Houston Street Art is getting better and better day by day! This weekend, I adventured around town and took over the AmCap Mortgage social media to see some of the beginning stages of HUE Mural Fest. The festival, which stands for “Houston Urban Experience,” started on Saturday, November 18 and goes through Saturday, November 25. Artists from all over–many from Texas, but some international–come to Houston to transform the cityscape with bursts of color and commentary.

This is the third annual festival organized by legendary Houston artist Gonzo247 (you know him for the rainbow “Houston is Inspired” mural in Downtown Houston). I fell in love over and over with the murals that came out of last year’s fest (here’s some of my favs!) and I’m excited to see what is produced this year.

If you want to get in on the action and visit some of the artists like I did, here’s how….

First, go to the HUE Mural Fest website and get the locations of all the murals. If you’re doing this on your phone, you can click the little box in the top-right-hand corner of the map and it will transfer all the pins of the murals into your Google Maps. Quite handy. You can also stop by Aerosol Warfare, aka Gonzo247’s headquarters in EaDo, and pick up a paper handout. It’s open 11am-6pm. I hungout there for a bit, got some water, and chatted with the volunteers who were organizing hundreds of bottles of spray paint. Pretty cool to see the inside of a studio!

There are also mural tours throughout the days that you can join in on. Most of the murals are walking distance from “Headquarters” in EaDo, but there are a few scattered about in the Northside and Montrose. The murals will stay up indefinitely, so if you miss the live action this week, have no fear! You can swing by these locations at a later day.

Not from HUE Mural Fest, but I discovered this new one while walking around EaDo!

I went on the first day (Saturday), so action was a bit slow. But through the glorious powers of social media (follow the hashtag #HUEFest or #ArtWeekHouston), I’ve seen more artists get in on the action and start painting their walls. I’m excited to go back next weekend and see the finished results! While I was out there I did get to talk to a few artists including Shelbi Nicole, Gonzo247, and Raw Mirez. They’re all super friendly and down to chat while they’re working. I also met a bunch of other art loving Houstonians (some of whom follow the blog!!), so that was super fun too.

Obviously, I’m a super art nerd and stoked about this week more than the average person. But if you want to get more involved there’s a bunch of events through the week including:

• HUE Artist Social: 11/20, 6pm at Talento Bilingue De Houston
• Shuttle Launch: 11/22, 6pm to 9pm at Hotel Ylem — I’ll be here for this!!
• HUE Mural Fest Celebration: 11/24 6pm-10pm at Discovery Green with DJ Z-Trip and DJ Buck Rodgers

Have you been to HUE Mural Fest? What’s your favorite mural?