"The Cactus Comet Rides Again"

Art Luppino, "The Cactus Comet", led the nation in rushing in 1954 and 1955. He wore jersey no. 22, now retired at the U of A.  The mural is located at the SE corner of Arizona Stadium behind Gate 6.

Photographed on Sept. 19, 2019.

Painted by Danny Martin. Photo by Miguel Arias.

Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

There's a video of the mural being painted in our blog entry Video: Danny Martin mural at Arizona Stadium.

Video: Danny Martin mural at Arizona Stadium

From Twitter:

Inspired by program history with a touch of Tucson 🎨

Come see it in person at Arizona Stadium!#BearDown pic.twitter.com/b8j0ZPX9Ht

— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) September 17, 2019

Update (October 18, 2019): There's a photo of the completed mural in today's entry "The Cactus Comet Rides Again".

Weed & Seed

The  Weed and Seed Program is intended to help communities by weeding out crime and seeding sites with crime prevention programs.  This tile mural was found on S. 4th Ave. at the intersection of E. 34th St., City of South Tucson.  Photo taken on April 22, 2019.

Painted by Gonzalo Espinosa

Click on photo for a larger and sharper image.

MOCA's wall on fire

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, is housed in a former fire station downtown. (If you haven't been there, check it out. It's an interesting gallery space with tall fire door/windows.) On the two halves of their west wall are firey orange murals. Here's the left (north) side, then the right:

(The photos' colors are even more vivid than in real life because I was there near sunset and because I used my camera's HDR mode — High Dynamic Range — to try to capture more detail in both the shadows and sunlit parts.)

I was there for a hot summer event on June 20th.

Ohana

This neighborhood mural is on the east side of Sarnoff Drive, just north of the corner with Calexico Street. I rolled by (and stopped!) on June 21, 2019.

I searched the Internet for “Ohana.” The word is being used a lot these days. Wikipedia says “Ohana is the sense of family in Hawaiian culture.” But I found another web page that argues The Word 'Ohana Is A Modern Invention. Whatever.

In the middle of the mural is “Love Ya” followed by what looks like a heart with a question mark over it. Hmmm:

Train Engineer and Onlooker

I've taken two photos of this mural almost 5 years apart. The original artist was Joe Pagac who told Jerry Peek that "It was tagged and then a very talented young artist who goes by Rose Kaiotii did the updated repaint." You can find it at the SW intersection of E. Alameda St., N. 6th Ave. and E. Toole Ave.

Photographed 09/21/2014

Painted by Joe Pagac

 Photographed 05/29/2019

Updated repaint by Rose Kaiotii

The face and clothing of the onlooker have changed dramatically.  Here are the before and after photos:

Although not a self-portrait, the clothing and tattoos on the right appear to be the same as those worn by the artist.

Click on any photo for larger and sharper images.

"A" Mountain and a giant fork

I've heard that each Trader Joe's store has an artist on staff. When I look around the store — at the shelf tags, for instance — I think it might be true. That's a mural above the shopping carts outside. Next, a couple of closeups:

I snapped the photos on June 23rd.

Tortilleria Don Juan

The artist, Jilmar Alaniz, happened to be in the restaurant at the time I took this photo on May 27, 2019.  He came out and we talked for a while.  And that's how I found out the mural is a portrait of the owner's parents.

The father (Juan) and mother (Che)

Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Hem & Her

Back on July 13, 2016, the Tucson Mailbox Art blog showed a giant pair of scissors underneath a mailbox. Since then, the obviously fun-loving owners of Hem & Her Bridal have painted a mural on the wall at the north side of their parking lot:

I zipped by (and stopped) on May 16, 2019.

Murals being made, part 53: Mural lovers

Back on October 5, 2016, I posted (Not) Mural Lovers, part 3. I had seen a business sign that was apparently put on top of a Ben's Bells mural: the third one in their “kindness corridor.” I was outraged, so I wrote that entry.

