Even before artists Brad Smith and Kay Ray-Smith finished their first contracted mural in Waller, northwest of Houston, the community took notice — and lots of photos.
“It instantly, as we were working on it, became a selfie wall. There were so many cars we could barely paint,” Ray-Smith recalled Friday.
But since then, the couple say, things have taken an upsetting turn. One resident took issue with their first mural: Its colors were too bright, in her view. Waller City Council then, in February, adopted an ordinance severely restricting new murals in the town of less than 3,000.
So last week the Smiths, whose company is called Tilt Vision Art, filed suit against the city of Waller in federal court, claiming the mural ordinance is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. They want the ordinance repealed.
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The Smiths had moved to Waller from Burleson in December with a contract to paint murals on 13 buildings owned by a local real estate developer and construction company. “We really thought we were on a roll.” Brad Smith said.
Since the city ordinance was approved, the Smiths’ contract was canceled and the couple have been unable to secure new projects in the town.
“The whole thing just really makes me angry and very, very sad,” said Ray-Smith, explaining that she and Smith decided to reach out to attorneys because they felt the ordinance doesn’t just restrict their rights; it could stifle the free expression of other artists, business owners and residents who want to paint a Christmas tree on their barn or a portrait of Willie Nelson on their garage door.
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“At the end of the day, artistic expression is covered by the First Amendment,” said Joshua Polk, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit focused on economic freedom that is representing the Smiths in their suit. “What our clients want to do is earn a living bringing happiness to people with public art.”
Pacific Legal previously sued the city of Houston over an ordinance restricting performing music in public, Polk said. That ordinance was deemed unconstitutional and struck down by a federal judge in December, after which Houston formally removed it from the books.
Waller Mayor Danny Marburger did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did any member of Waller City Council.
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Waller’s new ordinance stipulates no murals on residential buildings or on the primary facade of any building. It also prohibits murals that contain commercial messages or advertising, as many of Tilt Vision’s murals for businesses do. Artists who want to put a mural on the side of a nonresidential building must register it with the city in advance, a process that includes substantial paperwork and a nonrefundable $500 fee.
Smith, 61, said he painted his first mural as a teenager, with his father and his brother, and that he’s been happy to see the Texas mural scene develop over the course of more than 40 years as a professional artist. In his experience, murals tend to make people happy and have a revitalizing effect on cities and neighborhoods, a phenomenon he calls “art-based economic development.”
His murals in Dallas and Fort Worth have been featured in music videos for songs by Vanilla Ice and Leon Bridges. He’s painted murals in small towns such as Burleson, too: “Why shouldn’t a rural town have art on their buildings?”
In all these years, Smith added, he’s never encountered the kind of pushback he has since he and Ray-Smith moved to Waller.
Even in Waller, the couple said, most people seem to enjoy the murals the Smiths painted before the ordinance, including the first one, with its bright azure sky, and one they painted in two weeks after hearing of the coming crackdown. That one shows the American and Texan flags, along with the message “freedom.”
