Alumna’s mural brings new life to Oak Cliff

Aug. 5, 2026 - DENTON - To ensure the mural in the Administrative and Conference Tower breezeway would be completed on time, Issy Martinez would finish her other homework and then go paint into the early morning hours.

She wasn't trying to out produce anyone else in her fall 2024 mural class, rather she wanted to help her group out, so at night the studio art major would wave off professor Giovanni Valderas to go home and keep painting.

"I would finish a lot of parts and be like, 'we did that!', and that would help motivate others that we were getting stuff done, and that always made me feel good," she said. "It was interesting and I got to learn so much, and all of that knowledge has come back and is helping me now."

This year, Martinez has applied the same tenacity to her first mural since graduating from TWU: A large work on the side of J&E Express Auto Service in her Dallas neighborhood, Oak Cliff. The mural was unveiled Sunday in a community celebration and contributors and organizers hope it spurs the creation of a new mural district in the area.

Through her former professor and fellow Oak Cliff native Valderas, Martinez conceptualized and began working on the design process for her piece in January, just a month after she graduated.

"This mural district was spurred by me having my oil changed," Valderas said. "Jerry owns the autoshop and he saw that I did murals and he asked if he could pay me to do a mural on the building. Other shops want murals too - so I thought could we establish a mural district that's a tourist destination, stimulate economic activity and learn about the neighborhood and highlight the very much working-class community."

Jerry Figueroa's one request of the work? To feature the Virgin Mary in a hardworking community. Martinez spent days driving around her childhood neighborhood and reflected on the businesses that shaped her adolescence: flowers being sold on the street, a paleta man, a barber shop. The paleta man's push cart also reads "somos el sueńo americano," which translates to "we are the American dream."

Visually, the bright colors of the more than a dozen community members depicted in the mural contrast the darkness of the background on the building, with Mary looking out for each member. There's bright red and orange florals, monarch butterflies and a low rider.

"I hope that they'll take away 'Wow, that's us and she really represented us,' and they talk about this being a resistance mural because people wanted to get rid of us," Martinez said. "I want to change the mindset because you can create beautiful things and bring people together through art."

In 2025, Dallas City Council wanted to rezone the corridor and residents, leaving business owners concerned that legacy businesses would be pushed out. Longtime business owners like Figueroa spent months to ensure that the businesses would be able to stay. Now, the mural and future projects to come are seen as bringing joy to that resistance, Valderas said.

The community buy-in has been palpable. Hundreds of people attended one of the two community paint days, often hesitant to paint because they don't want to "ruin" the mural, Martinez said. She encouraged folks who were hesitant to just do a single paint stroke so they felt included in the effort.

"Volunteers throughout the week just had the best response, saying it's beautiful, this reminds me of my uncle or aunt or niece or nephew," she said. "It's heartwarming that people are connecting to this mural and people want to help and take care of me for painting this mural for them."

The mural also represents TWU's commitment to and engagement in the area. Funding for the project started with a $600 grant from the School of Art and Design, and Valderas was able to spur additional funding to support the massive project.

"I think for me, the overarching vision is working people and working-class communities sometimes don't really value education the way that other people from other higher socio-economic backgrounds do," he said. "This is an opportunity for TWU to go into a neighborhood and show that TWU has a presence, and it's really creative recruitment. If a neighborhood consistently sees an institution in the neighborhood, trust is being built."

Page last updated 9:17 AM, August 5, 2026