Want a glittering Ben's Bells mural?

On Thursday the 10th, Gloria Knott wrote in the Arizona Daily Star that several murals near the now-demolished La Placita complex have been removed for storage:

Due to construction in downtown Tucson, Ben's Bells murals need new homes

Here are links to the photos we have of the murals. I think we might be missing one of them:

• Murals being made, part 8 (Kindness, part 3)
• I am Tucson (Kindness, part 4)
• Ride on, Tucson

(I not only loved the glittering murals. I also loved the multicolored complex of buildings that used to be La Placita. Here's a page from my personal photography site, JerryPeek.com: Lamps of La Placita - Tucson, Arizona. The short "tour" ends with a favorite photo that shows La Placita from the Garces Footbridge crossing Broadway. I'm aiming to update the site to work well on mobile phones, too; I want to keep my "tour" pages like these intact.)

#18in2018 (in 2019)

During mid-2018, two special murals appeared — one in Phoenix and the other in Tucson. These “augmented reality” murals were designed to encourage people who were turning 18 before the November 2018 election to register and vote. By using a smartphone app, visitors could make a video and a photo showing themselves with angel wings. (The wings would be added electronically.) We introduced the mural in our May 21, 2018 blog entry New "augmented-reality" mural on 191 E. Toole but didn't have photos yet. The mural is long gone, but now we do have photos. I took them on July 27, 2018:

The mural and its
“sidebar” with instructions

Close-up of instructions

How does it work? The YouTube video #18in2018 Augmented Reality Mural in Downtown Phoenix shows how:



In case that video has been deleted by the time you see this blog entry, below is a screen shot I took as the video played. (To see the wings flap, you'll need to watch the video.)

Cell phone screen showing
visitor with angel wings

The details, and some examples, are currently on the Citizens Clean Elections Commission website at azcleanelections.gov/en/18in2018. (You can also search for the hashtag #18in2018.) In case that website doesn't survive, here are the instructions that people had:

How it works:

1. Open the Shazam app (download on Apple Store | download on Play Store)
2. Press the camera icon immediately below the Shazam button in the app.
3. Scan the QR code next to the mural on the wall.
4. Have a friend stand between the wings to see the augmented reality animation and snap a photo of them to share.
5. iPhone users are able to video screen capture to record the wings in flight! Click here to learn more. Android users are also able to video screen capture but you will have to download an app for that purpose.

I didn't have a chance to fly try the mural before it was gone.

What these walls don't show (now)

How long will a mural last before it's painted over, faded by sun (especially in the western or southern sky), vandalized, or remodeled out of existence (because the wall is torn down, replaced, etc.)?

191 E. Toole on May 25, 2009

191 E. Toole on May 21, 2015

191 E. Toole on June 02, 2016

You can click on a date, above, to see the original blog entry from that date… with other photos, description, and so on. If you'd like to see all of the photos on that wall, go to the 191 East Toole section of the following page…

I've finished the first part of a new page, Layers of murals: histories of a few walls. It documents walls that have changed over time. It's one of several blog Pages (undated blog entries) that are listed in the section titled “Pages”. You'll find it at the top of the right-side column on every Tucson Murals Project blog screen. (To see it now, just scroll up to the top of the screen now and look near the top-right corner.)

So far, the page only shows the muralific building at 191-197 East Toole Avenue. Next I'll add the east wall of the Rialto Theatre. (On my wishlist is the now-gone Bookman’s location at Grant & Speedway. If you have any photos of the murals that were there over the years, please let me know!)

Murals being made (but not finished!), part 48a: Rialto Theatre on Toole?

As I drove by 191 East Toole on May 5, 2018, I spotted a new mural on the right side of the wall that faces the parking lot. It was only partly finished:

The 318 is actually the street address of the Rialto Theatre — which is a few blocks away on Congress, near the corner of Toole, at 318 East Congress.

I went back last week (the end of December, 2018) hoping to see the finished mural. But, as far as I could tell, it looked the same as it did in May. So I'll keep an eye on it! If I see changes, I'll add an entry titled “Murals being made … part 48b.”

Starting the new year with a flying address in CDMX

Let's start 2019 with a mural from the Roma Norte neighborhood in CDMX (the city government's new name for Mexico City… short for CiuDad de MéXico). It's next to the building entrance. Nice touch, isn't it?

By the way, our definition of “mural” is basically “flat art on a wall.” We also don't usually cover murals outside of Tucson, but I do it once in a while since I travel a lot — and a little variety can be interesting, eh?

Also by the way, this is partly a sneaky way to let you know that the Tucson Mailbox Art blog is being updated again. Today's blog entry there shows details from the fabulously over-the-top Palacio Postal (main post office) in Mexico City.

If you click on the Location below, you'll see it on a map. Happy 2019!