Mural Fest introduces colors to Downtown Odessa

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) -Mural Fest made its way to Downtown Odessa, and many people came out to see art in the area.

Over 30 local artists and around the world came out to the Permian Basin to give more color to the city.

“Part of the concept is here so to beautify the city by unveiling four new murals that celebrate Odessa’s designation as a music-friendly community. And bring the community downtown to celebrate our achievement as music-friendly and also celebrate cultural arts in Odessa,” said Randy Ham, Executive Director, of Odessa Arts.

Recently, Governor Greg Abbot designated Odessa as a music-friendly city.

Which led Odessa Arts to host its first-ever mural fest in Odessa.

Local organizations donated their time and services to this event.

Though some of the artists weren’t from here, they still had a good experience in the Permian Basin.

“There are places where you stop and kind of have some experiences so the beauty of doing that in a small place. Or being one of the first to do it in a place that you get to see people’s attitude toward art change. And you get to see their own excitement for the place that they live.” said Dan Thompson, one of the artists.

“We want people to celebrate our artists, we want people to know what kind of arts and culture we have here in the Permian Basin. And mostly we just want them to have a good time,” said Ham.

These murals were all music inspired, and some of them even had local musicians as inspiration.

“I partnered with West Texas Jazz Society to say what does Jazz look like in this community. And everybody said Eric Baker. So we have a picture of him up on the wall, and then a bunch of Jazz inspired colors and whimsy to bring people joy,” said the lead artist for Mural Fest, Koda Witsken.

Music was heard all throughout downtown with Jazz music being played next to Witsken’s mural.

The event was also free to the public and with the success of today’s event, Ham believes it will continue to grow.

Even though this event has already ended, the murals painted will stay on there for a long time, and eventually bring more colors to Odessa.

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