Neighborhood DNA

Joe Pagac keeps amazing me with his creativity (…you too, I'll bet). What's now downtown Tucson, and the city-to-come around it, grew up and prospered when the railroad came in 1880. The Barrio Viejo neighborhood, on the south edge of downtown, grew up in the decades after… the railroad was part of its DNA. Joe showed that intertwined destiny in this mural along a driveway on Simpson Street:

The driveway is narrow, and my camera couldn't catch it all. Below is the original photo, which I stretched with my favorite free photo editor GIMP to make the version above:

Here's what you'll see from the street:

If the homeowners are available, they'll let you into the driveway. (Their dog might bark and be a "doorbell".) Tim told me the story of the mural:

"The man on the left is Frank Bone. He lived there many years. He was distinct because he always wore a white linen suit and a white pith helmet walking around downtown. We didn't know what he looked like, so we painted him from the back. The people on the right — the couple — built this house in 1910. The mural represents the neighborhood. It's got our home and our neighbors' homes, but it also has trains and the homes in the shape of DNA because it's part of the neighborhood's DNA: the trains and the train sounds."

You can read more about this mural, and others in the neighborhood, in the Arizona Daily Star article This historic Tucson neighborhood is exploding with works of art. It adds to Tim's comments: "…Andres and Guadalupe Herrera, who built the home in 1906, as well as Frank Bone, who resided there for more than 40 years."

Here are closeups from left to right:

I took advantage of a quieter downtown to snap a lot of photos on Veterans Day, November 11.

New Joe Pagac mural at Davis-Monthan AFB

Joe posted this mural on Instagram last Friday, October 29. I'm guessing that it might not be easy for me (a civilian) to find and see it, so I'm sharing his post here:

Animals on the roof

Joe Pagac paints a lot of animals, but not (so far?) musical animals:

Thanks to BG Boyd Photo for that shot from a drone! The best I could do from ground level (from across 4th Avenue, with a zoom lens) — on August 10, 2021 — was this:

The mural, above the roof of Del Sol International Shops along 4th Avenue, is actually on the south wall of the new Union on 6th apartment complex. I took the photo on August 10, 2021.

From BG Boyd Photo, here's a wider view, plus a closeup of the signature at the bottom left corner (which I got with a photo editor from his first photo):

Joe Pagac paints his old neighborhood (Murals being made, part 65)

Joe Pagac grew up in the neighborhood right across the street from Himmel Park. So he was excited to paint a mural on the swimming pool there. He finished it earlier this summer. I took that photo of the finished mural on July 26th. (As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view.)

Thanks to BG Boyd Photo for these photos of the mural taking shape:

Here are the other photos I took on July 26th, from the left (north) end to the right (south):

Murals being made, part 64: Sahara Apartments

The mural is in a narrow space between buildings at the Sahara Apartments. David Aber took multiple photos on June 13, 2021, and stitched them together into the spectacular result above. It's on his Flickr account at https://www.flickr.com/photos/26438012@N08/51250402031/in/album-72157655537201051/. I've split it into the three clips below:

Joe Pagac wrote on Facebook November 15, 2020: "Katherine Joyce Lester and I just finished up this mural at Sahara Apartments on Stone just south of Speedway! A little African Peyote Oasis. Dung/Scarab beetle bringing up the rear courtesy of my nephew." I caught them painting on November 12:

On Facebook, you can find Katherine at katherine.lester.14019 and Joe at joepagac.

Ode to Libraries

Found at the Kirk-Bear Canyon Library.  The mural consists of six panels on the accordian-shaped outside wall.  Here they are in no particular order:

Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger and sharper images.

Tribute To The Medical Profession

The mural is on a free-standing wall on the TMC campus.  It is across from the Catalina Garage on a street named E. New Hospital.

Painted by Joe Pagac with assistance from Katherine Joyce and Arielle Alelunas.

The mural is too long to fit this Blog.  I have therefore broken it into the five photos you see below.

Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger and sharper images.

Murals being made, part 62: More animals on bicycles

Joe Pagac is at it again!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Joe Pagac (@joepagac)

He posted that photo to Instagram on March 10th as he and co-muralists were starting to paint animals on bicycles over a rainbow-covered background along Court Avenue, just north of Alameda.

BG Boyd Photography sent the spectacular panorama below of the finished mural. As always, you can click on the photo for a larger version. You can also see all of BG's photos of the mural at https://bgboydphoto.com/murals/el_tour_de_tucson.

I stopped by the mural site on March 14th to see what was new:

He's painted other murals with animals on bikes. The best-known is his Epic Rides mural (from the blog entry Murals being made, part 46c: Tucson's biggest):

Let's look at the whole mural in progress on March 14th from left (north end) to right (south end). As always, you can click on a photo for a slideshow of larger views:

A week later, on March 21, I read that the mural was finished. Here are views from the north end looking south, then the south end looking north:

Finally, the finished mural from left (north) to right (south):