Waller Creek makes a splash on the national stage

The work of Waller Creek Conservancy, the organization behind the ambitious project to revitalize and improve the central-city waterway, has already garnered quite a bit of national attention. Now it’s about to get more. The High Line Network. a nonprofit organization that that founded, funds, and maintains New York City’s High Line linear park, has chosen Austin—and the creek project in particular—as one of the five cities to participate in an inaugural joint art initiative, New Monuments for New Cities, which will tour North America in 2019.

Together with High Line Art, the Conservancy chose five Central Texas artists to represent the project: Nicole Awai, Daniela Cavazos Madrigal, Teruko Nimura with Rachel Alex Crist, Denise Prince, and Vincent Valdez. As part of the conversation around the removal of monuments throughout the country and what should be memorialized instead, the artists are tasked with creating posters that double as proposals for new monuments.

Courtesy of Waller Creek Conservancy

Waller Creek Conservancy CEO Peter Mullan lauded the exhibit “because of the compelling, timely subject matter addressed and because it is a fantastic way to support local artists,” he said. “At Waller Creek, we are not only constructing physical spaces, we are also building community—a community that supports arts and culture and explores new ways of telling the history of this place.”

Courtesy of Waller Creek Conservancy

The 25-piece exhibition will be on view at Waller Creek March-May 2019.

Participating cities and projects will host shows on the following dates:

• Buffalo Bayou, Houston, Texas: February-April 2019

• Waller Creek: Austin, Texas: March-May 2019

• The 606: Chicago, Illinois; May-July, 2019

• The Bentway: Toronto, Ontario—May-August, 2019

• The High Line: New York, New York—September-October, 2019