A series of portraits by Jessica Gonzales. Each portrait contains an insect paired with a person based on that person's affinity for a specific insect or one that fits his or her personality. Photos from Oct. 15, 2018.
Portrait in Progress
Finished portrait of Kendra Maria Olivas Sudano and daughter Ofelia.
The Dragonfly also represents Jessica's own mother.
Dragonfly
Portrait of Lauren Zampier-Enwright
Scorpion
Portrait of Lydian Osman Ali
Bee
Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger and sharper images.
They're all by the same local artist, Doug Quarles. They're all in a photorealistic style. And they're all over the place! Sara Brown of the Arizona Daily Star just tweeted this Star article from December 15th:
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:
(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.)
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:
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:
Open the Shazam app (download on Apple Store | download on Play Store)
Press the camera icon immediately below the Shazam button in the app.
Scan the QR code next to the mural on the wall.
Have a friend stand between the wings to see the augmented reality animation and snap a photo of them to share.
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.
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.)?
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!)
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!
Update (January 21, 2020): When I stopped by on November 24, 2019, the marquee had performers:
(There's a photo showing more of the wall in today's entry.)
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!
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Jerry Peek's images are public-domain. For non-profit use, he'd appreciate a mention of his name and JerryPeek.com. For profit, please ask first from the contact form above; give the title of the blog entry, which image, and what you'd like to do.
For full-size versions of these shrunken photos — for instance, to print in a magazine — Jerry has them.
(Jerry is a volunteer who loves to show you murals, and your kindness will help him go on.) Thanks for reading!
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