A Walk on the Block brings artists from around the country to Tyler

Published 7:58 pm Saturday, October 23, 2021

People from across the country visited Tyler on Saturday morning to gather downtown for “A Walk on the Block” which offered families a chance to watch live art performances from a variety of artists, as well as food trucks, vendors, music and locally owned businesses.

The event, which was held from the railroad tracks near the Cotton Belt Depot Museum to Hillside Park, featured more than 10 artists who came from many places, including the Dallas area to California.

Event organizer and local artist and resident GEMINI said an event like this was necessary. He previously hosted a similar event in March called Vertically Inclined, where several artists gathered again for live art.

GEMINI said since then, the area has seen foot traffic for photoshoots and touring.

“I feel like the area has just flourished and it brings the area back to life,” he said.

His father, Hector Garza, said he sees the area slowly becoming an arts district, like those in Austin or in bigger cities.

“Having the community out, hanging out with each other and lingering around, enjoying the vendors, the food, it’s good for the economy, it’s good for the morality of the city,” he said.

He explained street art is a visual art, created by what’s sitting in the back of the artists’ minds.

“Having somebody step up and somebody serve the community and do things for the community means a whole lot to me especially,” Garza said. He added it’s bridging a community together to old buildings, which he said instead of falling apart, now have artwork on them.

“This isn’t scribbling, this isn’t a mess; this is art,” he said.

GEMINI said he felt it was important to host an event like such again to offer different styles of art to the area as many artists came from Oklahoma, Los Angeles and more areas.

“For the people that come out, the diversity is here. It offers a lot of community building,” he said.

Garza added GEMINI’s long-term goal is to create an arts district, slowly purchasing area properties and creating an artistic ambiance in north Tyler.

“I think it’ll be good for the economy if they could take these old, dilapidated buildings and turn them into something again. Many years ago, they were thriving businesses, so if they can do that all over again, that helps the economy, that helps everybody,” Garza said.

GEMINI said instead of people leaving the area, he sees it as an opportunity to have more people go there and start painting and admiring the art.

For vendors that attended Saturday’s event, GEMINI said he was specific on who he wanted to give permission to, such as diverse small business owners and informative nonprofits.

“It’s their Van Gogh way of doing things. For many years it’s been frowned on because of the same reason, because before, it used to be nothing but scribbling on walls, et cetera, but this is truly turning into an art form,” Garza said.

He invited the community to keep an open mind and encouraged a visit to the area to look at the time and dedication artists put into each piece.