By Brian Argabright
The Del Rio Rams football team will have a pair of new murals overseeing their journey from the high school to the field.
Local artist Bianka Santillan is finishing up her latest mural, a pair of scenes depicting football players competing under the Friday night lights. They replace a long existing set of murals that had been painted several years ago and were now faded, bleached by the sun, and weathered.
Santillan was contracted by the San Felipe Del Rio CISD to paint the murals. The hope was for them to be completed in about a month, but the rising Texas heat and activities such as graduation delayed her work.
The murals feature multiple figures, each bearing the number OO with darkened faces as not to show their resemblance to any Rams player, past or present. She even included both the traditional segmented rams horns that have graced multiple helmets over the years and the district logo that has been a part of the helmets the last two seasons.
Santillan said she drew inspiration for the murals, and their looks, from several places.
“Coach (Rod) Taylor sent me several pictures of covers of the Madden football game. There were multiple players on the cover so I used that,” Santillan explained.
The scenes depict the players moving on a black and green backdrop. She still plans on adding effects to the sky to make it appear as though the players were competing in front of an audience cloaked and hidden in smoke. She said she was inspired by “Thor: Ragnarok” in which the crowd is partially hidden in smoke in one scene in the film.
The final process will be to add a coat of sealant to help the piece last as long as possible through the harsh summers and often bitter winters.
This is Santillan’s third mural in Del Rio. Her previous two are located near the historic Brown Plaza including her piece, “Sol del rio,” which is a colorful scene of ballet folkorico dancers she drew on one of the walls of the Plaza Hall. Since its completion in early May, Santillan has since added a plaque to the piece that not only bears her name and that of the Casa de la Cultura, which funded Santillan’s work, but also features a QR code that explains the work and its significance.
Santillan will soon begin work on her next piece, a private commission that is more of a scenery image and more in her wheelhouse, the artist explained.
