Midland’s public art is scattered rather than clustered, which means most of it is found by accident. This is a guide to where the murals, sculptures and gallery spaces actually are.
There is no official mural map for Midland and no single downtown arts district. What there is instead is a steady accumulation: a bank wall painted with pumpjacks, a library covered in metal wings, a sculpture garden with sixteen works in it, and a set of bronze statues in a city park. Here are a few to start with, not a complete list, and worth noting that outdoor murals get painted over and buildings come down, so a few of these may look different by the time you get there.
Murals Downtown and Nearby
The oil rigs and pumpjacks mural covers a wall at the corner of North Big Spring Street and West Illinois Avenue, in the 400 block of West Illinois. It was designed by Peter Himmelberg and painted by employees of the local Chase bank.
Two murals sit on the Library at the Plaza, the Midland County downtown library at 301 W. Missouri Avenue, and they are the most photographed pieces in town. On one side, Imagination was painted by Calina Mishay and paired with metal installation work by Rae Ripple, including the wings that people stand in front of. Both were completed in December 2019 as part of the library renovation. On the other side, In The New World, a longhorn stampede, is by Peter Himmelberg and Tom Ryan. The library itself is covered in our guide to libraries in Midland.
Greetings From Midland, at 900 N. Big Spring Street at Volunteer Park, is the postcard-style mural, painted by Artworks Midland. It works in the Yucca Theatre, oil rigs and pumpjacks, the Tall City skyline and the Bush family.
A few more worth driving to:
- Twin Lions, by Midlander and Texas Tech alum Baron Batch, at Popbar Midland, 200 Spring Park Drive, Suite 300, in Ally Village.
- Art in the Alley at Basin PBS, 203 N. Main Street, by Texas artist Jesse Melanson.
- A mural at the Museum of the Southwest, 1705 W. Missouri Avenue, by Texas artist Mari Pohlman, completed during a SeptemberFest.
- The Cogdell Learning Center mural at 201 W. Florida Avenue, painted in early 2019 by Midland artist Janet Pontious, with multicultural faces and native plants.
- The Friends of the Libraries Bookstore mural at 2305 W. Michigan Avenue, by GG Aguilar, painted in 2014.
- The FaFa Gallery mural at 438 Andrews Highway, by Artworks Midland with community participation, showing the Tall City personified against a West Texas sunset.
- The Love You mural on the side of Pool Techniques, 2514 W. Ohio Avenue, by Artworks Midland with local kids and teens.
- Breaking Bread at 410 E. Florida Avenue and Faded Souls at 100 E. Texas Avenue, also by Artworks Midland. Faded Souls features a cat mascot with a mustache and spectacles alongside a barber pole.
Downtown, five smaller murals line the alley between the Wall Street Lofts and Bourbon Street. The loft owner worked with the Museum of the Southwest to choose five pieces by Midland residents, adults and children, and enlarge them onto the wall.
Two long-standing older murals with no recorded artist are at Mr. T’s Market, 1100 N. Big Spring Street, and Pepe’s Body Shop, in the 600 block of East Indiana Avenue.
The Sculpture Garden at the Museum of the Southwest
The biggest concentration of public art in Midland is the sculpture garden at the Museum of the Southwest, 1705 W. Missouri Avenue, with the campus entrance on K Street. The museum publishes a numbered sculpture tour covering sixteen outdoor works, including pieces by Glenna Goodacre, Allan Houser, Jesus Moroles, Veryl Goodnight, Dan Ostermiller, Doug Hyde, Rosie Sandifer, Catherine Lee, Peter Woytuk, Tom Knapp, and Judith Stewart with Danielle Niebling.
The usual starting point is Rusty, a welded steel longhorn steer by Joe Barrington, made in 2008 and given by the artist. It stands between the Children’s Museum and the Blakemore Planetarium.
Sculpture Around Town
Centennial Park downtown holds a history wall sculpted by Donna Dobberfuhl of San Antonio. It was originally installed at Centennial Plaza for Midland’s centennial celebration in July 1985 and depicts Midland history back to the 1600s. Dobberfuhl returned in person to restore it, and it was reinstalled at Centennial Park in June 2020.
Dennis the Menace Park has three bronze Dennis statues by sculptor Tom White, commissioned by the City of Midland Parks and Recreation Department during the park’s renovation. Adventurer Dennis stands at the park entrance looking through a telescope, Slugger Dennis is in the baseball area, and Pirate Dennis is at the splash pad. Three more designs were created and are still waiting on sponsors. The park is a regular stop in our free things to do with kids guide.
The Arts Council of Midland also maintains the FMH Foundation Sculpture Garden, an outdoor garden built with the F. Marie Hall Foundation.
Painted Traffic Boxes
Two separate programs put artwork on the utility and traffic signal boxes around town, which is why the boxes near major intersections are painted or wrapped rather than gray.
The City of Midland has run a traffic box art contest that awarded prizes to local artists and wrapped the winning designs on utility boxes downtown.
Love Midland runs a separate traffic signal box art project open to Midland County artists of all ages, with winning designs vinyl-wrapped and left in place for at least two years.
Where to See Work by Local Artists
McCormick Gallery at Midland College sits in the Allison Fine Arts Building, 3600 N. Garfield. It opened in 1971. It hosts the Midland Arts Association’s annual fall juried exhibition along with student shows.
The FaFa Gallery, attached to Silver’s Framery at 438 Andrews Highway on the corner of Michigan, shows local and international artists and hosts openings and live music.
Baker Schorr Fine Art at 200 Spring Park Drive, Suite 105, in Ally Village shows contemporary and classic fine art from regional and national artists.
The Turner Memorial Art Museum inside the Museum of the Southwest holds more than 1,700 works across eleven galleries in the Historic Turner Mansion and the Lissa Noel Wagner Wing.
The Groups Behind It
Arts Council of Midland is a nonprofit at 806 S. Main Street. It runs the Celebration of the Arts, The Open Show, an annual Makers’ Market and the sculpture garden, and it makes subgrants to other local arts organizations.
Midland Arts Association runs Art in the Halls at Midland Shared Spaces, a membership open show, the fall juried exhibition at Midland College and a spring juried exhibition at the Museum of the Southwest.
Midland Art Crawl is a nonprofit founded in 2022 that runs a quarterly citywide evening art event, with participating venues across town and an artist directory on its site.
Artworks Midland is behind more of Midland’s murals than any other group and works on a community participation model, bringing residents in to help paint.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are the murals in Midland, Texas?
The densest cluster is downtown: the library murals at 301 W. Missouri Avenue, the pumpjack mural at Big Spring and Illinois, the Basin PBS alley at 203 N. Main Street, and the alley behind the Wall Street Lofts. Greetings From Midland is a short drive north at 900 N. Big Spring Street.
Is there a mural map for Midland?
No official one. Visit Midland and MIDLAND AF both publish mural roundups that function as the unofficial list.
Can you visit the Museum of the Southwest sculpture garden for free?
The garden is part of the museum campus at 1705 W. Missouri Avenue. Check the museum’s visit page for current admission. The museum publishes a numbered sculpture tour of the sixteen outdoor works.
Where can I see art by Midland artists?
McCormick Gallery at Midland College and The FaFa Gallery on Andrews Highway both show local work. The Midland Arts Association’s fall and spring juried exhibitions and the Arts Council’s Open Show are the main annual open-call shows.
Is there an art walk in Midland?
Midland Art Crawl runs a quarterly evening event across participating venues citywide. Dates and the venue list are posted on their site.
What did we miss?
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