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One of the many wonderful joys of living in The Woodlands is the arrival of the springtime annual wildflower blooms that are peppered about the main road medians. This delightful display of Indian paintbrush, poppy and bluebonnets to name a few may be temporary, but they never fail to pack a joyful punch!

In further commitment to its underwriting of public artworks, The Howard Hughes Corporation has recently gifted our community a display of painted flowers with celebrated American artist Alex Katz’ Flowers mural installation on the side of the Waterway Square garage wall in a new flexible, outdoor gathering space, landscaped with crepe myrtles and zoysia grass.

Alex Katz Mural The Woodlands, Texas

Flowers is one of the largest murals in Texas scaling 35,000 square feet and was first celebrated the weekend of April 9-10 in conjunction with The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival. Residents, visitors and guests attending the annual art fest as well as art enthusiasts from both near and far joined in the colorful flowery fun at Howard Hughes’ festive “Garden Party” which formally welcomed the new public artwork to the community.

“I think art belongs to all people,” said renowned contemporary artist Alex Katz. “Not everyone who sees art in a public space is a gallery or museum goer. This mural will give everyone something to think about—whether viewed from a distance, from a car or up close. When one is standing next to the painting, it becomes environmental; you feel like you’re in the painted floral landscape.”

Katz is renowned for his paintings that examine the nature of representing the three-dimensional world on canvas in simplified forms and continues to produce works in which line and form are expressed through carefully composed strokes and planes of flat color. His works have been the subject of over 200 solo exhibitions including shows at top art hotspots like The National Portrait Gallery, The Whitney Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This year, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum will honor his work with a retrospective.

Artfeel, a public art celebration initiative produced by The Woodlands Arts Council, is in talks with Howard Hughes to host a second celebration of Katz’ Flowers.

“The immense Texas size of the mural and the dancing-like nature of the flowers feel inherently celebratory to me,” smiles Nickole Kerner Bobley, Artfeel creator and host. “My brain is already swirling with various performer ideas to pay tribute to this incredible art piece.”

Alex Katz Mural The Woodlands, Texas

“With a top-ranked arts festival, and one of the largest collections of public art for a community of its size in the country, the addition of a mural by internationally recognized artist Alex Katz adds yet another world-class attraction to The Woodlands’ slate of amazing offerings,” explains Jim Carman, President of the Houston Region for Howard Hughes. “With this new work, The Woodlands is home to an impressive collection of over 80 pieces of outdoor art for our residents and visitors to enjoy. Howard Hughes is proud of its long-standing commitment to supporting the integral role of arts and culture in community-building.”

We invite everyone to visit this amazing mural, Flowers, in the new outdoor gathering space, located across from The Westin Hotel in The Woodlands Waterway area in The Woodlands Town Center.