UTEP Closing Part of Parking Lot for Temporary Art Installation

The University of Texas at El Paso will close its P-4 parking lot on the south end of campus temporarily starting the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, to install a public art piece.

“The Cloud,” was created by New York-based artist Donald Lipski and is the City of El Paso’s latest public art project and will be installed in the center of the Schuster Avenue roundabout where it intersects with Spur 1966.

The work is scheduled to begin as early as Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, but the timing of the installation depends on the weather. Lipski will be in El Paso Sunday through Wednesday, Jan. 10-13, 2016, to oversee the project, which consists of elevated panels covered with thousands of small steel flaps that will sway with the wind.

Organizers also plan a brief closure of the two Schuster southbound lanes near the job site when a heavy crane will be used to lift pieces of the public art work from the parking lot into the center of the roundabout. Motorists are advised to use caution in the area during the installation.

Drivers who use the P-4 lot may use the nearby P-1, P-2 or P-3 lots during construction, but must display their P-4 parking permit. The P-4 parking lot will be open for the start of UTEP’s spring semester Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016.