Old trolley pylons: Zacate Creek murals record City's history & cultural vignettes

By María Eugenia Guerra

Long after the last electric tramcar moved over the Zacate Creek trolley bridge in 1935, the concrete pylons of that old structure have sat in obscure abandonment on the creek vega.

That is, until recently, when in the tradition of Mexican muralists José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siquieros, and Diego Rivera 15 Laredo art students, under the direction of magnet school art instructor Jorge Vasquez, have brightened the cityscape with a series of colorful two-sided murals that depict a set of cultural vignettes and also pay homage to Laredo's history and the trolley car system that operated under auspices of the Laredo Improvement Company (LIC) from 1889 to 1935.

The murals, a very welcome sight along the Washington-Corpus Christi Bridge , are now a part of the Zacate Creek Linear Park that spans from Lyon Street south to the Río Grande .

Selena Rivera a grant writer for the City Parks and Recreation Department, conceived the idea of art on the old concrete monoliths and found a way to include the project in a $489,000 grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Rivera contacted instructor Vasquez at the Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts. Vasquez's students came up with the designs, which the City reviewed and approved. The work went quickly. In the classroom, students used overhead projectors to make their sketches on butcher paper to the scale of the concrete panels. They ran the butcher paper through an electric pouncing machine, which burned tiny holes in the paper. Using powder paint on a sock, they transferred the images from butcher paper to the primed concrete surfaces of the old infrastructure and began to paint.

Vasquez, assisted by his son Emiliano Vasquez and by two former students, Guadalupe Contreras and Selene Lozano, coordinated the efforts of VMT students Cassandra Gamez, Irma Arzagoitia, Veronica Martinez, Sondra Venegas, Nancy Guevara, Claribel Trujillo, Joshua Dancause, Brenda Llano, Sabino Lugo, Juan Leyton, Isela Rodriguez, Claudia Hernandez, Sara Rodriguez, Nahuel Morales, Martin Gonzalez, and Rocio Maldonado. Painting at the site began December 10, and students put finishing touches and their signatures on the work January 15. According to City Parks and Recreation public information officer Deidre Reyna, the murals have been well received. A dedication ceremony is planned for March or April.

The acrylic murals depict among other things a piñata party, a quinceañera, outdoor activities, a sunrise, la Virgen de Guadalupe, Guadalupe Church, a trolley car, and the seven flags that are part of Laredo's history.

VMT art student Nahuel Morales, a Nixon senior, said the mural was a satisfying learning experience. “I learned techniques like blending paints from other students. You get to see how other artists work in an up-close way,” Morales said.

This was Morales' first experience with a mural. “I don't know if everyone will think it is really good art, but a lot of folks stopped by to talk to us while we were painting. They took an interest in it throughout the process,” Morales said, adding, “We want people to notice the mural and be involved and think it has value.”

Morales said the experience of working with Vasquez had been meaningful to him as an artist. “He offers really constructive criticism. He said the mural wasn't for him, that it was for us,” said Morales, who wants to study design communication and animation at Texas Tech University.

Martin Gonzalez, a Martin High School senior, has studied with Vasquez for four years and was also part of the effort to paint the “Colores de mi barrio” mural in the Azteca neighborhood.

Of Vasquez, Gonzalez said, “His life was the inspiration for all of this. It was the undercurrent to the murals. He shared his life with us. He has lived an incredible life. I felt like he had unwrapped who I am as an artist and let me loose on the art.”

Gonzalez said he appreciated the collaborative aspect of the Zacate Creek murals. “You play around with technique, you and your fellow artist, and in some way you have to tie in together. We actually did this,” he said.

He said the sight of the murals “has an impact.” He continued, “The monoliths had been invisible and never noticed. Maybe this will let people know we need more art. It was important that we put something old to use. We can show them to our kids.” He added that it was also important to come up with a meaningful name for the murals before their dedication this spring.

Gonzalez said he hopes to pursue a career in medicine and also in art. “Art is my life, and it has been since I was very young,” he said.

“I loved the room, the space to paint,” said student Cassandra Gamez, “and I love that this is displayed for the public to see.” Nancy Guevara said the lack of detail in the faces of the characters of the mural makes for a more interesting piece of work. “It's stylized,” she said. Guevara said she was proud to leave something for others to see and that she is also appreciative of the learning experience. “This is much less organized than work you would undertake by yourself or in the studio. The surface itself was a learning experience,” she said. “It was not a smooth surface, and so it was a challenge,” she said of the concrete pylons which are ribbed by the boards that made up their forms. Guevara said she hopes to enroll in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas.

“I found it difficult to want to paint features on the characters,” said Gamez. “It would be like interjecting yourself into the mural. If the faces are blank, you can imagine the faces you want.” Gamez has plans to enroll at TAMIU this fall to study art.

According to instructor Vasquez, murals were once painted and perceived as political statements or propaganda vehicles. “They are now an expression, and that is what these murals are,” the longtime community activist said. Vasquez, a 1965 graduate of Martin High School, grew up in the Azteca neighborhood along Zacate Creek. A former migrant, he worked with Cesar Chavez in the early 70s and was an Air Force medic in the Vietnam years. He completed a degree in art education at Texas A&I in Kingsville in the epoch of Amado Peña and Carmen Lomas Garza, and even having kept such stellar company, Vasquez said, “I don't consider myself an artist. That's about selling work.”

“This,” he said with a flourish directed at the murals and a dozen students at the industry of their art on a cool morning in mid-January, “This is very satisfying.”