TEXARKANA, Texas -- A new downtown mural will pay tribute to the history and culture of the Twin Cities while advancing an internet provider's mission in the community.
The "High Speed for Here" mural campaign is part of a push by Kinetic, the internet arm of Windstream, to expand broadband service.
"The size town you live in shouldn't determine the size of your dreams," said Jeff Auman, executive vice president for Kinetic sales and marketing. "It's a declaration to serve our residential and business customers and communities."
The campaign features stylized wall paintings that incorporate the Kinetic branding with scenes of local culture in the company's service area. So far, murals have been completed in Elyria, Ohio; Hastings, Nebraska; Moultrie, Georgia; Lexington, Kentucky; and Sugarland, Texas.
The mural at the corner of Texas Boulevard and West Third Street is the latest in Kinetic's lineup, and local artist Darlene Taylor is steering the project.
Taylor's work can be seen throughout downtown. One of her recent murals -- a tribute to community heroes such as police officers and first responders -- adorns an exterior wall on a substation of Texarkana Arkansas Police Department.
Work on the Kinetic project began in March, when Denver muralist Jon Lamb called the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council to discuss the idea. Lamb, one half of art duo Lindz and Lamb, said he's a liaison of sorts for The Pineapple Agency, a marketing firm working with Kinetic on the campaign.
"They reached out to me for help in understanding the logistics of communicating with property owners about getting art on their walls," Lamb said Thursday in an interview with the Gazette.
Lamb said his first task was to identify communities within Windstream's service area that would be ideal for the murals. He said he took note of Texarkana while "driving around on Google Streets" and seeing the marker for TRAHC. He figured he'd call to see if there were a local artist who could execute Kinetic's vision. He quickly was connected to Taylor.
Taylor said as the boots-on-the-ground person, she first was tasked with identifying the ideal downtown location for the art.
"I took pictures of all places where the mural could go," she said Thursday.
After looking at several sites and envisioning how they would look with the mural, Taylor settled on the empty building on Texas Boulevard, across the street from City Hall. The north side of the building, which has been the Cable One headquarters and an antique shop, faces West Third -- a highly visible place, Taylor said.
With a site selected, Taylor said the next phase of work involved seeking the owner's permission to paint on the building and working out financial matters.
"We had to wait a while because the owners were in Nepal," she said.
Although she didn't disclose the financial details, Taylor said a previous site was rejected because the building's owner wanted about $9,000 to paint on his building.
The next phase of the project involved working with the city's historic commission to ensure any work would preserve the building's historic look. And for this step, she's grateful to the city manager.
"David Orr helped get everyone on board," she said.
As a result, Taylor said she not only was able to use the bold colors and design of the Kinetic branding but also find a way to take some creative license.
With the months of brainstorming and procedural work now over, Taylor began painting in early June. By Thursday, she already had completed the multicolored Kinetic branding and painted the remainder of the wall in a matte black.
What's next is to create the artistic HERE, which will be part of a phrase proclaiming pride in being from Texarkana. Taylor said each letter of HERE will include an image of something that makes the city special.
"The H will have a mockingbird, bluebonnet and apple blossom," Taylor said.
The mockingbird is the state bird of Arkansas and Texas. The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas, and the apple blossom is the state flower of Arkansas.
"The E will have an image of TRAHC. The R will feature the colors of the TXK logo(which can be seen in front of Bi-State Justice Center), and the E will have a train, plane and classic automobile," Taylor said.
Taylor plans to complete the mural within the week, yet the unfinished work already has admirers. As the artist stood in the shadow of the building to take refuge from the midday sun, a driver on West Third stopped, lowered his passenger window and loudly gave his critique.
"That looks great!"