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A Selena mural by artist Roland Alvarez was painted at West Houston and North Leona streets, as seen on Aug. 21, 2025. Many of the city’s murals honor musicians and are created in someone’s memory.<\/p>\n
Rene Guzman\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
San Antonio artist Kaldric Dow completed a 600-foot-long mural on Nolan Street titled \u201cEastside Pride,\u201d that features Black images from the 1960s and ’70s. Murals in San Antonio have a rich history and often tell the stories of the people in the community.<\/p>\n
James Lewis\/Contributor<\/p>\n
A Spurs mural at 125\u00a0Guadalupe St., as seen on May 1, 2026, is a collaborative effort featuring the work of San Antonio-area artists and is titled \u201cSan\u00a0Anto Por Vida.”<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Marco Vargas has seen firsthand the evolution of street art in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
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As a teenage street artist,\u00a0Vargas would ask permission of business owners to paint the exterior walls of their storefronts.\u00a0They often would provide a supply of spray paint in exchange for artwork that livened up their buildings.<\/p>\n
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The experience was an outlet for Vargas and it helped him develop his craft. Now a professional artist and teacher <\/a>with his own studio, Vargas also helps guide young muralists on their creative journeys.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re excited to just paint on a wall,\u201d said Vargas, the community mural coordinator at San Anto Cultural Arts<\/a>, a West Side nonprofit that promotes community-based arts and engagement. \u201cA lot of young artists love knowing about the history and love learning about murals. They find that it\u2019s an art form of telling stories.\u201d<\/p>\n This week, San Antonio Explained looks at the history of murals in the city and how the public art has evolved to become a popular and more widely appreciated creative expression.<\/p>\n History and evolution<\/p>\n Murals in San Antonio originated in Mexico, where artists used public art to honor their roots and convey political and social justice messages, including depictions of human rights issues and the\u00a0struggles of the working class.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Muralists brought the art form to San Antonio after the Mexican Revolution, when many immigrated here, archives show<\/a>. The Chicano civil rights movement in the 1960s and ’70s helped fuel the growth of murals.<\/p>\n \u201cMurals became a way for Mexican American communities to celebrate their culture, celebrate and preserve their history and to express their identity,\u201d\u00a0Vargas said.<\/p>\n Most of San Antonio\u2019s murals are on the city\u2019s West and South sides, with many in and near downtown and a growing number on the East Side.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: The ultimate guide to Spurs murals in San Antonio<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Art embraced<\/p>\n The creation of programs that helped teach the significance and artistry of murals started about 30 years ago and really took off over the past 20 years, as public art became more valued<\/a> and cities found ways to fund it, local artists said. Appreciation for murals grew as the community identified with a mural\u2019s subject matter.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s the human connection that really gets us,\u201d said Yadhira Lozano<\/a>, executive director of Luminaria<\/a>, an annual multidisciplinary arts festival in San Antonio. \u201cYou can see a piece of art and if you can feel something and it takes you back to a memory that could be emotional or celebratory or whatever, and you feel something. It moves you. I think that\u2019s what murals do.\u201d<\/p>\n Community mural programs, like the one at San\u00a0Anto that has produced 67 murals on the city\u2019s West Side since the early 1990s, is a way to engage a neighborhood by involving residents, who are included in the decision of what the mural will depict and in the actual painting of the artwork.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Community paint days often involve children, teens and adults, who are guided and encouraged through the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI like to say, ‘Paint covers paint.’ I tell them not to be afraid to try things, to experiment and make mistakes. It can always be redone,\u201d said Crystal Tamez<\/a>, mural preservation manager at San Anto.<\/p>\n For the youth involved in San Anto\u2019s mural program, they learn about what materials work best on various \u201ccanvasses\u201d and how exposure to the elements is important in determining a good spot for the art. Students also learn about the history and significance of murals.<\/p>\n Other nonprofits, including San Antonio Street Art Initiative<\/a>, which offers mentorship to artists, and Centro San Antonio\u2019s Art Everywhere Project<\/a>, which helps partner artists with spaces for their public art, have promoted murals as a legitimate art form. Both programs were established within the last 10 years.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n City Council District 2 this year launched its Community Canvas Small Business Mural Program<\/a>, which will provide five small businesses with an indoor mural. The program will provide small businesses with custom indoor murals painted by Councilman\u00a0Jalen McKee-Rodriguez.<\/p>\n As part of its ongoing events with artist-in-residence\u00a0Rubio, Luminaria is hosting a Mural Making 101 workshop on July 23, where students will learn about creating a mural from the renowned San Antonio fine artist and muralist. It is the nonprofit\u2019s first such program.<\/p>\n Change in attitude<\/p>\n Many local artists agree that social media has helped popularize murals, making it a more widely appreciated art form.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Murals of a lighter and more fun nature, particularly those depicting musicians and sports stars, serve as a good backdrop for photos. The city\u2019s dozens of murals showcasing San Antonio Spurs stars, both past and present, get a lot of social media attention.<\/p>\n Social media has allowed artists to post images of their in-progress artwork or create time-lapsed videos of how a mural is created. This shows the amount of work and skill that goes into creating a mural, local artists said.<\/p>\n The perception of murals being graffiti has faded, especially as some muralists use spray paint in\u00a0their work, artists said. The term now widely used to describe the medium is aerosol, not spray paint.<\/p>\n