Our house sits on the former site of a runway for the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, which operated from 1930 to 1999. Redevelopment into a mixed-use neighborhood has retained some iconic pieces of the old airport, including the control tower, an Austin Landmark.
A few years after we bought our house, a friend tipped us off to a show at a neighborhood coffee shop for artist Patricia Chapa. There, we bought a silkscreen print of the Mueller control tower with a bright teal and yellow background, which is a focal point at the end of our hallway.
When it came time to decorate the apartment, we wanted some uniquely Austin elements. Wouldn't it be amazing to have another Mueller tower? Fortunately, I still had the artist's email address. While she did not have any tower paintings on hand, she agreed to create a custom piece for us.
This is the first time I've commissioned a work of art, and we couldn't be happier with the results!
Check out another example of Patricia Chapa's tower paintings on the blog of architecture firm Page/.