Here in the Natural State, you can easily get swept away with the beauty all around, especially when in Hot Springs National Park. But Hot Springs also offers ample cultural beauty to indulge in including beautiful, eye-catching murals. Whether they celebrate local history, community, or just the whimsy of art, these pieces in and around downtown Hot Springs make the area somewhat of an outdoor art museum. Take the Hot Springs Mural Tour to see each of these works of art during your visit!
Find more Hot Springs art displays along the Hot Springs Public Art Tour.
We'll start our tour at 910 Park Avenue with mural Signature, by Years.
Afterwards we'll head across the street with a cup of coffee (and a mural featuring coffee) at Red Light Roastery! Located at 873 Park Avenue, Red Light Roastery serves up freshly roasted in-house coffee and snacks. Find the Osage Yellow mural by Salvadorian muralist Kormed 79 on the side of Red Light Roastery, accessible from Pullman Avenue. Osage Yellow is a vibrant mural that intricately weaves together elements significant to Hot Springs. It features an Indigenous woman, honoring the region's history; a deer and bird, symbolizing the diverse fauna of Hot Springs National Park; ears of corn, representing the area's agricultural heritage; and a dramatically overflowing cup of coffee, a nod to Red Light Roastery, the mural's location. Flowing lines, suggestive of water, serve as a visual link between the vital role water plays in both coffee brewing and the very essence of Hot Springs itself.
Osage Yellow by Kormed 79
Up next we'll head down the street to 811 Park Avenue to David F. Watkins Memorial Park Mural. Inside the park you'll find the colorful mural created from a workshop that brought together a group of young local artists in a workshop led by artist Danae Brissonnet. The group worked on painting this mural that “brightens the landscape at one of Hot Springs’ newest parks.” The artists created drawings with Brissonnet instructing them how to scale and arrange them.
After playing in the park it's time enter another dimension with a visit to the Donut Portal at Cambodian donut spot, Golden Raised Donuts, located at 701 Park Avenue. This donut shop offers kolaches, donuts, breakfast tacos and breakfast sandwiches as well as a delicious pink sprinkle donut portal along the shops side by local artist Bethannie Newsom Steelman, aka the Paint Shaman. Enjoy a donut while taking in the beauty of this psychedelic donut mural!
Our next stop is the Northwoods Mural, located at the Waterworks Trailhead in the Northwoods Trail System at 300 Pineland Drive. Created in 2020 by internationally known artist Camille Walala, this mural is a part of the “ARkanvas Initiative,” which created 12 murals across the state of Arkansas. Walala’s practice has taken her worldwide to “transform homes and workspaces with her signature tribal-pop style.”
Our next few stops will take us through the beautiful, serene Whittington Park. Here, you will find three beautiful murals: the Alligator Farm Mural at 847 Whittington, the Dryden Pottery Mural at 341 Whittington, and finally, the Emergent Arts Mural next door at 341-A Whittington.
By now, you’re probably getting hungry, so let’s hit a second coffee shop with loads of food options that also happens to be the site of our next mural! Build your own bagel at Kollective Coffee and Tea at 110 Central Avenue before being captivated by Remember, the larger than life mural created in 2022 by artist Danae Brissonnet. This brightly colored mural is a tribute to the “nature, history and people of Hot Springs.” Its colors are that of a garden created with a box of crayons, and its message changes every time you look at it.
Up next is the beautiful Verna's Dream by Pepe Gaka. The mural dedicated to the local botanical Garvan Woodland Gardens was the “dream and creation” of Verna Garvan in 1956. “After a significant amount of work was completed on the property Verna sought a benefactor that would agree to maintain the grounds after her death. This led her to create an endowment agreement with the University of Arkansas that remains in effect under the Fay Jones School of Architecture. One major landscape architecture component completed before Garvan's death is the Verna Cook Garvan Pavilion, co-designed by famed architect E. Fay Jones.”
Moving forward, don’t miss a photo op with the crystalized wings on Lauray's the Diamond Center (Lauray’s Angel Wings) by John Payne at 402 Central Avenue and Mountain Street.
