Rides in the Sun

Just Mural Cruisin'

Tucson Murals contributer Warren V. says this mural is "on the south side of a garage at 433 N. Santa Rita, just a little south of 6th Street by the U of A campus."

Mural Montage: A Tucson Favorite

While Truckin' Around.....

If you ever drive around the area of the University of Arizona, 

you'll eventually come across this mural.  

It's located at the southeast corner of

4th Avenue & Sixth Street.

Photos Courtesy of Davis Dominguez Gallery

Update (May 14, 2012): Today's Arizona Daily Star article by Carol Ann Alaimo, Tucson Oddity: Mural recalls 4th Ave.'s quirky denizens, covers this 17-by-70-foot mural. Painted in 1996 by Eleanor Kohloss, it's titled “The Thinkers.” All characters have a thought bubble over their heads. (The dog, who's thinking of a steak dinner, is named Beano.) Some of the characters are Tucsonans, and others are fictional.

These Murals Tank!

What Was Oro Valley Thinking?

I have often admired Oro Valley's public art efforts.  I even produced a video of public art in Oro Valley, which you can find on my YouTube Channel. This latest attempt, however, tanks.

Oro Valley has a beautiful new shopping area called the Oro Valley Marketplace.  Smack dab in the middle of this strip mall in the desert are two water tanks.  Someone decided, "Hey, water tanks are unsightly.  Let's paint a mural on them.  Better yet, make them look like massive Giant Saguaros."

As I discovered, the great idea of painting the tanks was mutilated by someone else's idea to surround the tanks with an 8-foot-tall stucco fence.  Drivers can only see the tops of the tanks!  Why not some type of fence so visitors can see the art work from top to bottom?  What a waste to spend all of that tax money for well-painted tanks and then hide most of the work.  

I got the best shots I could get and cropped the cactus flower for better effect.  I even stood on the concrete pillar of a light pole to get shots of the tanks without the wall in front of them.   But if you drive through the Oro Valley Marketplace, I'm sure you'll have the same thought I did:  

"Paint a mural and hide it?  No 'tank' you!  Randy Garsee

Here's a satellite map.

Update (August 7, 2020): There's another painted tank in today's entry Tanked.