I love taking photos of graffiti and public art while I am traveling and at home. The graffiti wall in Austin Texas has been around for several years but I only just stumbled upon the downtown graffiti art park in 2014. Waiting on an appointment downtown and killing some time I walked around Castle Hill area and found this fantastic outdoor wall art.
UPDATE Dec 1, 2025: Hope Outdoor Gallery Graffiti Park Austin reopened on November 28, 2025 with a special weekend event. The new location is 741 Dalton Lane, across from Austin Bergstrom International Airport. Winter hours: Wednesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm.
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New Graffiti Park in Austin
The Hope Outdoor Gallery new location at 941 Dalton Lane (near Austin Bergstrom International Airport) offers more than the ever changing colorful graffiti art. The new digs include a permanent collection of graffiti murals, an event center, coffee shop, paint supply shop, and washrooms.
I was impressed when I visited the new Hope Outdoor Gallery on opening day, November 28, 2025. The site looks amazing with the circular design for the permanent outdoor graffiti gallery and event space. Concrete walls and shipping containers provided the canvas for people of all ages who were spray painting their original designs.
Quote from the HOPE Outdoor Gallery:
“The new HOPE Outdoor Gallery (HOG) will be an art park & full service events center where people can experience large scale public art, new creative technology, and educational arts events in an open-air environment while attending inspiring cultural events, classes, camps, and productions.”
Looking out of an airplane window while approaching Austin Bergstrom airport you’ll notice the buildings housing all of these activities and events are shaped to form the word HOPE. On the ground you can watch airplanes flying low as they approach the airport.
Learn More: Rooftop Restaurants in Austin Texas
Original Graffiti Park in Downtown Austin
The original Hope Outdoor Gallery graffiti park was located at Baylor and 11th Street in central Austin back in March 2010. The location was at a former construction site with several sections of the concrete foundation that provided a canvas for graffiti artists.
So far as urban parks go my favorites in Austin were always the graffiti park and Zilker Botanical Garden. Two totally different inner city spaces but both put a smile on my face every time I visited.
Another beautiful park in Austin that always brings happy faces is Mayfield Park. There are peacocks roaming around and hiking trails. Check it out.
The location is also known as Castle Hill – in the photo below you can see a portion of the castle – formerly the Texas Military Institute and now home to Castle Hill Partners – the private owners of the space known as the graffiti wall or Hope Outdoor Gallery.
Castle Hill Partners agreed in 2011 to allow the Outdoor Gallery Project to paint artwork on the walls. The work was later tagged and painted over by local graffiti artists and piles of trash collected on the site.
It was at risk of being closed to the public and no trespassing signs were posted for a time. The signs are gone now and the site has become somewhat of a tourist attraction in Austin.
Original Hope Outdoor Gallery Graffiti Park Artist Sign Up
In the old days artists could sign up to paint; there was an information booth at the site when I visited the park in January of 2014.
There were several sponsors of the Hope Outdoor Gallery including Austin Resource Recovery which aims to “turn waste into resources while keeping our community clean”. I did notice several trash and recycling containers at the site.
Original Graffiti Park Austin Images
Below are some more photos from the original graffiti wall in Austin. The old graffiti park was at Baylor and 11 Street in downtown Austin and served as a creative outlet for artists and a wonderful outdoor gallery for anyone to visit and explore the ever changing painted concrete walls.
I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour of Hope Outdoor Gallery graffiti park in Austin Texas. Personally I love graffiti and street art and I seek it out when I travel. Cities like Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, and Barcelona have some incredible graffiti murals. Often you may stumble across street art in small towns such as the murals in Alpine Texas.
Enjoy exploring street art and graffiti wherever you go!
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I had no idea Austin was such a hub of graffiti — some very well-done artistry and so colorful! Love it!
There is quite a lot of rather iconic graffiti in Austin but the graffiti park is something quite new. Glad you enjoyed it Patti.
Austin is so quirky and this is a great feature. I will definitely look for Austin graffiti on my next visit.
Austin is still hanging on to some of its quirky and weird vibe but old Austin is slowly disappearing.
Street art is a particular interest of ours – we have a number of galleries on our blog covering street art in several of the South American cities we have visited recently. In 2006 we visited Austin but didn’t find this particular gem – thanks for sharing your lovely pictures. I particularly liked the one with you in your colourful dress… it was well matched!
Thanks Yasha! I think my dress blended with the mural quite nicely. I will check out your blog for graffiti galleries – South America has some amazing graffiti.
Your post is just in time for SXSW, too! I’ve attended an art weekend event in Austin, but missed this public space. Next time….
Yes the craziness of SXSW begins soon! I was thinking of skipping it this year because it has become such a huge event and it has lost its charm, for me anyway. I think I will explore the East Austin offerings this year – and I know there is some cool graffiti there too!
There’s a really cool ‘mural museum’ in Valparaiso, Chile, that I saw a few years ago, that reminds me a little of this. Very cool.
I just googled Valparaiso, Chile and saw some photos of the graffiti, thank you for mentioning this place.
Love, love, love this street art.Great job
Thank you Paula! Glad you enjoyed it.
This is really an awesome sight in terms of scale and creativity! Although, I’m not so sure about the regulatory permission aspects, which kinda negate what I view as the soul of graffiti: its popup, spontaneously illegal nature. Still a very cool attraction!
There is still plenty of non-approved graffiti at the park as it is an open space but it was meant to be a place for inspirational and positive art work so they wanted to have some degree of control over it. Good luck with that – as you said it ‘negates the soul of graffiti’.
Great photos of street art in Austin. I really enjoy good street art, and even the simple “you are loved” might just be what someone needs to see.
Thanks Shelley. I like the positive messages and “you are loved” is a good one to remember.
This looks like such a wonderful project. Thanks for capturing and sharing it with your beautiful photography!
I’m crazy about graffiti, too!
What fun! On my list for our next visit to Austin.
What a colorful fun place. I found your blog via Noel’s Travel Photo Discovery link-up. Loved your about page. :)
Hi there budget jan – thanks for stopping by!
That reminds me, I have been meaning to add some more info on my ‘about me’ page – glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve heard many cool things about Austin but this Hope Outdoor Gallery graffiti park sounds extra special. I love those penguins in sunglasses!
I did enjoy this virtual tour of Hope Outdoor Gallery graffiti park in Austin Texas. I plan to visit it next time I’m in town.
We love street art and (most) grafitti and after all of our years living in Texas this is the first time we’ve heard about the Hope Outdoor Gallery. Luckily we know we’ll be in the area in a few months to visit family so this will be one of our “must see” places to go!
I hope you enjoy it Anita! It is a cool site and you never know what you are going to see on those walls – a visual feast awaits you. Have fun in Austin!
Austin surely seems like a hip place to visit these days although I hadn’t heard of the Hope Gallery. Thanks for sharing the information, I love outdoor graffiti art.