Tomeka Weatherspoon, Houston Public Media, December 11, 2017
East End community groups and artists gathered to unveil a new large-scale mural. It’s a wall of underwater sea creatures not far from the city docks.
“It was a year of planning,” said Veronica Gorczynski of the Greater East End Management District. Her group supports efforts to beautify the area. “We had over 300 people over 2 weekends – that includes a Saturday and a Sunday just cleaning up the site.”
“If residents aren’t coming out and walking their neighborhood, we have to ask ourselves why.” said Gorczynski.
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The graffiti mural was a collaboration of artists. But the initial design came from Jessie Rodriguez. He was raised in Magnolia Park, where the piece is located.
“This right here is the first mural Magnolia Park. Magnolia Park is – not the dark side of Houston – but it was real neglected,” said Rodriguez. “In the prior younger years of Magnolia Park in Houston, this Bayou was the freeway to Houston. So, there was a lot of wildlife here before the petrochemical plants and all that other stuff. When the gulf comes upstream you do see–rarely, you see the manatees, and the turtles. They come up this far.”
He said the piece aims to bring back the beauty of the Bayou through sea wildlife. They call the piece Turtle Soup.
Article original appeared on Houston Public Media, December 11, 2017
