Why I Think Public Art Is Important to San Antonio

While I want this post to be about why I think public art is vital to this city, it's not just public art that I think makes the city great. I think that what makes San Antonio great is that anyone who lives here or visits here can be happy if, for nothing else, perfect moments.

I'm not just talking about the type of perfect moment that can be experienced by stopping before the bridge along St. Mary's Street near the Southwest School of Art to view this mural:


What does this mural show? Like most art, the message is in the eye of the beholder, and the meaning is open to interpretation. We can appreciate this art without knowing about the artist's vision.

What matters is that it's here, that someone with a ton of artistic ability painted it and that we've paused to look at it.

It's a perfect moment.

And that, to me, is San Antonio.

Clearly there's a mix of cultures here, and with culture comes expectation. People say that San Antonio is a small town. Not really. The city is growing, so much so that a drive toward any part of town at rush hour has become a test of humanity. But it is a small town in another sense.

While I was born in San Antonio when Henry Cisneros was Mayor back in 1984, my family moved to the small town of Madison, Indiana, on the banks of the Ohio River in southern Indiana, population 13,000, when I was very young. Despite their difference in size, the two cities continue to grapple with the same dilemma of attracting fresh talent without sacrificing the identity and distinction of people who've lived there for generations.

While San Antonio is a big city, the parallels between here and small-town Indiana are sometimes uncanny. People notice when something new crops up here. Like many other towns, the struggles with racism, nepotism, stagnation, urbanization and decay.

There is decrepitude in San Antonio, sometimes right next door to fancy hotels and mansions.
Fountains and banana trees sit next to deteriorating buildings. The sidewalk grates emit strange smells. The City's homeless population struggles to survive along these streets, often unheard. Here is the back of one of two buildings on St. Mary's Street:

The back of a historic building located along St. Mary's Street.

I know nothing about this building, other than it's in obvious disuse. It hasn't been renovated in a while. There are probably rats and cockroaches inside.

So why does a not-so-amateur flaneur like me find it so appealing?

I read a little about these two buildings when I got home, learning that both buildings were under review by the Historic and Design Review Commission to receive a historic designation through the Office of Historic Preservation. Reading about the City of San Antonio's plans gave me a different perspective than I gained on foot.

I've lived here for four years, and I still get lost downtown. Sometimes, I'll park on one of these streets and take the River Walk southeast toward Houston Street for a cup of coffee, only to find that three hours have passed and I've walked all the way through downtown and back again.

This happened recently. I started at the San Antonio Public Library, where I noticed these interesting limestone walls with blocks of stone removed, giving pedestrians a view looking northwest toward Main Street:

Outside the San Antonio Public Library.

Several hours later, the sun had gone down, and I found myself looking at a statue of the Virgin Mary outside the Ursuline Academy:

A statue in the courtyard at the Southwest School of Art.

This statue was likely created by a San Antonio artist, and while it's located behind the convent walls out of public view, it's still public art for students, residents and tourists to admire.

It's another perfect moment, and the longer I live in San Antonio, the more I find these discrete but fulfilling sights and sounds.

I'll admit that I'll always be a tourist here. Shopkeepers along Alamo Street ask me where I'm from, not just because it's their job to do so, but because I really look lost. It's OK. I don't mind. I'll usually tell them I'm from here and that I'm just out getting some fresh air.

Still, many of them seem mystified that someone who lives in San Antonio would venture downtown to walk along Alamo Street.

The City has made an effort to turn downtown into a place for locals as well as tourists. It employs street guides along Alamo and Market streets to offer information about dining and attractions to tourists. In 2016, it began its official Downtown Street Performer Program, giving artists a public forum to express themselves without the expectation of payment. Life's hard for artists in San Antonio like anywhere else, but the street performer program is the right idea for a city that's looking to widen its interests beyond the River Walk.

I think San Antonio could also benefit from a public touring program in which it hires young people to guide visitors to places they might enjoy – something akin to the Hugman Tour, but for sites that aren't located along the River Walk. This would be a dream job for many Millennials, who are looking for a dynamic and exciting job where they don't have to sit at a desk all day, and there'd be more than enough tourists.

Sadly, many visitors to San Antonio are given the wrong impression of the city and told by residents that there's nothing to do here. That's a suicidal statement from a city whose major industry thrives on tourism, and a discouraging thing for guests to hear. We need to do more to make sure people have the resources to discover everything that makes San Antonio full of perfect moments.

Featured caption: Public street art painted on a historic building along St. Mary's Street.