Mural Work

In 1959, Travis was given a contract to paint two 4’ x 8’ backgrounds for mounted pronghorns at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Then he was commissioned to paint a 4’x 8’ marsh scene for ducks. As the museum began to grow and plans were made for a new building, Travis was once more given the opportunity to paint an 8’ x 16’ background for a plesiosaur skeleton, including a plesiosaur in water. The new building for the Houston Museum of Natural Science and The Burk Baker Planetarium was almost complete in February of 1964 and Travis was given a position as staff artist. He worked in this capacity until July of 1971. His first project as staff artist was to design and paint an 8’ x 100’ entrance mural for the planetarium in an ultraviolet medium consisting of the moon exploration. Other murals still in the museum at the present time —–in 1965 the Prairie Chicken background ( 225’), a Big Bend National Park background (225’) in 1967, the Cabeza DeVaca background (225’) in 1968 , a Texas waterfoul background of 500’ in 1968-69. A scene of the Matador Ranch (225’) in 1970.

The Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History asked Travis to bid on a shipwreck mural in 1990. He was given the contract to design and paint these two murals consisting of the Columbus ships with the able assistance of Mark Storm of Houston. These were completed in the spring of 1991. Again in 1993-1994, Travis was given the opportunity to design and paint a mural, the largest on an inside wall in the state of Texas. This mural is in the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, Texas. The mural consisting of five subjects is 23’ high and 125’ wide. And the second largest painting for the museum was 120 sq ft of an Indian village. The Port Isabel Museum was under construction in 1996, and Travis was once again contracted to work with the museum to re-paint murals on two floors of the museum. The original painting had been done in the early 1900’s and now was in serious need of re-pair. The mural contained approximately 200 different species of fish. After much research and study Travis began the work.

1998, the Houston Museum of Natural Science again contacted Travis and asked for a 98sq ft mural of the High Plains Indians standoff. In 2005, An individual commissioned Travis to design and paint the mural for his new home. The scene of a Louisiana plantation was painted along a stairway leading to the second floor.