About this blog

Welcome to The Tucson Murals Project blog!

What You'll Find

We show mural photos — as well as the stories, and artists' names, if we can find them. We try to post (publish to the blog) a new entry every day or two. (It's a volunteer project.)

Our definition of mural is basically “art on a flat surface that we think a fair number of people will enjoy.” If you're looking for a blog where you can learn about only “fine art” or art with a precise definition, you'll find at least some of that here: Muralists are often very talented people with distinct styles, great skill and creativity. But we also post unfinished works, students' projects, etc.

We only show murals that are accessible to the public without paying a fee. (We don't show murals inside, say, a home or a movie theater.)

Here are some ways to find murals:

• Go to the front page (tucsonmurals.blogspot.com). As with other blogs, you'll see the most recent entry first. Scroll down to see more. At the bottom of the page, you can click Older Posts to see earlier entries... and so on.
• On any page, scroll down a bit until you see the Blog Archive in the right column. There you can find murals back to the day Randy Garsee started this blog (in July, 2006).
• Type a street name, artist name, or something else about the mural in the search box at the right side of any page on this blog.
• Use the murals map, table of murals, or murals tour. They're all on the TucsonArt.info murals page.
• Use one of the boxes near the the top of the right column to get an email message for each new post or to follow our feed. (Here's a video intro to feeds — ignore the part about Google Reader; it's been shut down. For more useful info that you can read at your own pace, try RSS Feeds by About.com Guide Wendy Boswell.)

History

The blog was founded in the summer of 2006 by Randy Garsee, a television news reporter (who, then, had co-anchored the weeknight KOLD 13 newscasts for almost ten years). Randy loved the hundreds of murals in Tucson; he wanted to find and share all of them with Tucsonans and visitors alike. As Randy said at the time (recalled by his wife, quoted in the Arizona Daily Star article written after his death in 2013):

“It was something he thought was real cool and needed to be brought to everyone's attention. He said, ‘We always focus on the negative - Who got shot? Somebody got killed. Why can't we focus on the good in the place where we live?’”

Almost a year later, Jerry Peek joined the Project. The next year, Randy left Tucson. As the years went on, Jerry and Randy coordinated by email and phone; a number of times, the two of them wrestled with questions such as what’s appropriate content for the blog and what qualifies as a “mural.” (Here's part one of the long-running series “Maybe a mural.”)

As of this writing — in March, 2013, a few days after Randy’s untimely death — Jerry is doing the blog solo. He rides his bicycle around Tucson looking for murals (and mailboxes and other art). Actually, Jerry isn't alone hunting for murals: a number of other art lovers send in mural reports. A mural map and database are taking shape. Please help out by telling Jerry about murals you find — or by sending your comments, thoughts, and questions.

You can read more about Randy and the blog in our March 13, 2013 post Farewell, Randy....