by Wesley Harris
If you attend Ruston’s 75th Louisiana Peach Festival this weekend, don’t get so caught up in the crowds, the food, and the music that you don’t notice the beauty of Downtown Ruston that exists every day.
In recent years, new sidewalks, shrubbery, benches, and hidden utilities have replaced broken pavement, empty planters, and tangles of utility lines.
This year’s peach festival will feature more art than ever with several interactive activities in addition to the traditional artists and makers fair.
But some of Downtown Ruston’s art is on display year round.
Once known for iconic Coca-Cola ads painted on the sides of buildings, Ruston has brightened boring blank walls with colorful murals.
Some of the Ruston’s mural work has been an collaborative effort between the City of Ruston, Experience Ruston—the convention & visitors bureau, and the Louisiana Tech School of Design.
Some of the most notable are located in the Ruston Cultural District, synonymous with the downtown historic district, including the city’s largest on the side of the Dixie Center for the Arts. Across the street are “Rainbow after the Storm” and “Downtown Ruston,” a popular site for souvenir photos next to the Old Post Office.
“Some murals have come from that partnership, but others were commissioned by private businesses or created independently,” Tori Davis, marketing director for Experience Ruston, said.
Grace Tucker, a senior communications major at Louisiana Tech, is doing her part to enlarge the downtown art experience by painting a mural on a building at the corner of South Monroe Street and Texas Avenue.
Tucker is an experienced mural artist, but this is her first effort in Ruston.
“I’ve painted murals in my hometown of Horatio, Arkansas and I’ve wanted to do one in Ruston,” Tucker said early Wednesday morning as she set up to paint on her current project before the heat of the day set in.
To graduate high school, Tucker had to complete a two-year capstone project. She chose to study exterior mural painting. After interviewing artists and conducting extensive research, the young artist designed and painted an original mural on one of her school’s walls.
For her current project, Tucker contacted Loretta Owens, the building’s owner, and asked about placing her art on the exterior brick wall facing Monroe Street.
Owens, herself an artist and an extraordinary one at that, was excited and asked Tucker to feature scenes of Ruston.
Tucker’s mural is a work in progress, but Tech’s Lady of the Mist fountain, a Bulldog, Wyly Tower, Lincoln Parish Library, and Ruston City Hall are taking shape.
Tucker hopes this isn’t her last mural in Ruston.
“All I need is a wall and I can do the rest,” she said, paintbrush in hand.
Queries about her art can be sent to [email protected].
Another recent addition to the mural collection is a reproduction of Albino Hinojosa’s 1984 collage featuring scenes of early Ruston. Created as a commemorative poster for the city’s centennial, the gigantic version is at the corner of Mississippi Avenue and Monroe Street.
So, while searching for some peach ice cream or a festival t-shirt this weekend, remember to check out Ruston’s murals. A list can be found at
rustonlincoln.com/directory/ruston-murals/
