> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.huntsvillan.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # A painting is worth a thousand words. So what's a mural worth? - URL: https://www.huntsvillan.com/a-painting-is-worth-a-thousand-words-so-whats-a-mural-worth/ - Published: 2026-09-09T15:20:26.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-09T15:20:26.000Z - Description: Murals have been popping up all over Huntsville, enriching the community in the process – and more may be in store. - Author: Steph Mamber Think the Mona Lisa is old? Try cave art and petroglyphs, which go back tens of thousands of years. The urge to draw on walls is universal, as most parents can confirm. But wall art is more than self-expression. Murals don't just beautify communities. They [revitalize them](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264275125003853?dgcid=author), increasing business and drawing tourists. Huntsville has been a trendsetter in recognizing the power and value of murals – and based on recent activity, we are just getting started. [Don't look now](https://www.huntsvillan.com/dont-look-now-but-huntsville-is-becoming-a-live-music-mecca/), but Huntsville is becoming a mural mecca, too. ## Stick with it for decades and things start to add up Our oldest surviving mural sits alongside Cloud 9, downtown. Well over thirty years ago, owner Blaine Mann commissioned Huntsville’s premier sign painter, Ken Manthei, to paint a music scene like the ones the building used to host. Mann says, “I needed something. I designed it, and Ken did a great job on it.” A more fanciful companion mural went in years later. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2754.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_1326-1-1.jpg) Left: The oldest mural in town is alongside Cloud 9 downtown. Photo credit: Mary-Brett Stringer. Right: Its newer companion alongside. The 1990s gave murals their biggest boost, when the city commissioned works by world-renowned muralist Richard Haas, whose "trompe l’oeil" technique gave relief to the flat facades of downtown buildings. Getting city council, the arts commission, business owners, and property owners on board for the Haas project was no easy feat. But with the leadership of Linda Pease, all parties came together to secure funds and embark on this long-term project. Haas has 14 murals and 2 other works in Huntsville, more than you'll find anywhere else. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2788-1.jpeg) Haas' "trompe d'oeil" technique gives a three-dimensional look to a flat surface, as in this Avon mural on Sam Houston Ave. Photo credit: Mary-Brett Stringer. This investment has paid off. Haas' murals helped halve [downtown vacancies](https://postcardslive.com/texas-treasures-huntsvilles-haas-murals/) during the 1990s and set downtown apart, facilitating its approval for a Main Street Program in 2001, designation as a “Cultural District” by the Texas Commission on the Arts in 2009, and designation as a “Preserve America Community” by the White House in 2010. “It’s not easy to create art that can appeal to everyone, but Haas’s collection does that,” says Patrick Richards, who helped paint these murals years ago. Since then, murals have proliferated all over Huntsville. Alongside the [Museum of Texas Furniture](https://www.huntsvillan.com/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-art-bonanza-right-under-our-noses/) at 1405 University, you can find a scene of the East Texas wild done by local artist Kat Black, whose work is also on the side of the Firehouse Loft at 1017 11th Street, welcoming those traveling west on Hwy 190. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2750-1.jpeg) Kat Black mural on the side of the Museum of Texas Furniture. Photo credit: Mary-Brett Stringer. A block away, across from Rather Park, is an homage to Sam Houston on the side of the title company. And tucked away [in a nearby alley](https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19YsCpKfU1/) is an incarceration-themed mural painted by students at Sam Houston State University. Those murals were all done before 2020\. Since then, the pace of progress has accelerated. Imerj’s striking [“Be Free” mural](https://www.huntsvillan.com/imerj-ing-from-prison-into-art/) sits across from Old Town Theater. Right nearby, a brilliant blue building has a giant blue jay perched on a cigar: the Bluebird Cigar Lounge. A little to the south, facing Rather Park, is Lee Jamison's “Downtown Huntsville” mural, whose flowers extend around the corner to the stores on University Ave. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_1324-1.jpg) The Big Kahuna of them all, finished just last year, is also by Jamison: the massive [Huntsville History mural](https://www.mortarpestletx.com/about-1) on Sam Houston Ave. downtown alongside the new Mortar & Pestle bookshop. Co-owner Kara Froelich said, “It was time.” When renovating the space before opening, she and co-owner Carl Pittman wanted their exterior side wall to depict “things that would appeal to everyone in the community \[and be\] relatable." "We needed some variety to represent what Walker County really is," she said. "As our plans became clear, we thought a scrapbook design would tie everything together and connect it to the bookstore that this place was going to be." