Wilson. Titled ‘Tiny Things,’ this larger mural is anything but. Spanning much of Feltner Alley, the mural showcases green flora from the San Marcos River juxtaposed on a bright golden yellow background. This mural hugs the Price Center, creating a cozy pocket that plays well with the gardens.
Earlier this year Wilson was commissioned by the Texas State Honors College to activate the crosswalks and barriers in front of the Price Center with the town’s first-ever street murals. Along with volunteers and students from the Honors College, Wilson brought to life turtles, butterflies and dragonflies on what was once just asphalt. These murals have added to the 11 murals created by Wilson on San Antonio Street alone.
Wilson spoke at the dedication about the mural-making process. The mural took her about four or five days, and she used a scissor lift for the first time.
“Fun fact, I am terrified of heights,” Wilson joked. “The fun thing that I like to add into a lot of my murals is that when the sun is setting, you can see the metallic paint.”
The reception was held in the late afternoon so the pearlescent paint was already glimmering through.
“I am so grateful to the Price Center,” Wilson said. She had previously worked for the center for a few years and now works alongside them to beautify their garden through her murals.
