The Story of a Local Artist's Latest Mural and Her Rising Success
Muralist Bianka Santillan continues to spread beauty across Del Rio. Her latest mural at 1800 Veterans Boulevard garnered a ceremony conducted by the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. With a degree in design from Texas A&M University (TAMU), a portfolio including multiple stunning panoramic murals, and an on-going relationship with TAMU Press publishing her illustrations, Bianka Santillan is a rising local talent worth keeping up with.
“Rooted in the Rio” began as a voice in the mind of Kristina Shilling, co-owner, along with husband Jason Schilling, of auto repair shop PDR Pros and a strip center at 1800 Veterans Boulevard. Kristina said the center’s bare south-facing wall called out to her as she would pull into the buildings parking lot. Seeing the opportunity to use the 30’ by 15’ foot surface as a canvas to provide drivers-by a visual landmark, Kristina contacted Bianka.
“I told her, ‘We have an opportunity here to do something really great.’ And she agreed with me, and so she came up with some illustrations.”
Mrs. Schilling says she discovered Bianka by sighting one of her previous murals and kept her in mind, resting on the idea of commissioning a mural of her own for the high-traffic location. But when she happened upon Bianka’s work again, this time up close on a postcard while visiting Val Verde Winery, she knew she wanted to begin working with Bianka immediately.
“I bought a postcard and Bianka’s beautiful illustration was on that [postcard]. It was not like [anything you see] around here. So I got in touch with her.”
After taking the Schillings’ ideas through a creative process of her own, Bianka conceived and composed what she calls a “theme park map”-style mural that identifies the region’s main waterways and iconic landmarks.
“I … wanted to show how Del Rio is all connected. The city is so interconnected with [San Felipe] creek, the [Rio Grande], and [Lake Amistad], so I felt it would be really cool to incorporate all those main waterways along with iconic architecture in the city”, Santillan explains.
“The goal for this mural was to make people […] want to stop their car and take a picture in front of it to remember their time in Del Rio. That was the goal. And I think we achieved it,” Kristina Schilling tells DRN. “We grew up here and we know what a great place it is and I wanted to bring that to the forefront.”
Bianka is in the midst of experienced mounting success as a visual artist. Late last year, she became a published illustrator with a children’s book titled Blindcat and Tadpole. What sets this work apart from other children’s literature is the scientific and academic value it holds. Working with TAMU Press, a publisher of scholarly prestige, Bianka faced standards of peer-review before her illustrations were accepted for publication.
Blindcat and Tadpole hit the presses in December 2024 and tells the story of a tadpole who gets washed away from home by flash flood. Tadpole meets the almost-mythical, but real, eyeless "Mexican blindcat" fish who dwells deep in the pitch-black underwater caves of the Texas-Mexico border. "In 2016, researchers found the Mexican Blindcat in Lake Amistad, indicating the health and cleanliness of the transborder freshwater aquifers". Blindcat and Tadpole is available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Looking to the future, Bianka tells DRN to be on the lookout for her illustrations in another children’s project inspired by Texas biodiversity. This book follows the story of a water salamander. Could she mean the axolotl? She says she can’t reveal much more just yet. But it’s guaranteed to be a visually compelling and educational read, with partner Lisa Johannson penning the story.
You can browse Bianka's store at artbybianka.com, and follow Bianka on Facebook: Art by Bianka, or Instagram: @art.by.bianka.
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