If you’ve spotted a lift and a muralist at work on a wall near you this week, that’s Big Walls Big Dreams. The festival opened Oct. 30 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 15. Artists from Houston and beyond are painting more than 25 new murals across the city, and watching any of them go up is free.
The festival has no single site. This year’s walls are in East Aldine, the Arts District, the East End, the Heights, Midtown, Southeast District, the Energy Corridor and Five Corners. Some wall assignments may change, so check @upartstudio on Instagram for the latest.
Who is painting, and where
Houston artists include Cease Martinez, Anat Ronen, Colors and Tra’ Slaughter. Visitors come from across the U.S. and abroad: Rahmaan Statik (Chicago), Binho CBS (São Paulo), Bruno Smoky (Barrie, Ontario), MrKas (Porto), Rafique (Puerto Rico) and Denial (Windsor, Ontario). Odeith, from Lisbon, is known for anamorphic murals that look as if they float off the wall.
The festival’s largest piece is a 150-foot mural in the Heights by Drew Merritt, of Clovis, N.M.
East Aldine has a special role this year. The East Aldine Management District turns 25, and the East Aldine Arts Council is marking the anniversary with the Aldine Mural Route: 25 murals for 25 years. Festival artists will paint at least 12 of them. Earlier this year, UP Art Studio finished the East Aldine Gateways, a 70,000-square-foot mural under U.S. 59 at Little York, which the studio describes as the largest installation of its kind in Texas.
“We want the murals in the neighborhoods where people live,” said Elia Quiles, co-founder of UP Art Studio, which runs the festival.
Tours, the app and the closing party
Free mural tours. Mister McKinney’s Houston History Bus, an open-air school bus, will run one-hour tours with historical context on the locations and buildings, and with that week’s festival artists on board. Two tours will cover East Aldine’s Aldine Mural Route, and two will go through the Arts District and the Heights. Each tour has 20 seats. Dates are still to be announced, so watch @bigwallsbigdreams on Instagram to sign up.
Mural Quest. The studio’s Houston Mural Map is becoming an app, the first piece of a new platform called My City Arts. A scavenger hunt through this year’s murals will follow, with prize drawings at 5, 10, 15 and 20 murals. Grand prizes include signed Houston Astros Foundation memorabilia and a night at the C. Baldwin Hotel. Launch dates will be posted at mycityarts.org.
On Saturday, Nov. 14, from 5 p.m., the Heights House Hotel (100 W. Cavalcade St.) hosts a free closing party and art market open to the public. Painting wraps up the next day.
Elia and Noah Quiles started the festival in Miami in 2015 and brought it to Houston in 2021. It has produced 350 murals between the two cities.
