In the public art world, sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too. That’s what a central El Paso neighborhood has witnessed when a “sculptural park” was created around a reservoir on Harrison and Alabama that had been collecting trash. Such an idea was the brainchild of artist Willie Ray Parish and city officials joining the very separate concepts of a skate park for neighborhood children and a site for contemporary art.

At the unveiling ceremony on May 11, the team behind the scenes spoke to a crowd gathered at the new skate park, where Jorge Almada from the Central Neighborhood Association sang the praises of Parish and the organizers, saying: “It looks a lot better than a big ol’ empty lot.”

Representatives from the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department and District 2 Rep. Susie Byrd were also present to talk about the yearlong process, describing the project as a collaborative effort among neighborhood residents and city consultants.

Byrd explained that although the two percent used in the open space enhancement dollars cannot be used for parks and only for permanent public art, the great amount of requests for a skate park from her constituents lead to the city to come up with a way to meet the two needs. The unique nature of the skate park as a “sculpture park” allowed those funds to be used.

The area itself contains several art pieces that double as ramps and rails for experienced skaters to work their skills. The landscape of the park and the use of red granite boulders was the inspiration for the large sky boulder structure that is prominently shown near the intersection and that joins two separate sections of the park that are located along the reservoir. Though Parish couldn’t actually place a real boulder atop the structure, he did the next best thing.

View his explanation here:



Parish built sturdy pieces made of quarter-inch steel plate and anticipated eventual wear-and-tear on the structures, given the nature of their use. What he may not have anticipated was the tagging that occurred prior to the unveiling ceremony on the sky boulder piece itself. The tagging was painted over in time for the ceremony.

Parish expressed frustration over the incident, saying: “It’s a gift to the city, and its unfortunate that a few people will abuse that.”

A couple of Parish’s former students came to the ceremony and were well-versed on both the positive and negative aspects of creating public art. Art teacher Jorge Narvaez said of the potential for vandalism: “It’s going to happen; you just have to be upkeeping it.” He added that the sculptural park brings a rare element to the cityscape. “It’s a contemporary structure in the city of El Paso, which you hardly ever see.”