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_1348-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_1339-1.jpg) Close-ups of the mural alongside Mortar & Pestle, downtown. This mural, especially, repays close observation, composed of numerous scenes depicting Huntsville's history and beauty. Pay attention downtown, and you will notice that murals are everywhere. ## An exciting mix of "This Old House" and painting from a bucket truck Creating murals isn't merely a big painting project. It's like the messiest home renovation you never had to deal with. Froelich said that, for her mural, "initially, the whole wall had to be re-plastered. Then it had to be covered in a mineral-based paint so the walls can breathe. They are almost two feet thick – there's brick, there's stucco, there's cinderblock in some places, plaster – so you need the special paint." Add to that scaffolding, special paint for the mural itself, renting a bucket truck, the artists. "It was not cheap," said Froelich. Richards, for his part, has been in town throughout the past year restoring the Haas murals. Not only is the technique itself highly specialized, but the Gibbs building alone has 77 colors that must be recreated each time a touch-up is needed. Unlike Haas’ pieces elsewhere, Huntsville's are unique in concentration, design, and color. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_1349-1.jpg) Patrick Richards meticulously restored this Richard Haas mural over the past year. Restoration is also not cheap. So far, that work has been funded by [city grants](https://www.itemonline.com/news/main-street-oks-4-000-in-grants-to-restore-downtown-murals/article%5F29bd5bda-3900-48b3-b992-f0cea5f90cef.html) and donations from key families inside and outside of Huntsville. ## Putting murals on the map Haas' murals are fairly well recognized in town, but less so outside it, and Huntsville's high concentration of murals overall is largely unknown. The city's [tourism marketing](https://www.huntsvillan.com/huntsville-spends-over-1-million-annually-marketing-itself-to-tourists-why-is-it-hiding-one-of-its-crown-jewels/) isn't helping. Haas' murals are briefly noted on the Main Street Program’s [webpage](https://www.huntsvilletx.gov/882/Main-Street-Program) and under “[Things To Do](https://huntsvilletexas.com/35/Things-to-Do)” on the city's visitor site, HuntsvilleTexas.com. But neither focuses on the collection's grand scope or lists any other local murals. A few Haas pieces are found on a flyer for a [Walking Tour](https://www.huntsvilletexas.com/DocumentCenter/View/60/Self-Guided-Downtown-Walking), and some briefly mentioned in an [Art Tour](https://www.huntsvilletexas.com/DocumentCenter/View/62/Self-Guided-Art-Tour-PDF?bidId=) flyer. But both flyers are so old they are practically historical artifacts themselves. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2738.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2765.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2771.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_1331.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/Imerj-Art-Rose-Mural-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2789-1.jpeg) Clockwise from top left: an incarceration-themed mural in an alleyway off 11th St., flowers extending along University Ave., the Bluebird Cigar Lounge, the Leadbelly mural along Sam Houston Ave., a bit of the mural at Imerj, and Sam Houston along Walker County Title. Photo credits: Mary-Brett Stringer. No murals whatsoever are included on the Main Street Program's [downtown map](https://www.huntsvilletx.gov/860/Downtown-Map), which focuses on businesses and parking. You could read all of this material and never guess that Huntsville has the largest concentration of work from a top-tier artist. Main Street manager Amanda Sewell is aware of the situation. “Main Street is already working on \[updating\] Haas materials for the murals' 30th anniversary \[coming up soon\]," she says. "The timing is actually a great opportunity to take a fresh look at how we're telling the downtown story.” This summer, Huntsville hosted the Main Street Managers Conference, where Sewell led a three day session that held up Haas’ murals as a cost-effective way to re-create historic architecture. The city is also “beginning conversations about a self-guided experience using QR codes on the murals to connect visitors with the history, photos, video, and potentially audio associated with each,” says Sewell. And further murals may be in store. Haas' project was originally conceived as having four stages – but only the first two have been done. Richards is working on this front, too, with Haas, now 90 years old, willing to offer up more designs to complete these final stages. Huntsville is, indeed, [so much more than a prison town](https://www.huntsvillan.com/so-much-more-than-a-prison-town/). Though we haven't publicized it, our city was one of the first to use murals for positive appeal and appreciation of art (instead of combatting graffiti), we went all-in, and we scored big. It's a secret we really don't need to keep. --- You can tour Huntsville's murals in an eight block loop starting from Rather Park downtown, as shown in the map below. This stretch has a dozen murals, with another one block further south on University. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/09/map-2.png) Mural sites are marked with a green X. Like what you read? Read other art articles in our [Dept. of Human Endeavor](https://www.huntsvillan.com/human/), smash that subscribe button at top right (desktop, tablet) or in the drop-down menu (phone) to receive occasional updates when we publish new stuff, or follow our [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Huntsvillan/61574229382407/) page or [Twitter](https://x.com/TheHuntsvillan) feed. This article was composed by **The Huntsvillan*'s Chief Humanist, Mary-Brett Stringer. Learn more about Mary-Brett and her podcast, **The Doers of Things*, on her web site, [www.thedoersofthings.com](https://www.thedoersofthings.com/?ref=huntsvillan.com).