San Marcos Arts Commission to dedicate new public art installation

A dedication ceremony will take place for the “Guardians of the San Marcos River” public art installation.

The San Marcos Arts Commission will dedicate the new art installation on Thursday, July 28 at 9 a.m. The new art was designed and created by San Marcos High School students to depict the creation story attributed to the indigenous Coahuiltecan people.

“Dr. Mario Garza of the Indigenous Cultures Institute shares a beautiful creation story told by the Coahuiltecan people,” said Thom Rogers, project manager and former Visual Arts Team Lead at San Marcos High School. “I knew our community would find tremendous joy in a public artwork that celebrates our rich, indigenous culture, and that it was important to involve our artistic youth in creating this piece.”

The “Guardians of the San Marcos River” is a permanent art installation consisting of six panels depicting the creation story of the indigenous Coahuiltecan people and the five spirit guardians of the San Marcos River. Each panel has a tile mosaic designed by San Marcos High School students under Rogers’ direction. Each student was chosen by the San Marcos Arts Commission and received a $500 scholarship. There are more than 1,000 individual tiles that were created by SMHS students and faculty. In all, approximately 750 students contributed to the process.

The six students’ artworks chosen for the installation are Leela Jackson: “The Creation Story;” Brynna Wharton: “Panama” (deer);  Michaela Manriquez: “Pa-uta’p” (eagle);  Isabella Elmore: “Miakan” (waterbird); Sage Gonzales: “Apamxuepet” (jaguar); and Faith Voorhis: “Clam paya yuye” (wolf).

The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, the San Marcos Arts Commission and the San Marcos City Council approved the $8,000 installation in 2018.  The students’ designs were selected by the Arts Commission in 2019. Work on the tiles, final assembly, and site installation were postponed until this year due to the pandemic’s impacts on in-person education and school attendance.

The arts commission’s dedication takes place  at Ramon Lucio Park, 601 S. CM Allen Parkway.

Information provided by the City of San Marcos