"Sugar Hill"

Mural by Tucson Arts Brigade. Sponsored by the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church.  The Sugar Hill neighborhood was one of the few places in Tucson where a black professional could buy a home between WWII and the passage of civil-rights legislation in the '60s.  Eventually, Sugar Hill was absorbed by the Northwest and El Cortez Heights neighborhoods.  A movement has begun to restore the name to the original neighborhood.  However, there is a debate whether the name honors the area or denigrates it.

I took these photos on 12/11/2018. Captions list artists' names from left to right.

The mural is viewed from N. 6th Ave.

Left Side: Teresa Diane Altamirano, Annalisa Loevenguth, David Tineo, Slov (Sabrina Vincent), Tanya Alvarez

Where's a chainsaw when you need it?

Right Side: Delbert Antone, Xaivier Ringer, Jessa Hudgens, Julian Argote, Caressa Wittwer

Complete Mural

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

You can see a larger, sharper and scrollable image of the complete mural here:  Sugar Hill

Update from Jerry Peek (January 29, 2024): I've read (on the Facebook group Tucson Murals and Street Art) that Michael B. Schwartz led this project.

U at Park

These two murals may bring back memories of your college days.  The "U at Park" Apartments has two locations with the same name.  One is at N. Park Ave. and E. Lester St. (formerly Casa España).  The other is at N. Euclid Ave. and E. Elm St. (formerly Casa Royale).

Park Avenue Location

Mural by Michael Schwartz

"Set Your Goals Higher"

Euclid Avenue Location

  Mural by Michael Schwartz assisted by Valeria Hutchings

It's Not All Study (don't tell my parents)

Click on either photo for larger and sharper images.

Park Place Chalk Art Festival, part 1 of 3

This 800th post on the Tucson Murals Project (Happy Birthday to Us! :) shows part of the second annual chalk art festival, April 6th & 7th. Held at Park Place Mall, it's organized by SAACA and bankrolled by merchants — as well as Park Place. (You can see last year's festival there.)

Last weekend, when I posted my announcement of the second day, I'd only seen the professional artists on the north side of the mall — and some of the Community Participation mural. I didn't realize how big the festival would be! I ended up with more than 150 photos — including every bit of the kidZONE art. So I decided to wait until today to post the first part; I'm aiming to post the rest by the end of the week.

Let's go! Here are the works by professional artists, from east to west along the north side of the mall. First I show each work as it was being made, mid-afternoon Saturday the 6th. Next I show the finished work, mid-morning Monday. As always, you can click on a photo to get a larger view.

Marisa Salazar

Park Place Merchants sponsored Marisa's work. Her email address is b1stmrs12@yahoo.com (click there or, if you type the address, both of the "1" are the number one, not the letter l).

Matt Cotten

Matt's website is www.PuppetsAmongUs.com. His sponsor was Arizona Virtual Academy—Insight Academy of Arizona.

Jamie Tooley

There's more of Jamie's work at www.TooleyCreations.com.

Chris Leon

You can reach Chris at artworx.leon@gmail.com. Park Place Merchants sponsored his mural.

Martin Quintanilla

Martín's phone number is (520)333-9999. His work shows traditions of Michoacán, México. The Southern Arizona Attractions Alliance sponsored him.

Michael Schwartz

Michael's personal website is www.MichaelBSchwartz.com. (He's also the Executive Director of the Tucson Arts Brigade.) His sponsor was RBC Wealth Management — Tom Binder.

See that little hole in the wall above Michael's finished work in the second photo above? It's some sort of drain. While I was there on Monday morning, workers opened a valve and water washed away parts of the mural. There's video of the sad scene on the TucsonArtInfo YouTube channel; click there or on this photo...

(Here's a larger version of the photo.) Parts of some murals farther west of Michael's had already been washed away; I'm not sure if others met the same fate later. Chalk art isn't supposed to be permanent, but I wished the workers could have used a hose to direct water around the mural... or the organizers had placed every work away from the drains!

Susan Kay Johnson

Her website is SusanKayJohnson.com. NexCare Urgent Care supported this work of Susan's.

Wesley Fawcett Creigh

To see and read about more of her work, visit WesleyFawcettCreigh.wordpress.com and PaintingByNumbersProject.wordpress.com. This mural was sponsored by Park Place Merchants.

Kati Astraeir

Kati wasn't there when I took the first photo (or the second photo!) above, but I found her website www.KatiAstraeir.com with a Web search. The work on her home page is quite different than this chalk mural, but I recognized her style because met her outside Solar Culture Gallery on Christmas Day — when she and Steven Eye showed me their amazing rotating wooden sculpture.

This chalk mural was sponsored by merchants here at Park Place.

More photos are coming...

...in Part Two and Part Three!

Notes about the photos

• They're in the public domain. I've cut the size and detail, though, for posting online. If any you'd like an original photo, please send me email. (If you use the photo somewhere online or for profit, I'd suggest asking the artist's permission first — and giving their name so they get credit for their hard work.)
• Most of these are geotagged. So you can use geotagging software to find the exact location of the art.