En el Monte/In the Brush
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
The plains of the South Texas Brush Country inspired artist Janet Eager Krueger to create ceramic tile murals for the historic Laredo Convent Avenue Port of Entry located at the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge. Referencing the region’s tradition of decorative and narrative tile painting, Eager Krueger individually hand-painted ceramic tiles with glazing to depict the blazing sunlight as it strikes the ground and reflects on the surfaces of the plants. The mural provides the viewer with a continuous vista, representing a typical setting of mesquite, white brush, black brush, cenizo, blooming prickly pear, tasajillo, agave, and buffelgrass.
Eager Krueger has lived and worked on a cattle ranch in the South Texas Brush Country since 1979. She is best known for her large-scale oil paintings depicting the people, plants and animals living in the forbidding terrain.
