Artist Bill Tavis, left, and his assistant, Nathan Giovinazzo, work on Tavis’ mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
A South Austin water tank is being transformed into what the artist says could become Austin’s largest mural — a colorful tribute to Armadillo World Headquarters, live music and “old Austin.”
The 80-foot-tall tank stands at 910 Armadillo Road in Armadillo Neighborhood Park, near West William Cannon Drive and South First Street. Artist Bill Tavis said the mural will partly honor Armadillo World Headquarters, the influential Austin music venue that closed in 1980.
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“A lot of the people who made that venue happen lived in this neighborhood,” said Tavis, who has lived in Austin for 13 years. “The venue was down by the river near Barton Springs, and there’s kind of a trail back to this neighborhood that some people call the ‘hippie highway,’ around South First and Emerald Forest. That’s what this represents.”
Artist Bill Tavis gets ready to work on his mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
The mural will feature several armadillos, including one playing guitar and another drinking from a pond. It also will depict wildflowers and a honeybee.
Artist Bill Tavis, left, and his assistant, Nathan Giovinazzo, work on Tavis’ mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
A reference drawing for artist Bill Tavis’ mural is taped to a wall at a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. Tavis uses the numbered grid on the drawing to transfer the design onto the curved, 80-foot-tall water tank, where the mural celebrating the history of Armadillo World Headquarters spans about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Artist Bill Tavis, left, and his assistant, Nathan Giovinazzo, work on Tavis’ mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Nathan Giovinazzo, assistant to mural artist Bill Tavis, gathers paint before working on Tavis’ mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Artist Bill Tavis holds a gridded reference drawing before working on his mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. Tavis uses the grid to transfer the design onto the curved, 80-foot-tall water tank, where the mural celebrating the history of Armadillo World Headquarters spans about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Artist Bill Tavis, left, and his assistant, Nathan Giovinazzo, work on Tavis’ mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Artist Bill Tavis works on his mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Artist Bill Tavis, left, and his assistant, Nathan Giovinazzo, work on Tavis’ mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Grid lines mark the unfinished portion of a mural by artist Bill Tavis on a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. Tavis uses the numbered grid to transfer the design onto the curved, 80-foot-tall water tank, where the mural celebrating the history of Armadillo World Headquarters spans about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Artist Bill Tavis and his assistant, Nathan Giovinazzo, work on Tavis’ mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Nathan Giovinazzo, assistant to mural artist Bill Tavis, gathers paint before working on Tavis’ mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Artist Bill Tavis, left, and his assistant, Nathan Giovinazzo, work on Tavis’ mural covering a water tank on Armadillo Road in South Austin on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The mural, depicting an armadillo playing a guitar outside Armadillo World Headquarters, celebrates the history of the legendary Austin music venue and wraps the 80-foot-tall water tank, spanning about 14,400 square feet.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
“There’s the big armadillo playing guitar to represent the live music Austin still has, even though the venue is gone,” Tavis said. “Around the other side, there’s an armadillo drinking from a little pond because Austin Water is sponsoring the project, so it ties into the theme of drinking water.”
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The honeybee is a nod to the property’s former owner.
“I learned the original landowner before the water tank was built was a beekeeper,” Tavis said.
Tavis said he specializes in an art style he calls “halftonism,” which uses patterns of solid colors with varying thicknesses to create shading.
The mural will wrap around the tank’s 180-foot circumference and cover about 14,400 square feet, Tavis said. He believes that could make it Austin’s largest mural by square footage.
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The project is expected to take another couple of months, Tavis said. But residents are already celebrating the tower’s transformation, with one Reddit commenter describing it as an “incredible upgrade.”
“This is a big physical challenge, so hearing that encouragement from the community really helps,” Tavis said. “We’re out here in the heat all day, and it takes a lot of effort, so it’s good motivation.”
The city of Austin agreed in March 2025 to commission Tavis to paint the “Armadillo Water Tank,” setting aside $133,000 through the Art in Public Places program within the Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment.
Tavis said he worked with neighborhood residents and others to learn about the area before developing the design. Painting a cylindrical structure also required him to rethink how viewers would experience the work.
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“The cylindrical shape of the water tank created an interesting design challenge because people only see it from certain angles, like driving along William Cannon,” Tavis said. “I actually built a 3D model of the tank and mapped the artwork onto it so I could determine exactly where each element needed to go to be visible from different viewpoints.”
To get into the spirit of the project, Tavis said he has been listening to “London Homesick Blues,” written by Texas musician Gary P. Nunn and popularized by Jerry Jeff Walker’s live performance at Luckenbach Dance Hall in 1974. The song also serves as the longtime theme for the “Austin City Limits” television show.
“I’ve been listening to that a lot, and it’s been stuck in my head,” Tavis said.
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