Colton Valentine’s yuletide mural is across from the San Antonio Museum of Art. Credit: Sanford Nowlin

San Antonio muralist Colton Valentine has made a name for himself by portraying pop culture figures on downtown walls, among them Bad Bunny, Cardi B and David Bowie.

But for his new holiday-themed creation, the street artist turned to folklore for inspiration — and gave it a puro San Anto twist.

The mural, located at 317 Jones Street, across from the San Antonio Museum of Art, puts an Alamo City spin on Father Christmas. Valentine’s wall-sized Santa Claus has a face tattoo and twinkling brown eyes, and the Tower of the Americas peeks from behind his voluminous belly.

The clincher though? St. Nick is swigging from that most SA of beverages: a bottle of Big Red.

“I did all this on purpose, so there’s some way for the locals and Hispanic cultures to resonate with this more so than the typical, blue-eyed Santa Claus,” Valentine told KENS5 TV news. “It’s gonna resonate with kids who’ll be like, ‘That Santa Claus looks like my uncle.'”

Based on comments posted to Valentine’s Instagram account, the work is getting the response he hoped for.

“My family is discussing a group photo under this awesome mural,” one Instagram user posted. “Big Red and Santa for life!”

“Just missing the plate of tamales instead of cookies,” another gushed.

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This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 12, 2022.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...