Soon I heard that the new business owner had simply replaced the former business sign and left the mural as it was. But I just ran across a folder on my computer (I'm going through old folders to find murals I haven't posted) with photos of the mosaic mural being installed. I'm not sure whether I got them from Ben's Bells or from the former store owner, but I'm basically 100% sure that I wouldn't have saved them if I didn't have permission to post them to this blog. So here they are:

First Thursday Art Walk, Jeanette Maré & Maggie Gedbeou

Ben's Bells Studio Manager, Colleen Corlin, applying mirror to the Kindness Tree mural design

Ben's Bells Executive Director Jeannette Maré

Ben's Bells Executive Director Jeannette Maré, CTP Student Joe Cox & KOLD News 13 Reporter Lauren Burgoyn

The photos were on a flyer saying, in part, “The mural installation was open to the public and several passers-byers had the opportunity to put mosaic pieces on the wall.” A hidden comment in the first photo's data said "Photo from Amy Collinsworth of Ben's Bells". Thanks, Amy! The captions above are from the flyer.

I don't have a date, but it must be before the photo I posted in October 2016.

Und1sputed urban art

The vacant lot on the south side of the Un1sputed Fitness gym on Stone has been ringed by urban art murals for years. (To see some of them, click on “Search this blog” in the right column and enter Und1sputed — with a digit 1 instead of the letter i.) I stopped by on May 16, 2019 to see the latest.

First, here's the south wall of the building overall, from west to east, with two closeups:

Next, the other (south) side of the lot — including one closeup of the cartoon character Speedy Gonzales:

College Kids

Mural by Danny Martin.  I found it at the Broadway Village Apartments.  Photographed on April 27, 2019.

Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Two years ago at TMA

If you suspect that I'm not the world's most-organized person, you would be right. :) But at least I remember murals! I was at the Tucson Museum of Art earlier this summer… I saw the slab outside the Education Building, thought back on two murals that used to be there, remembered that I'd taken photos but never posted them here. This morning, I found those photos — from August 8, 2017. The museum regularly repaints this slab, so I'm glad I got the photos when I did:

It's never too late for good art. :)

79th Floor

"The 79th Floor is a smoke shop and lounge that specializes in heady glass and CBD products."  Heady glass is a moniker used to distinguish high-quality blown glass pieces such as dab rigs, dabbers, hand pipes, and bongs used for cannabis consumption.  CBD (Cannabidiol) is an oil derived from the cannabis plant.

Photographed on April 22, 2019

Viewed from E. Pima St.

Painted by Ivan and viewed from the store's parking lot on N. Alvernon Way

Click on either photo for larger and sharper images.

Seeds of Change

I found this mural on May 10, 2019 at the Steve Daru Boys and Girls Club next to Joaquin Murrieta Park.

Painted by Jonny Balesteros, aka Jonny Bubonik

Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Outside Davis Bilingual Elementary

Davis Bilingual Elementary School has lots of art inside and out. The outside art is concentrated on the south side of the building near the main entrance; most of these have been repainted in the past couple of years. Others are spread around the grounds.

I've been coming here for years. I found two murals on May 12, 2018, near the northeast corner of the building, that I hadn't seen before:

On my last visit, May 15, 2019, I photographed the repainted murals outside. The first six are snapshots of Tucson through the centuries.

Before the late 1600s

Late 1600s - Mid 1700s

Late 1700s to Early 1800s

Late 1800s (At left is
the door painted by Luis Mena.)

Early 1900s

Late 1900s

(If you want a lot of flexibility and control over photos with your cell phone camera, try the OpenCamera app. I think it only works on Android. Look through its Settings menu and the “...” menu on the desktop to see all the choices you have.)

Inside Davis Bilingual Elementary

This blog has lots of photos of the art at Davis Bilingual Elementary School. (To see more, click on the “Search this blog” link in the right column, then type Davis Elementary.) A lot of the murals were painted by students. Others are by Luis Gustavo Mena, a Tucson muralist who does a lot to help the school. I stopped by on May 15th to see his mural in the cafeteria. The helpful people in the school office pointed out other murals inside.

Cafeteria

The mural and three closeups:

Hallways

Alongside some of the murals — which, I think, students painted — is some of what looks like their classroom artwork.