Art League Houston (ALH) has a tradition of brightening Houston’s public spaces with thought provoking and beautiful installations of art seen by many motorists on their daily commute. The "Funnel Tunnel" is a temporary site specific civic art sculpture commissioned by ALH and created by Houston-based artist Patrick Renner. The snaking 180 foot sculpture described as “the colorful, ground-hugging tornado winding through the trees on Montrose Boulevard” is located on the median opposite ALH and is the first of a series of esplanade sculptures as part of ALH’s Esplanade Project, the first of its kind in Houston! The sculpture was built from 7,000 pounds of donated steel and a U-Haul full of painted, recycled wooden strips gathered by the artist and the local community. Most of the wood came from a turn-of-the-century cotton gin that was being dismantled, which was offered to the artist after he posted a request for architectural refuse on Facebook. The community helped paint the strips of wood using paint donated by Valspar during a party that ALH hosted in a nearby parking lot. It was ALH's idea to start bringing art onto the Montrose medians. With Houston being such a car dependent city and Montrose being one of the busiest roads in town (39,000 cars go up and down it every day!), it's easy to become complacent about, and disconnected with, the public spaces around us. Bringing art onto Montrose Blvd. medians is a way of making art more accessible and creatively re-claiming these lost spaces. Renner calls his latest creation a "visual arts speed bump" and considers it a re-imagining of a public space dominated by vehicles. The Funnel Tunnel was strongly supported by the Mayor’s Office, and following its success inspired similar projects including “True North, Sculpture on the Boulevard by Redbud Projects, which features sculptures by eight Houston-based artists along Heights Boulevard.