In an ongoing effort to highlight prominent women on the mini-murals that have adorned utility boxes in Houston City Councilwoman Ellen Cohen’s district, there is a new mural at the intersection of 43rd Street and T.C. Jester Boulevard. It features Barbara Bush, the wife and mother of former United States presidents, who died in April 2018.
The painting of Bush, who served as First Lady from 1989-93, follows on the heels of a mural of Nobel Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai. That one was painted in February at T.C. Jester and Ella Boulevard.
Bush joins other Texas notables, including U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, longtime Houston City Councilwoman Eleanor Tinsley and Governor Ann Richards on the utility boxes. Cohen, the councilwoman for District C as well as mayor pro tem, funded the murals with her 2018 Council District Fund and coordinated with UP Art Studio to complete them.
The artist for the Bush mural is Dan Dollahon, a Sugar Land resident who has painted two other mini-murals, one on Broadway Street near Hobby Airport of Howard Hughes and his Spruce Goose, and another with an architectural theme in the Heights’ Norhill neighborhood.
When Dollahon was working on the latest box a few weeks ago, he said several people stopped on a bike path to take photos of him and the work in progress.
“People (in cars) would honk and wave,” Dollahon said. “It amazed me how well it’s been received.”
Dollahon, a graduate of the Art Institute of Houston who has worked in the decorative painting business for almost 30 years, said that when UP Art Studio sent out a call for designs, including Bush, he researched the former First Lady before submitting his design proposal in colored pencil.
What he sent in comes close to the finished product. One side of the box depicts a more formal Bush in her trademark pearls with the White House in the background. The other side shows a more pensive-looking Bush and features a quote of hers – “The home is the child’s first school. The parent is the child’s first teacher. And reading is the child’s first subject.”
The original design had a half-tone image of a young mother reading to a child in the background, but that was considered too ghost-like, so Dollahon substituted an image of the American flag. Once he started painting, Dollahon had to make other adjustments based on the dimensions of the box and the placement of its handles.
Dollahon also offers landscapes and portraits for sale. Recently he has been working on a series of iconic musicians, using florescent paint which glows in black light. He has also submitted some additional designs to UP Art Studio for upcoming boxes.
Cohen has said murals featuring Lady Bird Johnson, former Houston mayors Kathy Whitmire and Annise Parker and female Supreme Court justices are also planned.