Trash(ed) art

Back in 2018, the city of Tucson commissioned five trash containers covered with murals. The idea was to reduce graffiti. We posted several photos on this blog. One was on November 9, 2018: Beautiful trash containers III. It showed a dumpster sitting at the curb on 12th Street next to Yosi's Creations florist and across a small parking lot from Taco Fish restaurant.

I stopped by on October 19, 2024 to check out Taco Fish. I saw the painted dumpster, which had been there for six years; I snapped this photo of the front and right sides. (I forgot to photograph the back.)

It's ugly now, but it brightened up a neighborhood that's not too photogenic. I wonder if the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona has considered making more — or already has? (Idea: The mural is worn off in the places where the dumptruck picks up the container. Maybe the mural design could allow for that — for instance, an empty area with rust-colored paint around it? Hmmm…)

Artsy mural replaced by (similar) political mural

This blog is about art, not politics. There are at least a few other political murals around town. I thought you might be interested because a five-year-old mural was replaced by a similar mural within the last few months. If you write any comments (at the end of this post), please keep them civil and respectful. Thanks.

I tend to remember murals I see around town. As I was on my way to vote today, I noticed that this mural was gone:

It's from our February 25, 2020 post "Corazon Saguaro" (Saguaro Heart): Banner mural #3 of 5. Thanks to David Aber for the photo.

Here's the new mural (in shade, so the colors may not be the same as the first mural):

Notice that the left side of the mural is the same. Even the artist's signature is in the same spot, and it's still dated 2019:

(I enlarged the first photo a lot from David's original, so it's blurry.)

What's different is that the part of the mural acknowledging Banner Health "This mural by Lalo Cota is dedicated to our Tucson community" has been replaced with "Paid for by Harris for President." nearby…

Outside Park Place Street Art Festival

SAACA, Rio Nuevo, and others organized this year's Park Place Street Art Festival on Saturday the 3rd. There were events inside and outside the mall. I didn't get there on Saturday, but I walked along the north wall outside early yesterday morning the 4th — before the rain likely washed away the chalk art. (I also saw the huge new mural at the southwest corner. I'll have photos of that another day.)

A number of professional artists drew with chalk outside and painted inside. Kids drew with chalk outside. Let's start with the pros, then see the kids' work.

Because there are so many photos, I haven't done my usual careful editing. These are all the original photos.

Tyson Krank

Tyson's mural, near mall entrance 3 on the west side of Total Wine, wasn't finished early this morning.

@Edwina the artist

Wes Creigh

Children

I started at the west end and walked to the east end.

Even in Death

The mural is called "Even in Death". Artist Akers (on Instagram, @waddup.native) painted it, thanks to the Fronteridades project through Galeria Mitotera and the UA Confluence Center. The artist's Instagram post for this mural is @waddup.native, April 21, 2023. (You can click there to see it. You shouldn't need an Instagram account.)

The skeleton figure in the mural an "Anciana" or elder, from the perspective of the Pascua Yaqui/Yoeme artist.

There's a lot of explanation and a video on Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Galeria Mitotera & Gifts (@galeriamitotera)

If you can't see that or would like to open the post yourself, here's a link to click: https://www.instagram.com/galeriamitotera/reel/CvisQ6ggA5T/.

David Aber took the photo at the top of this post. Thanks, David.

Bats and extraterrestrials!!

Just in time for Halloween, here's a sorta-spooky mural by Danny Martin at Our Family Services. (What do family services have to do with bats and spaceships? Only they and Danny know.)

The photos are from July 8, 2024.

Park Place Street Art Festival this weekend

In September, I read an announcment from SAACA about the free Park Place Street Art Festival on Saturday, November 2. The theme is Dia de los Muertos, in partnership with the All Souls Procession. The "reveal" of the largest mural in Arizona is 3-4pm in the southwest parking lot. There'll also be an ofrenda, live mariachis, ten artists painting, a Kids’ Zone (where, if this is like previous festivals, kids can make their own chalk murals on the sidewalk)…

    https://www.saaca.org/park-place-street-art-festival.html

We've covered four other festivals on this blog:

• April 16, 2012: Park Place Chalk Art Festival
• April 10-14, 2013: Park Place Chalk Art Festival: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
• April 2, 2015: Fourth annual Park Place Chalk Art Festival
• April 11, 2016: Park Place Chalk Art Festival 2016

I'm not sure what happened to the festival after 2016. (Maybe I started traveling a lot and missed them?) This year's looks every bit as fun!

Jackalope wrapped in lights

The Little Free Libraries I've seen are mostly in front of people's homes. They usually have designs that are friendly to the neighborhood… and over-the-top clever. This one, at the southwest corner of Kennedy & Rubio in the Barrio Viejo, fits that perfectly:

On the east side is Danny Martin's mural of a jackalope. (I think jackalopes were spotted not long ago in a wash near here. 😉) The box is wrapped in holiday-type lights — with an extension cord connected to the home just south; I'm guessing the homeowners built the box.

I hopped stopped by on July 13, 2024.

Danny Martin joins mural party along 6th Avenue

What's different about this Danny Martin mural? It's on the west and south walls of Sooters Auto Service.

Of course, any muralist can have fun and paint anything. But I think Danny had more fun with this mural than usual. Here's why:

• He hasn't made a lot of murals with color. This one has a bright red truck.
• The truck is really bright red for having a moon behind it and a night sky.
• I usually see javelina together — especially the youngsters. What are the little ones doing scattered all through the mural?
• You can't pull up to get gas on the front side of the pump because there's a saguaro in the way. And keep an eye our for the prickly pear while you're filling your tank (unless one of the saguaro near the gas pump works for the gas station and will do it for you).
• His murals often have two identical saguaros. In this mural, all three are the same.

Tucson has lots of great murals, but not too many this fun. (There's another fun mural across the street. Our post The Thinkers un-Tagged has photos.)

To see his other murals on this blog, click on Danny Martin at the bottom of this post. On July 13, 2024, I walked (carefully) into 6th Avenue to grab this photo.