When Blasterz were in Crystal city, we stopped by City Hall to see the statue of Popeye.
We noticed this beautiful mural on several panels. While we were taking pictures, a local told us about the mural. Now (2015), she is hoping to get a state arts grant to clean and brighten up this mural, which has been a source of pride for the community since it was painted in 1992.
The Crystal City mural consists of four panels, to fit the blank spaces on the front of City Hall between windows and doors. Each panel corresponds to a different time frame.
The first panel encompasses the early history of the area, from the 1400s to the 1880s. Alligators (common along the Rio Grande and Nueces Rivers until hunted out), javelinas (small wild pigs that are still numerous in South Texas) and mountain lions (rarely seen, but still prowling the brush country) are painted in the preferred habitats. Also in this frame, we see a depiction of Native Americans who roamed these plains and valleys.
The artist has arranged the figures according to their time of arrival. Native Americans were here first, and are in the background. Next European immigrants from Mexico arrived in the 1740s. This group is represented by what looks to be (from his clothing) a wealthy Mexican man. He stands next to his horse, looking straight out of the mural at the viewer. Blasterz think he could be an impresario, or a wealthy landowner. Finally, the Caucasians American settlers arrived starting in the 1820s. They are represented by a cowboy on his horse, driving cattle north to markets in Kansas.
The second and third panels are divided by the door into City Hall, but they are joined by their subject of the genesis of Texas and its transition from being an independent republic to becoming the 28th state in the Union.
The leftmost of these two panels features a bust of Stephen F. Austin, "The Father of Texas," a noted impresario who brought Anglo settlers to Texas. He is painted in front of the Lone Star flag, which was the official flag of the Republic of Texas and continues as the state flag of Texas today.
In the foreground is a figure of a woman dressed in 1880s attire. Behind her is a one-room schoolhouse and students. The city staff member we spoke to told us that the artist was very troubled by high dropout rates among Hispanic youth in South Texas, and believed that education has always been the foundation of future success in Texas, from its very early days.
In the second panel, a seated figure of Lady Liberty points at the US flag, referencing Texas now being part of the United States of America, and the responsibilities of the US to bring order to Texas, which was a pretty lawless place in the 1840s.
In the background, members of a US Army Cavalry unit stand at attention with their unit flag. The women seated before them are their wives, who also lived in the chain of frontier forts (that each started as tent camps) along the Rio Grande and at hot spots inland. The soldiers protected settlers from Indian and border bandit raids, stabilizing the area so that farmers, ranchers, and settlers could thrive here.
The fourth panel features a central figure of a Hispanic woman in her graduation gown. She holds tight to her diploma, obviously proud of it, and looks upward to a bright future, visually connecting education and success.
Arranged around her are Hispanic migrant workers picking the famous Texas 1015 onions that grow here, and a couple doing a traditional Mexican cultural dance. A Hispanic man in a suit looks out from the lower right corner, but we have not been able to determine who he is.
Notice the rows of spinach being harvested around the statue of Popeye? That's a witty nod to Crystal City, The Spinach Capital of the World, and home of this mural.
The figure harvesting sweet potatoes from their vines, dressed in what looks like a prison uniform, is an allusion to the internees of the WWII Crystal City Internment Camp, many of whom performed agricultural work regardless of what their pre-internment professions had been. The man's face is turned away, as if the American Dream of freedom and success through hard work does not apply to him.
The Crystal City Internment Camp held German Americans, Japanese Americans, and people designated as "Enemy Aliens" from other Axis-affiliated countries. It operated for nearly 3 years, from 1943-1946.
The name of the mural, "Land of Perpetual Sunshine," the name of the artist, and the date completed are in the lower right corner.
The mural was designed and painted by noted artist and muralist Fidencio Duran. The mural was commissioned and paid for with a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.
For more on Fidencio Duran, see here: (
visit link) and here: (
visit link)