While driving the freeway, you might expect to see traffic or road crews, butyou probably don't expect to see a 30-foot mural depicting an image of outer space. "It surprised me quite a bit," driver Susan Brunell told us. She contact us, wanting to know the story behind the massive space painting on the Gulf Freeway, at the Nasa Rd 1 Bypass. "I saw the painting, and it attracted me because of the subject matter," she said. The mural is a jumbo-sized replica of Pat Rawlings's original painting for the Bay Area, depicting an astronaut steering a sailboat.
"It tells everyone who we are –it’s got space,it's got sails, it's got the astronauts running the sailboat, it's got the nose of the shuttle." Bob Mitchell, President Bay Area Economic Partnership explained. The organization, jointly with Bay Area Houston Transportation Partnership, are the driving forces behind the mural project. Working with the Texas Department of Transportation, it took just $600 dollars to paint the mural onto each side of the freeway column. Mitchell says the project is meant to “brand” the Bay Area and help build community identity among the 13 municipalities included in the region.
Houston-based artist Anat Ronen did the heavy lifting, using a bucket-truck to suspend her over the freeway to paint both sides of the column in just six days. She believes drivers will appreciate the aesthetic appeal of the colorful mural. "Each of us passes on the road, you might as well make it a little bit better."
Brunell, who is a high school art teacher in Alief ISD, says looking at the mural up close gives her a greater appreciation for the detail and color incorporated into the painting. "My kids my students sometimes they don't realize all the avenues where you could possibly make art if you wanted to." She says art can be anywhere, even as we beat the traffic on Houston freeways.
