Mahncke Park Neighborhood

Art Around the Block

Jul 19, 2004

Could you imagine a sculptural fountain across from the Botanical Gardens on New Braunfels? It'd mimic in striking stainless steel the flow, lightness, and grace of the fountain further down on Broadway. How about a real fountain, made of blocked limestone, at the Wesley park, providing passersby on Eleanor a delightful respite and the occasional squirrel a cool drink. Bus benches, making an eye-catching design statement to go with the new layout of Brackenridge? Light fixtures that define and capture the era and warmth of our neighborhood. And the linear park on Catalpa a blank canvass, ready for...

Art in Mahncke Park is nothing new. Tile work on Natalen. And the wonderful tile wall coming soon to an anonymous and boring concrete retaining wall in Baja Mahncke (I've seen it pre-installation... and it can only be described as a thing of beauty). It isn't much of stretch to believe that our lives in this neighborhood are made richer by these efforts. But, more art could be a reality. The following article by Mike Greenberg describes some interesting elements of art in living spaces.

One has to wonder if this, as in other neighborhoods, like Beacon Hill, is something Mahncke Park should pursue.