An array of dots and dashes of color that spell CVAD in Morse Code
Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Rust-colored mosaic sculpture of a lizard wearing a hat that says "Lewis""Lewis the Lizard," by Rachel Brigman and Frank Green, joins the field of public art in Lewisville, Texas.

Art in Public course leads to permanent installations

Student-Created “Lewis the Lizard” Finds a Home in Lewisville’s Public Art Collection

July 15, 2025 — Public art in North Texas just got a little more playful.

Frank Green, left, and Rachel Brigman pose in behind their "Lewis the Lizard" sculpture
Frank Green, left, and Rachel Brigman celebrated with party hats after the installation of their "Lewis the Lizard" sculpture.

“Lewis the Lizard,” a new outdoor sculpture by UNT CVAD students Rachel Brigman and Frank Green, was recently installed outside Lewisville’s Fleet Maintenance Facility. Designed during Associate Professor Alicia Eggert’s "Art in Public" course in Fall 2024, the whimsical steel sculpture is now considered the facility’s unofficial mascot.

The duo’s design was one of eight proposals submitted by students in Eggert’s class. After a competitive selection process, Lewisville’s Arts Advisory Board chose “Lewis” for fabrication and awarded $15,000 for its completion. Under Eggert’s mentorship, Brigman and Green brought their vision to life, with the sculpture officially installed in July 2025. Brigman and Green graduated with B.F.A. degrees in May 2025.

“This project is about more than just making art — it's about contributing to the identity of a community,” said Eggert. “Students gain real-world experience, and the city gains a meaningful piece of public art.”

The sculpture includes recycled emergency vehicle parts, with head and taillights as scales. It is 7 x 2.5 x 4 feet, and one lizard wears "Lewis" on his cowboy hat, with the other holding a wrench in its mouth. Headlights are embedded into the lizards' heads as eyes with a steel plate connected to the central supports and bolted into the concrete. The concrete is sculpted over an armature reinforced with metal mesh. You can view the sculpture at 851 Treatment Plant Rd. at Valley Ridge Blvd. in Lewisville, Texas.

This marks the fourth student-designed public sculpture commissioned by the City of Lewisville through UNT’s partnership with Eggert’s Art in Public course. A fifth installation is already in the planning stages for the 2025–26 academic year.

This ongoing collaboration provides UNT students with direct experience in public art planning, budgeting, and fabrication. The sculptures become lasting landmarks, enhancing civic spaces while launching the careers of their creators.