When you get to 502 Central Avenue, you will be greeted by the massive Quapaw Mural, created by Pepe Gaka. This piece celebrates the first residents of the area: The Quapaw Tribe. “The mural is based on a painting by Charles Banks Wilson that was adapted as a mural by Gaka, recognizing the history of Native Americans in the area.
Next, we’ll visit the Playing Cards mural at 204 Malvern Avenue. Created by artists Chris Arnold and Jeff Garrison, the image is a “whimsical look back” at the nostalgic players who once came to Hot Springs to play baseball. The diverse historical figures represented by their own baseball cards include Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, "Smoky" Joe Wood, Jackie Robinson, and Walter Johnson.
Head down Malvern Ave. and check out Black Broadway created by Pepe Gaka, located at 350 Malvern Ave. This mural celebrates the history and culture of the Malvern Avenue neighborhoods between Grand Avenue and Convention Boulevard. Between the 1930s and ‘60s, this area was referred to as ‘Black Broadway’ because it was where world-renowned African-American entertainers would stay when performing in Hot Springs. The mural comprises community members and musicians from the Hot Springs World Class High School Band.
Next, we’ll check out the murals Promise For Peace and How We Play. The former is a moving piece by then-high school student RayShaun McNary located at 127 Pleasant Street. The next is created by Pepe Gaka at 247 Silver St. and decorates the building that holds Cutwell 4 Kids, a local children’s arts organization.
Next, we're going to the library! The Garland County Library located at 1427 Malvern Avenue, has a new, larger-than-life mural! A stunning dragon mural adorns the side of the building, adding a splash of vibrant color and mythical charm to the landscape. This awe-inspiring artwork titled Check It Out by Bethannie Newsom Steelman is a testament to the city's commitment to the arts, expanding knowledge through our community library, and the libraries growing reputation as a cultural hub.
Next we’ll head to the Central Theater at 1008 Central Avenue for the following two pieces.
Facing the street, you will see the Central Theater Mural. Created by international mural artist Jason Botkin, this intricate mural was inspired by the Echinacea plant, which is native to Arkansas. Before leaving this site, be sure to peek around the left side of the building to see the Community Mural. Under the leadership of Botkin, several local artists came together, creating their own addition to this imaginative mural.
After a visit to the Central Theatre, head across the street and down two blocks to Deluca's Pizza at 833 Central Avenue to see the Hot Springs Sister City mural by Pepe Gaka titled Ichi-go Ichi-e. Completed in late 2024, this mural features the four seasons of the year in Hanamaki. The first segment of the mural features a winter scene of one of Hanamaki’s most famous onsen, Osawa Onsen. The spring mural depicts one of Hanamaki’s many shrines surrounded by beautiful sakura, cherry blossoms, in full bloom. The summer section depicts a couple enjoying a cool treat next to a popular restaurant in Hanamaki. The Hanamaki Festival and a larger-than-life dear dance are the feature of the fall portion of the mural.
Our next mural can be found at SQZBX Brewery & Pizza Joint, a family owned pizza joint and micro-brewery with delicious menu items for lunch or dinner. Head up Ouachita Avenue to 236 Ouachita to feast your eyes on the SQZBX Mural on the back patio created in the spring of 2022 by Quebec, Canada artist Danaé Brissonnet, the same artist who created the Remember mural at Kollective Coffee + Tea and assisted with the David F. Watkins Memorial Park mural. Danae Brissonnet creates imagined worlds for the viewer. In this case, that means a magical accordion-pizza-oven spewing trumpets and crawling on piano keys. “Her work invites a deeper consideration into the power of symbolism, myth, and metaphor. Brissonnet’s art enforces connections between her work, herself, and the public.”
SQZBX Mural by Danae Brissonnet
Our last stop along the Hot Springs Mural Tour can be found at 374 Exchange Street, titled Venus of the Springs by Patrick Cunningham. This mural incorporates 3D elements and Roman mythology to create an ethereal piece.