"Austintatious" Mural, Austin

If you only have time to check out just one mural in Austin, the “Austintatious” mural, also known as the Stephen F. Austin mural, should be it. Located at the 23rd Street Artists’ Market on Guadalupe Street, which is an outdoor area with booths selling locally made art, jewelry, clothing, leather goods and various oddities surrounded by the student oriented Drag shopping strip directly across from the University of Texas, it is indeed a sort of a touchstone for guests of Austin.

This was one of the first outdoor murals in the city, first painted in 1974 by a group of friends including artist/comedian/musician Kerry Awn, Tom Bauman and Rick Turner, collectively known as the “Austintatious Artists”. In essence, the massive mural represents a comical walkthrough of Austin’s history and culture. Among the depicted highlights here are the landmarks of downtown Austin, such as the Texas Capitol, the UT Tower and the Ritz Theater on the one side, and those of the entire state of Texas on the other.

The artists painted the wall white and then projected a comic book drawing onto it, which they traced with charcoal. They then filled in the colors and details with help from their friends, including muralist Jim Franklin, who painted the armadillos held by Stephen F. Austin in the center.

The mural was vandalized in 2014, but the original artists weren't ready to let their work fade into history just yet, so they raised funds, rented a power washer and painstakingly restored the mural themselves.