Project brings art to Bringle Lake Park

A quiet spillway at Bringle Lake Park has transformed in recent weeks from a haven for graffiti and weeds to a veritable art park where visitors enjoy colorful reminders of our innate creativity.

Now called Bringle Lake Art Park, this little nook of Bringle along the Bringle Lake Wilderness Trail is home to new wall murals, colorful sidewalks and the visions of artists both local and non-local, in addition to the egrets, butterflies, turtles and other critters who call this habitat home.

Spearheaded by Erin Rogers at Texarkana, Texas Parks and Recreation, the park features pathways painted by artists who've dedicated themselves to decorating particular squares of sidewalk.

On one square, the words "Life Junkie" appear in '60s-style, bubble-esque script inscribed on a heart, while on another there's a menagerie with Earth circled by flowers, sunshine, a wave and rain falling from a cloud, as if to capture life cycles we experience.

One sidewalk drawing gets local, depicting Texarkana's two states with a reminder: "Don't Let the Line Divide Us." Another has bold, celestial shapes that appear to be inspired by science, the far reaches of the cosmos. There are realistic paintings and abstract ones, ones designed to make us think, others to simply draw a smile upon our face.

One artist created a series of cartoonish smiley faces, each with charming personality. Another shared a serious message: "Destroy the patriarchy, not the planet." Another: "The Sun Always Shines Brightest After the Storm." Even the trash cans are painted pleasantly.

Work started in April with priming the mural walls and an archway, then laying down solid colors on the sidewalk where volunteers can paint their own artwork. Rogers raked, cut weeds, clipped brush, bagged debris and cleaned graffiti.

She said the site had experienced chronic vandalism for years with crude graffiti and litter everywhere. "Bags and bags of litter," she said. Trash cans were just added to the site. "That's helped immensely with litter," Rogers said.

Counteracting the vandalism is one aim of the project. The city also wants to create something sustainable and long-lasting. Hence, they're using industrial strength paint on the art, she said. "And then we're sealing them with a protective coat sealing."

Bringle Lake Art Park completely reimagines the space.

"We're transitioning it from a place where people have come out and degraded the area and come and party and drink and smoke pot to a place where it's more family-friendly, where people can come and enjoy recreational activities like walking the trails, biking the trails, running the trails," Rogers said.

This spot, which is popular for fishing, sits about halfway through the trail system. It's long been neglected, said Rogers, and bringing more people traffic to it helps to beautify, grow the art park, and keep it all better maintained and policed.

"By bringing more people out here to enjoy the area, it will be better cared for," Rogers said, noting kids as young as 4 years old have been involved in the project. Middle school students, too, have pitched in to help. Families come out together.

Rogers has used social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and others to put out the call for volunteers. She has an inclusive vision for getting folks involved and wants to include all sorts of backgrounds, ethnicities, genders and more on this project.

Sidewalk spaces are being painted with imagery of everything from Pikachu to bicycles and a Polaroid camera. Some are artistically creative, while others may have a theme or hidden meaning.

"You have people who are putting in a lot of thought, who are spending days and days and days and days and hours, sometimes eight or nine hours a day out here painting, doing detail work," Rogers said.

The entire sidewalk space, the bridge, the archway, the spillway walls-all of it is destined to be painted. Rogers will collaborate with Texarkana artist Joel Wright on the archway. An abstract piece is planned, she said. Herb gardening and painted rocks, a butterfly garden, a statue-all of this will find a home here.

"So we're bringing in different forms of art, different styles of art, different types of artists. I want artisans to come in here and get involved," Rogers said. She'd love to see woodworkers participate somehow, perhaps with a wooden wind chime.

Local artist Teyana Shanae is among those working on a mural. She feels a strong personal connection to the art park.

"It was important to me to be a part of the art park experience because as an artist I truly believe that art unites humanity. And also I believe in legacy," Shanae said. "To be a part of this experience does so much for me as an artist. My piece is my representation of nature and how it makes me feel as a person. Nature is expansive, original, unexpected, and honestly that is what a lot of my art represents. The natural part of myself, which is ultimately indescribable."

Annemarie Sullivan is another local putting her creativity into Bringle Lake Art Park. On a recent warm Friday afternoon, she could be found painting a mural.

"I thought it would be really fun to do one that's kind of all-inclusive, kind of cool for everyone, so I'm doing one that says 'Support your local _____,'" Sullivan said. "Kind of envisioning people filling in that blank with local restaurants, local bars, local food, local farmers."

They'll add a space where people can fill in the blank with a chalk-written message. Chalk in a waterproof container will be supplied. "They'll actually be able to write it on the wall," said Sullivan, who's impressed with the quality of work her fellow artists have created. The artists are talented, she said.

Preparing the space has been a true team project with everyone from local Boy Scouts to college students, Today's Youth-Tomorrow's Leaders members with Leadership Texarkana and many others all pitching in to help in some way or another. A donor gave funds to provide possible 24-hour surveillance to ward off would-be vandals.

Money for the project isn't part of the city budget. Labor, apart from Rogers's work, is based on volunteer effort, including the artists. Volunteers have learned about it via word-of-mouth and social media. Look for a Snapchat geofilter in the future.

"There are people coming down here who've never been here before," said Rogers, who hopes visitors enjoy both the art and nature. "We're not competing with nature. We're here to embrace nature and preserve nature and to be a part of it." She sees it as an immersive experience.

Rogers was inspired to start the project by walking the trails there and because she's a photographer. She'd see fellow photographers try to take photos and avoid the inappropriate language and images drawn in graffiti.

"If people are going to come down here and we know they're coming down here, we can't turn a blind eye to it anymore," Rogers said of city property. "We need to make it more accessible for them. And we need to make them part of it."

And to do that, create an art park, Bringle Lake Art Park. Community support, Rogers says, is the whole reason why it exists.

One more volunteer day is planned for July 20. Then a ribbon cutting and official opening is scheduled for Aug. 3. After that, the next phase focuses on more interactive art.

(More info: Check out the Bringle Lake Art Park page on Facebook or email [email protected].)