SAN ANTONIO, TX.- San Antonio has unveiled its newest and largest work of public art—“Along Here & There,” a 1.2-mile long public painting by artist Mark Schlesinger. Located on Jones Maltsberger Road between Thousand Oaks and Redland Road, a five-lane stretch of newly rehabilitated roadway, the artwork features hand-painted sidewalks and 200-foot bridge over Mudd Creek; colored handrails, accessibility ramps, and utility covers; two-color integral concrete retaining walls; and poured concrete and stone forms within the turning medians.

“The earth colors of the surrounding nature, the memory of the former 2-lane country road, the creek which swells with flooding, and the existing surrounding neighborhoods inspired the color palette, elements, and rhythm of the work,” says Schlesinger. “By walking, jogging, biking over, or driving through Along Here & There, my hope is that viewer-participants will experience a sense of themselves in space, and become more aware of their connections to the environment and to others.”

The project also features an installation of ceramic tiles reflecting local flora and fauna created by nearby Driscoll Middle School eighth graders displayed on Schlesinger’s two-color integral concrete monoliths in Mudd Creek Park.

Commissioned by the City of San Antonio in 2009, Along Here and There is Schlesinger’s third major public project in San Antonio. His first two projects, both commissioned by the San Antonio River Foundation, are bridges on the San Antonio River—Under the Over (2009) is located at the underpass of the 9th Street bridge on the Museum Reach of the River, and Up On the On (2011) is located just south of Roosevelt Park on the Mission Reach of the River.

Artist Mark Schlesinger was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1949 and lives and works in San Antonio, Texas as a studio and public painter. He graduated from Harpur College, SUNY Binghamton in 1971, and participated in the Independent Study Program of the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1971-72. He has exhibited his studio paintings both nationally and internationally. In 2004 he had a mid-career survey at the Westfaelischer Kunstverein in Muenster, Germany, titled Paintings 1993-2003 New York-Texas. His work is represented in numerous public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, the San Antonio Museum of Art, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, the Newark Museum, and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.