Speedway Corridor Mural Project

The boulevard that was once deemed “the ugliest street in America” by LIFE magazine in 1970 now has six new murals. They're on the walls that protect pedestrians from falling onto the Speedway underpasses near the University of Arizona. They were finished by the end of March, 2024. Allison Miller of Alley Cat murals had the idea for years, but it took lots of preparation and fundraising. (For example: It turned out that the walls themselves are owned by the City of Tucson, but the “wings” extending back from the ends of the walls are owned by the UA!) Here's a map, with thanks to Melissa Goodrich at the UArizona Poetry Center. Click to enlarge:

In coordination with the UA's Poetry Center, the murals are all based on poems — one a hip-hop song. There's lots more information at the end of the post, but let's see the murals! As always, you can click on a mural for a slideshow of larger views.

Each artist's section below finishes with a personal interview from the UA Poetry Center's blog. At the end of this post are links to more information.

Allison Miller (Southeast)

Allison Miller (including photos of her previous stingray mural): We marked up walls: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (April 8, 2024). Stingray mural info, and a closeup photo, from this blog: Stingray on Speedway (August 04, 2016).

Monique Laraway (Northeast)

Monique Laraway: Bring Art to the Masses: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (April 1, 2024)

Alex Fass (South central)

Alex Fass: it's raw, it's real, it's what I feel: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (May 13, 2024)

Sasha Lewis (North central)

Sasha Lewis: Bright blocks of colors and bold lines: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (April 15, 2024)

Jodie Lewers Chertudi (Northwest)

Jodie Lewers Chertudi: A world without art is so boring: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (April 29, 2024)

Jodie's painting partner was Miguel Flores.

Jenna Tomasello (Southwest)

The people are cold. The people are hungry.
The rich have stolen the land.
The rich have stolen freedom.
The people scream.

Jenna Tomasello: Art Without an Access Barrier: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (May 6, 2024)

More about the project

The project has gotten lots of attention, including:

• Arizona Illustrated TV program from AZPM: Beautifying the Ugliest Street in America - Tucson’s murals on Speedway Corridor
• Map and links to the poems, from UA Poetry Center: Speedway Corridor Mural Walking/Rolling Tour and Ice Cream Social!
• Locations, poems, and the Poetry Center: Press release, January 2024
• Speedway Corridor Murals on BG Boyd's TucsonAZMurals.com
• BG Boyd's video: "Reckon" Jodie Lewers Chertudi Mural based on Logan Phillip's Poem (YouTube)

The “Location” address below is close to the North central mural by Sasha Lewis, which is where Highland Avenue crosses under Speedway. (As always, you can click there for a Google Map.) This mural is close to the UA Poetry Center, which helped coordinate the project; its address is 1508 E. Helen Street.

Hidden at Tucson Self Storage (Start of BG Boyd series)

BG Boyd Photography is building a searchable database of Tucson murals at TucsonAZMurals.com. I realized that there's no reason for me to take photos of a mural if he already has some. He agreed that I could share his photos to this blog when I don't have a photo of my own. That'll usualy happen on Fridays. In this series of posts, I'll add clickable links below the photos so you can find the original in his mural database at https://tucsonazmurals.com/murals/. Thanks as always, BG, for helping people find Tucson art!

Today's murals are on the end of storage buildings at Tucson Self Storage on Golf Links Road. Unless you rent a unit there, though, you can't get close to the murals… you can only see some from the fence outside. But BG did it! He also caught an aerial view from his drone:

thank_you_for_your_service
(2nd photo on that database page)

thank_you_for_your_service
(1st photo on that database page)

oregon_trail

the_grand_canyon_state

greetings_from_tucson_self_storage

Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger views. Click on the link underneath a photo to open it in BG Boyd's mural database.

Angels

East wall of Noodies Restaurant (replaces Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea).

By Jenna Tomasello

Click for a larger image.

Update: Back on May 2, 2022, artist Jenna Tomasello (@jennatomasello) wrote on her Instagram post about the mural “The Birth of Venus painted for @noodiestucson. Thanks to @arterosas_ @ginger__love @alycatmiller @juju_bug__ for all the help on this big project.”

Endangered mural on Pima Street

As I was looking through the artists in this year's Open Studios Tour (from Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona), I saw a mural in Jenna Tomasello's listing. I wrote to ask where the mural is, since the number on the mural is 5630 but the Tucson Acupuncture Co-op is at 204 East Fort Lowell. She wrote that it was on a former building of theirs on Pima Street, that they were going to have their handyman paint over the lettering but were planning to keep the sunset portion. When I stopped by on December 9th, the whole mural was there, but parts of “ACUPUNCTURE CO-OP” were partly covered by an “AVAILABLE” sign. So I asked Jenna if I could publish her photo from her OST web page. Here it is, followed by the new sign toward the right edge of the lettering:

(Yes, the right wall of the building isn't straight; it's like little stairsteps.)

She signed the mural at the lower right:

Thanks, Jenna, for the mural and for the photo!

"TallBoys Cantina"

Mos Eisley Cantina on the planet Tatooine.  Han Solo is enjoying a beer and burger.  Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes are playing in the background.  Is that Chewbacca, Obi-Wan and Luke in the booth?
Artistry by Jenna Tomasello.
Photo taken 08/12/2018 at the TallBoys restaurant on 4th Ave.

Click on image to enlarge and sharpen.

Main & University #2

That's another mural painted (but not designed) by Wesley Fawcett Creigh and Jenna Francine Tomasello. I took the photo on January 9.

There's more of Wesley and Jenna's work on our Monday entry.

Update (February 5, 2017): I was back at this corner on May 14, 2016, and found four murals of running dogs; this mural was gone. I think that at least this mural here has changed again since early 2015. I'm just posting our entry Main & University #3; it'll go online March 6, 2017. I'll show all four dog murals then.

Main & University #1

This mural of five running dogs was designed by Jenna Francine Tomasello and Wesley Fawcett Creigh. I took the photo on January 9.

Thanks for the tip, Jenna! (There's more of Jenna's work on our January 9th entry, and even more of hers and Wesley's this coming Thursday.)