League City Art Scene

By the end of 2021, six traffic signal boxes in League City will be covered with colorful murals painted by several local residents, including Adam Socie. Socie, a professional artist who has painted murals throughout Texas, is thrilled to be creating art in the community where he, his wife, and children call home.

“The box I painted is right in front of the car wash where my wife goes every week, so I knew I had to make it extra special,” joked Socie. “Seriously, though—it’s so awesome to have one of my creations nearby so that my kids and family can see it all the time. We normally have to drive to Houston or further so I can show them my work.”

Adam also just recently completed an interactive mural at League Park on the side of the caboose which features a train conductor handing out an oversized train ticket. The train conductor was painted to look like Walter Hall, an influential League City bank owner and visionary who is credited with the incorporation of League City and surrounding schools into the Clear Creek Independent School District in 1948 and pushing for the City’s incorporation with the state of Texas in 1962. Several buildings and a park are named after Walter, and his wife Helen, including an elementary school, park, and the City’s library.

a mural box of a blue jay

Mini-mural by Adam Socie

mural of seagulls

Mini-mural by Thelma Brown

In addition to Socie painting murals, other community artists are lending their creative talents to League City’s new Public Art Initiative. League City resident Thelma Brown, Debi Starr from Kemah, and Anat Ronan from Clear Lake all have all been commissioned to paint mini-murals on League City traffic signal boxes. Joining them is Joy Matheson, who created the mural on the water fountain box at League Park. All five artists are members of a mural artist registry created by Up Art Studio, a Houston-based, public art and consulting firm working with League City on its new Public Art Initiative. Members of Keep League City Beautiful, a citizen committee appointed by the Mayor, hand-picked each artist and gave the approval on the final mural design submitted for each box.

turtle mural

Mini-mural by Joy Matheson

murals map

Six more traffic signal box murals will be painted in the spring of 2022, and starting in the summer, works created by Clear Creek ISD students will decorate over 20 boxes. Every CCISD campus located in League City has been invited to submit a design for a mural which will then be printed and wrapped on a box near the school.