A canvas for the community

Keep McAllen Beautiful Inc.started the Irrigation Pipe-Public Art Project in 2019 to give the artists from the Rio Grande Valley a chance to showcase their work. 

Twice a year, KMB makes a call for artists, the most recent in September, where more than 90 artists submitted their outline for a chance to have their work featured on the irrigation pipes in McAllen.

The City of McAllen has more than 200 irrigation pipes, many of them along trails on Second Street and Bicentennial Boulevard. 

KMB supplies all the materials the artists need for the project. Since the start of the project, more than 40 pipes have been painted by local artists.

“Keep McAllen Beautiful is a nonprofit organization,” said Chris Lash, KMB program manager. “Our mission is, basically, to educate the public on our environment, on preserving our environment, taking care of our environment, on promoting recycling education and also beautification throughout our city.”

Siria Carrasco, an artist and instructional designer at UTRGV, painted “El 956,” a piece inspired by the slang that is commonly used by Valley natives and by the importance that the tlacuache (opossum) population has on the environment created in May 2022.

“El 956” is located between Bicentennial Boulevard and Expressway 83 in McAllen.

Carrasco was born with a physical disability, but art helped her feel equal to others.

“I really couldn’t have a normal childhood where I was running around,” she said. “Art, like coloring and crafts and stuff like that, was something that I always just gravitated towards.”

Carrasco said it made her feel she could keep up with everybody else.

“Physically, I couldn’t do much,” she said. “I felt that art was something that I felt, like, ‘OK, I’m equal here. this is an even playing field,’ and [I] never felt limited by it.”

Carrasco said she was inspired by the opossums in the community.

“I wanted to mix the slang with the importance of these animals in our environment,” she said. “That was an animal I wanted to highlight. I wanted to include a 956 because that’s our area code and I always hear ‘puro 956.’”

Carrasco started painting the pipe in May and finished in July.

“I met so many people during that time,” she said. “People would stop by and bring their kids and take pictures with me and that just made me feel very happy.” 

Carrasco encourages people to create art.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from, your physical abilities and your background,” she said. “Anybody can create art.”

Esmeralda Benitez, an artist and retired teacher, painted “McAllen’s Walking Trails,” a piece inspired by the trails created in July 2022. The pipe is located between North Second Street and Violet Avenue.

Benitez wanted to emphasize McAllen’s features, including the walking trails, palm trees, small hills, sky and community.

She started the painting in May and finished at the end of June.

“My favorite part, hands down, was the people,” Benitez said. “There was this one man who lived across in a subdivision and he came regularly.”

She said it’s great to see the paintings on each pipe.

“There have been so many young artists and projects … that have come out,” Benitez said. “It’s really interesting to see the different ideas and it all relates somehow to McAllen or the people.”

Lash hopes to do another call for artists in March or April of 2023.

She encourages the community to visit the Keep McAllen Beautiful website to explore the interactive map for an easy way to locate all the pipes. The website also offers a 360-degree view of each project.