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After a year-long hiatus due to COVID-19, the Hoodoo Mural Festival returned for the second time to promote Amarillo’s public art in the downtown area.
The festival, which starts on Saturday, shows five artist murals that were made exclusively for this event on various areas and buildings in the city center.
Among the artists attending the event are Clovis-born artist Drew Merritt; Amarillo-born Natalie Fletcher, who won first place in the first season of Body Wars; DAAS from Austin, Ivan Roque from Miami and local favorites Blank Spaces Murals.
This year’s event added musical guests, headlined by Austin-based band Nané. Kaelin Ellis, Corbin Cary, Rupert the Duke, Vamping and a Silent Disco with local DJs also performed. Live painting and art demonstrations are also offered.
Among the local artists who provided a mural for the event was the Blank Spaces group. Blank Spaces is a student arts program that provides professional mural painting experience across Amarillo. The goal of the program is to give students a real opportunity to host art exhibitions and do murals.
More:Art on a grand scale: Hoodoo Mural Festival brings urban boom to downtown Amarillo
Shawn Kennedy, the executive director of Blank Spaces, spoke about the opportunity to make art for the Downtown Festival, which is important to the city of Amarillo and its students in the organization.
The group has made 27 murals in the Amarillo area.
Kennedy described Saturday’s mural as the epitome of Amarillo, with gold Art Deco backgrounds found in the Barfield that go with much of the downtown architecture.
“Public art is art for everyone. People who would not normally go to a museum or gallery can walk the streets and take part in the works as they go, ”said Kennedy. “The beautification of the community is paying off for the local economy. I’m just thrilled that the Amarillo art community is growing. “
Shanda O’Neill, Project Manager at Blank Spaces, spoke about the group’s new art for the festival.
“We really wanted to get into the history of the Panhandles cattle and cattle, so we decided to add buffalo depictions to the mural,” said O’Neill. “We worked really hard on this project.”
Founder and native Amarillo Andrew Hall said he hopes the Hoodoo Mural Festival will generate more interest in the Amarillo art scene and add cultural elements that he has seen elsewhere in his travels.
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