A giant purple octopus wraps its tentacles around the restrooms at brand-new Jessie Andrews Park in Austin’s Mueller development. Like the monsters in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Lord of the Rings, this supersized sea creature menacingly creeps close, ready perhaps to grab someone or wrench open the doors at any moment.

Ocho

How fun, right? I mean, who wouldn’t want to look out at a giant octopus from their front window?

And since a middle school is under construction nearby, Ocho will be a magical part of the students’ everyday view as well.

Houston artist Dixie Friend Gay, Ocho‘s creator, has designed multiple fantastical creatures at Mueller’s parks, including a Loch Ness Monster at Lake Park and a giant spider strolling through Southwest Greenway’s prairie (see pics below).

Gay is known for her colorful ceramic mosaics, and Ocho includes a small “mermaid door” built into the restroom’s outer wall, complete with glazed pieces evoking coral, shells, and tiny sea creatures.

Open to the public, Mueller’s numerous parks are fun to explore, and Ocho makes a unique focal point for Jessie Andrews.

In additional to climbable play structures for kids, the park also features a biergarten-style line of picnic tables overhung with festive string lights. Mexican sycamore saplings will eventually shade the tables, perfect for a block party or food truck lunches.

Nessy

Less than half a mile away, between Mueller’s Lake Park and Thinkery children’s museum, another Dixie Friend Gay sculpture undulates along a sidewalk.

As friendly-looking as Puff the Magic Dragon, Nessy overlooks a playground, and you’ll usually find kids climbing on her tiled back, despite a sign begging visitors not to. She’s just too tempting!

Glass tiles evoke reptilian skin.

She’s adorable, isn’t she?

Lake Park

Just past Nessy you’ll find Lake Park and a curved colonnade that echoes the white trunks of stately Mexican sycamores (Platanus mexicana).

Arachnophillia

The third magical beastie created by Dixie Friend Gay for Mueller is Arachnophillia, a horror-movie-sized spider that somehow never creeps me out, arachnophobe though I am. Maybe it’s the friendly, waving leg as it marches along the Southwest Greenway trail. I didn’t photograph the spider on my recent visit, but I blogged about it last year, so just follow this link to read more.

If you live in the Austin area, visiting Gay’s giant creatures at Mueller is a fun, relatively covid-safe activity for a pleasant winter’s day. I can’t wait to see what she adds to the Austin parks scene next. And if you know of any cool sculptures, murals, or other public art I should visit in or around Austin, please let me know! I love checking out public art. Here are some other works I’ve shared:

• Hide out at Fortlandia at the Wildflower Center
• Kempelen’s Owls and more public art in downtown Austin
• Otherworldly Creek Show lights up Waller Creek through Nov. 17
• Ganador grackle now rules the roost at Austin City Hall (destroyed by arson, sadly)
• Belting It Out along the boardwalk on Lady Bird Lake
• Postcards from COVID-era Austin
• Ellsworth Kelly’s “Austin” brightens University of Texas campus
• Fair grounds at Fareground food hall in downtown Austin
• Yippee Ki Yay! Austin has its own Stickwork sculpture in Pease Park
• Blackbird to bring good cheer
• Umbrella sky at Aldrich Street in Austin
• Ai Weiwei and ATX sculptures, dazzling public art in Austin
• Sylvan silver: Paul Sorey tree sculpture shines in downtown Austin
• Wildflower mural energizes wall on Wood Hollow Drive
• Mosaic wall artfully, joyfully shares a neighborhood’s history
• Urban meadow and security landscaping at Austin forensics center and police station
• Casa Neverlandia and sculpture by James Talbot keep Austin delightfully weird
• Sightseeing in Austin with our exchange student
• Bigger than life jackalope on N. Lamar
• Forgiveness sculpture and Austin trees
• Exploring Mueller’s Southwest Greenway, public art, and Texas Farmers’ Market
• Drive-By Gardens: Home with the armadillo on South Lamar
• Looking Up at Laguna Gloria and Austin City Hall
• Austin’s Graffiti Hill

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Digging Deeper

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

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