A warm welcome matched the North Texas summer temperature Saturday as the Wichita Falls Alliance for the Arts and Culture unveiled its Don’t Fence Me In project.

The project, celebrating creative identity, creative freedom and individuality, will be on display through August, thanks to the artistic efforts of hundreds of community members and the Texas Department of Transportation, which offered up the area deemed Nexas Art Park — the median at Kell East and Kell West, near the Attebury grain elevator.

Don’t Fence Me In, embracing the mission that perhaps not everyone sees himself or herself as artistic, but everyone is creative in one way or another. Margie Reese, executive director of the Arts Alliance, told the crowd gathered at the unveiling that she has been impressed by the overwhelming enthusiasm the Wichita Falls community has for the arts.

The fence — situated as a star exploding with possibilities – does not serve as a border or a boundary, Reese said, but rather a showcase of how we bring all walks of life, all levels of talent, to produce something as one.

“You cannot tell the education level, the social-economic background, the age of the artists who painted these pickets,” Reese said. “There are no distinctions.”

This is the latest art project associated with the Teaching Arts Learning Lab, a program that places talented instructors at various summer programs offering artistic exposure and encouraging creativity. Last year, the TALL instructors helped young artists create the Art Bikes Project displayed during last year’s Hotter’N Hell and the pop-up art gallery at the iconic “Big Blue” building.

Master artists lead the instruction, and TALL artists have found art positions within the community – the goal of inspiring artists to stay in Wichita Falls to share their talent succeeded.