Mural honoring Roger Taylor Sr. unveiled at East Austin's Seabrook Square II

Family members, artists and Integral Care leaders gathered Sept. 18 at Seabrook Square II, one of two connected housing communities in the J.J. Seabrook neighborhood, to unveil a five-story mosaic mural. The piece honors Roger Taylor Sr., a longtime East Austin civic leader who founded the J.J. Seabrook Neighborhood Association.

The details

The mural contains more than 70,000 hand-placed glass tiles, according to artist J Muzacz of The Mosaic Workshop, who called it the workshop's tallest mosaic to date.

Arts nonprofit Raasin in the Sun led the community-centered process with Integral Care, the county mental health authority operating Seabrook Square II.

Volunteers pieced the image together over two to three weeks at the workshop, said Founder and CEO Raasin McIntosh, adding that the studios at Seabrook Square I are the nonprofit's first brick-and-mortar space.

The background

The mural resides at Seabrook Square II, a supportive housing community that offers 60 furnished efficiency apartments for people who have experienced chronic homelessness and began welcoming residents in mid-August. Seabrook Square I, the connected 204-unit income-restricted community, held its ribbon-cutting July 17, according to previous Community Impact reporting.

Both are named for Dr. John Jarvis Seabrook, a pastor, educator and civic leader who was president of Huston-Tillotson College from 1955 to 1965. The neighborhood association Taylor founded in 1983 carries the same name, said Taylor's son, Roger Taylor Jr.

"Just imagine all the amazing stories that this place will tell," Integral Care CEO Jeff Richardson said at the unveiling.

Austin's first poet laureate, Zell Miller III, performed a poem crediting Taylor with laying the groundwork for growth that doesn't erase the neighborhood's history. The program closed with a plaque dedication honoring Taylor's leadership.

Integral Care also operates Terrace at Oak Springs, a 50-unit permanent supportive housing community in East Austin that opened in 2019, and Bungalows at Century Park, a 60-unit community in North Austin that opened in November 2024.

A closer look

Taylor Jr. said the imagery tells parts of his father's story. The design went through eight to 10 mock-ups before the final version was chosen.

The mural shows Taylor in his high school graduation cap and gown, which Taylor Jr. said represents his father's belief in education. It also shows the Mueller Airport control tower, which Taylor helped save from demolition in the late 1990s, his son said. Taylor's name is on the plaza beside the tower.

A 1968 Dodge truck represents one of his ways of serving the community. When Parks and Recreation said it couldn't fund watering for trees Taylor had requested nearby, he loaded large drums of water onto the truck. Taylor Jr. said the two of them and neighbors watered the trees nearly every day for two years.

Quote of note

"The first thing that comes to mind is how much he believed in family, hard work, education and community," Taylor Jr. said of his father.

Taylor's daughter, Rosalind Taylor Dillard, said she was unsure at first how the project would balance the family's wishes with the wider community's.

"My father was a humble man, and I can almost hear him saying, 'I don't know about all of this,'" she said.

Get involved

The Mosaic Workshop, about 10 minutes down Airport Boulevard, takes drop-ins for making mosaics or helping on community murals. Its annual Mosaic Fest is set for the last week of October, Muzacz said.

McIntosh invited visitors to tour Raasin in the Sun's studios at Seabrook Square I.

Taylor Jr. said he hopes new residents of both communities will join the neighborhood association and get to know their neighbors.

Integral Care's food pantry at Seabrook Square II runs on donations, which can be made at integralcare.org.