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Related: About this forumOn Forest Lane, an ‘ugly’ skirmish over a wall covered in a groovy mural (Dallas)
As famous walls go, it doesnt rank high on any list somewhere below the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, the Western Wall and Croatias Wall of Ston, lets say. But in Northwest Dallas, well take what we can get. And since 1976, the guh-roovy Forest Lane brick-wall mural between Rosser and Midway Roads has been all ours the graffiti deterrent that became a neighborhoods own slice of public art thanks to some concerned W.T. White art students armed with sketches, paintbrushes and a whole bunch of far-out-man.
Jill Farrers brother Kevin was one of those W.T. White Longhorns, which is why she can be found most evenings kneeling in front of the wall, retouching faded memories with a small paintbrush as car whiz by. Every day she goes to work; every night, she paints till its too dark to see.
I feel very connected to it, she said Wednesday evening. Farrer lives nearby, in Farmers Branch, but her mother still lives even closer, in a house off Marsh Lane. She remembers when the wall was off-white, decorated with off-color graffiti left by the Forest Lane cruisers in the mid-1970s. I want the wall to be restored. Now that Ive started working on it and met so many cool people, I dont want to stop. Its really neat.
But there are others, much to her chagrin, who disagree and want the mural vanished.
More at http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2014/06/on-forest-lane-an-ugly-skirmish-over-a-wall-covered-in-a-groovy-mural-that-dates-back-decades.html/ .
[font color=green]I never was able to look at the mural in detail, but I thought it and the art work in Deep Ellum were some of the cooler things about Dallas and Dallas needs cool things to make up for the crass commercialism.[/font]
shenmue
(38,506 posts)I like the artwork.
TexasTowelie
(112,568 posts)hundreds of yards. It probably draws in some business to the local merchants also.
Warpy
(111,406 posts)as taggers cover it with utter crap.
TexasTowelie
(112,568 posts)The city says "it is the property owners responsibility to maintain the wall, or the HOA can provide maintenance if it is able to do so." The city isn't responsible for taking care of it.
Warpy
(111,406 posts)that wall will become a money pit.
TexasTowelie
(112,568 posts)Most of the work keeping the mural clean is being done by homeowners in the area, so why would it suddenly become a money pit?
Warpy
(111,406 posts)to remind people that life is miserable and they need to seek their pie in the sky when they die. (that's a lie)
A couple of landlords in my area have gotten sick of gang tagging on their apartment buildings and have commissioned burners over the area. The amazing thing is that taggers have respected the art and haven't tagged over it. Plus, the murals add color to a colorful neighborhood.
I've been lucky, I'm just weird enough not to have my house or even my mailbox tagged.
This town has a great deal of public art and it's fun listening to the mostly WASP Philistines crab about it and the expense of putting it out there. I've voted for the tax increases for public art and I'm damned proud about it. Life just wouldn't be the same here without it.
malokvale77
(4,879 posts)It is better than the miles and miles of HOA dullness that fills the Dallas Metroplex.
TexasTowelie
(112,568 posts)Considering that Forest Lane is essentially a straight E-W road in northern Dallas, it is nice to see something different through that area. These days in the Metroplex it is either HOA dullness or a line of payday loan shops, convenience stores and strip malls.
malokvale77
(4,879 posts)I try to stir things up, but I am getting old and don't get around much any more.
I borrowed that from Van Morrison, whom I consider to be a real poet.
El Supremo
(20,365 posts)but I'm not sure if the statute of limitations extends that far back.
TexasTowelie
(112,568 posts)I think that the first time I was on Forest Lane was either 1989 or 1990. If the statute of limitations hasn't expired for you, then I'm not going to reveal anything either!
What happens at the Motel 6 stays in the Motel 6.
TxDemChem
(1,918 posts)I went to TC Marsh and WT White in the early 90s. It was always a source of local pride.
After all these decades, I would have thought all the neighbors wanted to keep it for its uniqueness.