Monday, April 27, 2015

10th and Park, part 1

Saturday the 25th was a celebration at the corner of 10th Street and Park Avenue: a community mural project to brighten up the gray walls of the building on the southwest corner.



The main attraction was probably the mural being painted on a piece of cloth tied to the north side of that building — for Words on the Avenue:



I hadn't heard of Words on the Avenue. People told me that they have a monthly open-mic evening to, as their Twitter profile says, “... unify the writing world by creating a space where all genres can co-exist. Find us at Café Passé every last Sunday of the Month.”

To the left is a closeup of one of the muralists.


Sketch artist Chelsea showed me the mural design. The original plan was to project the design onto the canvas and trace it out in fine lines. But the light was too bright. Drawing a grid over the design, then repeating the grid on the white background of the mural, did the job. Next, a closeup showing the design and the grid:
Kristin, one of the organizers, told me that the mural would be finished when I saw WORDS ON THE AVENUE above the mural design. (More on that later...)

This mural was only part of the celebration. Students chalked thank-you notes on the sidewalk in front of the TUSD (Tucson Unified School District) building on the southeast corner. The middle of the intersection was filled with potted desert plants and a flower painted around the cover in the center. "STREET CLOSED" barricades and food trucks opened the corner for everyone to walk through from side to side. Two other murals were being made for the east side of 95 South Park. The first photo below shows artists making a mural, and the second shows the other mural next to a “What do you want in your neighborhood?” suggestion board:

I left the party after an hour or so, before the first mural was done. I came back the next day — on Sunday morning — to snap photos of the rest of what had happened. The picture wasn't pretty, as you'll see next time...

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