New Durango Mural Ebb and Flow Celebrates the Animas River Trail

A new mural titled "Ebb and Flow" has appeared on a fence along the Animas River Trail just north of the Durango Public Library, the latest piece of public art to transform a stretch of trail that Durango commuters and recreationists walk, run, and ride daily.

The work is a collaboration between local artist Matt Clark of Little Bud Designs and muralist Parker Ledford. According to DurangoLocal.News, the piece combines collage and illustration, though neither Clark nor Ledford has provided public comment on the concept or process in available materials. The project's funding source was noted in an Instagram post accompanying the mural but the caption was cut off before naming the specific program or sponsor.

"Ebb and Flow" joins a trail corridor that has been accumulating public art in earnest. Back in September 2024, local artist Mariah Kaminsky completed a separate mural honoring Edward Abbey at the 550 underpass just south of Santa Rita Park. That piece, which is part of the city's Call to Artists initiative, was described as the first of three planned artworks along the Animas River Trail, with the remaining two expected within the next one to two years.

Kaminsky's Abbey mural draws directly from Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang, incorporating the line: "I chose to listen to the river for a while, thinking river thoughts, before joining the night and stars." Kaminsky, who walks that section of trail several times a week, said the site chose itself. "It was just the ugliest wall and it felt like it needed a lot of help," she said. "There are so many people that exercise this trail every day or commute it to work, and they were so excited to have something fresh and inspirational, instead of just the ugly, dirty underpass wall." Community response, she added, has been overwhelmingly positive.

With "Ebb and Flow" now installed at the library end of the trail and Kaminsky's Abbey tribute anchoring the Santa Rita Park corridor, the Animas River Trail is becoming as much a public gallery as a commuter artery. Whether the remaining two Call to Artists murals will fill the gap between those two anchors remains to be confirmed, but the trail is clearly getting a sustained creative investment that matches the attention Durango already gives the river itself.