“Worth Preserving: A celebration of pride, community, and the creative spirit of Austin” Community Reuse Mural

 
 

On Saturday, June 28, 2025, Austin Creative Reuse unveiled our newest reuse mosaic, "Worth Preserving: A celebration of pride, community, and the creative spirit of Austin," designed by ACR's very own Katelyn Fiedler and created over the past year by hundreds of community members. If you've stopped by ACR's table at a community event at any point over the past year, you've probably seen this mosaic being made in real time and may even have helped create it yourself!

Some events it's been to:
- Families in Nature at Waterloo Greenway
- ACR's Spring Reuse Market
- Earth Day Jubilee @thetrailconservancy
- Art-O-Rama @doughertyartscenter

The initial concept for the piece was born from a desire to bring a creative reuse project to community events, allowing community members to take part in the act of creative reuse and educating the public about the value inherent in all materials. Small bits of plastic, broken toys, beads, glue, and resin may not appear to have much value on their own, but when combined into an art piece their value and beauty can be better appreciated.

Katelyn wrote the following Artist Statement describing her inspiration and vision for the piece, which you can view permanently in our Community Space inside the retail area of the center, open to the public during the Center’s operating hours.

In Katelyn’s own words:

I have chosen to title this mural “Worth Preserving” for two reasons:


My first and most obvious intention was to highlight the materials that have been utilized in this mosaic: Items like plastic caps, Mardi Gras beads, straws, bread tags, and broken toys, which are often given the moniker of “junk” or “trash,” are only a small perspective shift away from becoming a thing that you begin to see as a potential art supply, ever-present in your home, and for no added cost.


I encourage everyone to spend time looking at the details of this mosaic. Try to count the number of items that you can identify, that you have in your home, or that you may already recycle or throw away on a regular basis. But beyond the physical materials used in this mural, its title also represents everything else that led to the finished piece you’re seeing today:
When I was initially asked to design a community mural, the very loose prompt that I was given was for “something fun we can do as a community mosaic, maybe trying to incorporate the ACR arrow into the Austin skyline?”


At first, the thought of capturing the now-expansive city skyline of 2025 felt daunting, so I did an initial, quick sketch of some of the buildings that I had always considered the most iconic as a child growing up in the early 2000s.


In the final design, I decided not to stray from the initial four buildings that I’d sketched out (from left to right: One Congress Plaza, Frost Bank Tower, the Texas Capitol, and the University of Texas tower).


Ultimately, rather than any sort of realistic, geographically accurate, drone’s-eye view of the current skyline, I decided that I more so wanted this mural to capture the emotional impression of fun and childlike wonder that driving through Austin has always given me. To me, that is something equally worth preserving. I was born in Waco in 1996, where I lived until my mid 20s. I would frequently make day-trips to Austin with my UT alum father; Sometimes, we would be on a mission to visit a restaurant that had recently been highlighted on one of our favorite Travel Channel shows, but a day spent on South Congress, popping between shops like Lucy in Disguise, Uncommon Objects, and the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store was our bread and butter itinerary, and was definitely worth preserving.


Those trips–and those small, local, weird places–remain as magical, core memories for me. The humble skyline of that time, dwarfed in comparison to the “proper” row of skyscrapers we have today, still could have fooled me for the Emerald City. And, despite the palpable “un-weirding” that is undoubtedly occurring in many places across the city, I cannot emphasize enough how desperately many kids in small Texas towns still NEED this city, just as it is today. They need us to fight for and to preserve what makes Austin, Austin: our celebration of pride, our community, and our creative spirit.“Old Austin was dying” when I finally moved here four years ago, yet I still was able to march in my first ever pride parade, in an  ACR-staff-constructed float  (AND, in August, mind you, because Austin doesn’t even deem one month of Pride to be sufficient).


“Old Austin was dying” when I moved here, yet I’ve never had to question whether we as a city would have participation in a protest.


“Old Austin was dying” when I moved into a ‘boring’ part of North Austin, yet for the first time in my life, I have access to authentic and delicious restaurants, representing more than a dozen different countries, within a 10 minute drive of my home. From the moment I moved to Austin, I’ve experienced less judgement and more compassion/encouragement from strangers than I ever could have dreamed, and I am confident that the fact that I spend more cumulative hours per week at ACR than any other location plays a monumental role in that.


From our community members, to the incredible and tireless volunteers, to my brilliant and talented coworkers who shower me with humor, love, and friendship daily, I find myself thinking “I’m so glad I live here now” on a daily basis.


I’ve had items crocheted for me, tote bags sewn for me—gift boxes, cards, and jewelry made for me, all without me asking. I’ve been invited to parties, festivals, and roller derbies alike. I’ve been given snacks, Christmas presents, Easter baskets, and hand drawn Valentines by people whose last names I don’t even know. Anything I’ve mentioned collecting, off-hand, has been meticulously set aside for me from that moment on, to the point that I’ve had to pause certain collections because of my apartment’s limited square footage.


This community—the very one that brought this simple sketch to life via their collaborative mosaic and hundreds of hours of collective work—means so much to me, and so much to so many others.


I hadn’t made art in over a decade before I moved here. I never would have considered myself an artist of any sort. And I still really wouldn’t, for XY and Z reasons; but I count myself lucky to know that if I ever said such a thing aloud in ACR, anybody within earshot would force me to recant my statement. That’s just what this place is. Encouragement. Cheerleading of the arts. Collaboration. A sharing of knowledge and skills. Community members making one another better.I’m so ecstatic and grateful to have been asked to do something like this. I hope when you see this mural in the center, that you view it as a love letter to you, an Austinite and a member of the ACR community. I hope it provides inspiration that keeps our local landfills just a bit emptier in the future.


And I hope that it reminds you to keep fighting to hold onto the beauty that is still found all around this city: its heart, its acceptance, and a community saturated with “weird,” creative residents.

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