El Paso, TX
Greetings from El Paso. We painted our first Texas mural in El Paso over at The Substation, which is an outdoor retail and dining village. This Lone Star State project all happened thanks to Dave “Grave”, a local El Paso graffiti artist. He was the one who put us in contact with the architects & developers building out the space. We met Will Harvey and the EP Riverbend Development team at their offices which happened to be just across the street from the future location. Together, we discussed the materials we would need to make it happen from scratch considering it was an empty construction site at the time. They actually built us a custom freestanding concrete wall made for the Greetings from El Paso mural. This was a first for us, and we were thrilled about the opportunity!
We agreed to avoid painting the mural in the summer for extreme temperatures, but even during 'cooler' months the sun was still blazing. We got to work in October 2016 with the RV parked in a dirt pile which is now a beautiful parking lot for customers. We visited The Substation twice since mural completion, and we couldn't be happier with the outcome. Keep reading to check out how this project all came together.
Dave “Grave” was a fellow graffiti artist who spent a lot of time as a truck driver living life on the road in his past. While he had the technical abilities to execute a mural project like this on his own, he found out about our mural project and reach out to us. We were honored to collaborate with him and form another friendship on the road. Since he was a local, he was full of creative ideas on what to incorporate into the piece that didn’t feel too touristy. We are always open to taking the lead of locals when it comes to the imagery within the letters.
Firstly, for the background element we wanted to play off an existing large letter postcard. The “Greetings from” was painted inside a giant yellow star symbolized the “lone star” element. We also added in the Franklin Mountains backdrop that was visible throughout the city. Of course, we had to add in a lot of desert plants and cacti in the foreground!
Lisa documented all the mural progress as we worked in the development site surrounded by construction workers. We made friends with the hard-working locals who watched the progress every day. At the same time, we would watch their building progress. It was quite a dusty work site, and we got to experience the brutal El Paso heat. We couldn’t imagine painting here in the summer time without any shade!
On our first Route 66 trip, crossing into Texas was a big moment for Lisa. She got out of the RV and literally walked across into the state where the asphalt immediately changed. Growing up, it was one of her favorite states for no explicable reason but it was great to finally get to create a piece of our artwork in Texas!
We were all over the news for this project. It’s certainly become a very iconic mural for the community, and we’re very happy to see all the creative photos taken with the artwork as a backdrop.
One of our favorite memories was celebrating by going into Juarez with Dave after we finished the mural. We definitely did not want to drive the RV into Mexico so luckily he drove us over the border. Dave grew up in Juarez so he was an amazing tour guide. The pope was in town just recently so things were much cleaner than usual but it was still a fun & memorable experience.
Since we’ve completed the Greetings from El Paso mural we have passed by each time we cross the country and love to see all the progress. The city has a special meaning to us, and we hope that our artwork serves as a piece of public art for years to come.
Press:
El Paso Times - 'Greetings From...,' Mural Tour Comes to El Paso
El Paso Inc - ‘Greetings From…’ mural taking shape in El Paso
KFOX14 - 'Greetings from El Paso' mural on display in new Upper Valley shopping center
El Paso Herald Post - Traveling Muralists bring Iconic ‘Greetings From…’ Postcard to The Substation
Letter Guide:
E – Hotel Paso del Norte
L – Asarco Smokestacks
P – Star on Franklin Mountains
A – Mission (top) Trolley (bottom)
S – Southwest University Park / Home of Chihuahuas
O – The University of Texas at El Paso
Year: 2016
Mural Size: 12'H x 24'W
Location: 145 E. Sunset Road El Paso, Texas 79922