Gallery Main Street director Amber Varona talks with Tyler Morning Telegraph about downtown Tyler's new project, Art Alley.

Downtown Tyler has added several murals and street art over the past few years. According to Main Street Director Amber Varona, that’s not about to change. City officials want to have two new murals around town every year.

However, this year, they’re starting strong with over 40 murals — all being displayed in Tyler’s new “Art Alley.” The alley is behind the 200 block of West Erwin Street, connecting College Avenue and Bois d’Arc Avenue.

“In my position as the curator of Gallery Main Street, I get to see a lot of artists that are coming in,” Varona said. “But then there’s these artists that are a totally different medium that love to do street art and that love to do mural styles. Being able to talk with them has shown me just how deep the art community goes.”

Although the city of Tyler had planned to begin Art Alley earlier this year, COVID-19 delayed the installation of the wooden wall. Now that the wall is up, there’s nothing to stop 43 artists from working on their murals.

Potential artists had to submit proposals of the art pieces they would create, as well as previous examples of their work before they were selected. The city called for the applications this October, and last month they announced the chosen artists.

“We thought we were going to have to beg the community to finish this project, and so we were going to break it up into 10 artists in the first phase (out of four planned phases),” Varona said. “But in the first phase submittal, we actually got 60 different artists and more coming in wanting to be part of it as it was publicized. So we were very fortunate to go ahead and we’ll complete the entire alley in one fell swoop.”

Once the art pieces are complete, the murals will be covered in an anti-graffiti coating for protection.

“If anyone comes and spray paints or comes and marks on the art, it’s easily wiped off and not destroying and not removing the mural itself,” Varona said.

The coating was provided by Keep Tyler Beautiful. Andy’s Frozen Custard’s downtown location also helped to sponsor the project by providing art supplies to artists who needed it.

For artists Lauri Thomas and Amanda Hancock, art is all about collaboration and community. The two artists are working on a panel together, where passer-bys can leave notes in decorated boxes implanted into the art on the wall.

“It’s kind of a leave-one, take-one note of inspiration,” Hancock said. “We made this to be interactive.”

Artist Luis Perez is working together with artists Jovan Chavez to create a Tyler skyline.

“We wanted it to represent Tyler, so we wanted it to be simple. So we picked the outline of different buildings – like the church – just different buildings that we have here downtown,” Perez said. “Then we’re going to try to fill it with roses. We picked a sunset too, because, in my opinion, there’s nothing like an East Texas sunset – and I’ve been around.”

For artist Nohely Bustos, her accepted proposal to paint in the alley provided the opportunity to give her portrayal of her favorite artist: Frida Kahlo – who now decorates the wall in bright yellow on Tyler’s Art Alley.

“I’m a big fan of Frida Kahlo. I took art classes, but I never took art history. So I don’t really know a lot of artists,” Bustos said. “When I go to Mexico every year. I go to little flea markets. I got inspired by the art and the culture, because it’s my culture. I’ve always had a passion for art, but I didn’t really know if I could do this. I knew that Tyler had art murals and stuff, but I never had the guts until this year.”

Bustos said it’s her first big mural, and since she started, she hasn’t taken a day off.

“I started a week ago. But I’ve been coming every day,” Bustos said. “I was here on Christmas day too, just to come and do some little detail and stuff like that. It’s getting there.”

Ironically, Frida Kahlo is known for her realism, but that’s not how Bustos wanted to portray her.

“I was going to do a regular skin color, but I just changed my mural,” Bustos said. “I wanted it to be colorful, like her dress, and the armadillo – I painted it blue. People ask me ‘why are you making a blue armadillo?’ Because it pops out! It stands out, like her skin. I just wanted it to be a bit more colorful.”

Bustos said that the wall has given her a place to express the merging of her two cultures.

“On the left side is kind of the Texas flowers, the rose, because roses are from Tyler, and then over here (on the right) I wanted to add Mexican flowers like poinsettias and marigolds and the national flower of Mexico,” Bustos said. “And I added skulls for the Day of the Dead… I’m proud of my culture, I’m proud of my family, and I just want to do something for Tyler because I’m from here.”

Artists have until the end of January to complete their mural, and Varona said the city hopes to have a grand opening of the alleyway in February.

The last panel of art hasn’t been selected yet, and Varona said the public can weigh in on the final selection. A call will be put out this week for submissions and five pieces of art will be chosen for review. Then, people on Facebook will choose the winner for the last panel.

The Art Alley also features an interactive panel for the community to contribute on. Anybody who walks by and gets inspired can contribute to the decorated art panel that will be cleared and repainted every few months.

“Right now, everyone needs a bit of happiness and a reason to smile,” Varona said. “I really think that art is able to do that.”