Murals being made, part 46a: Tucson's biggest

Muralist Joe Pagac is painting a mural on the south wall of the Epic Rides building on Stone Avenue just north of 6th Street. When finished, the mural will be the largest in Tucson (so far!) at 122 ft. wide and 33 ft. high. He aims to finish the mural before his wedding, April 22nd.

This is the first of two blog entries showing the progress as he paints the mural. The second entry — part 46b — will be online after April 22nd, we hope. (Joe must hope the same!) As you'll see below, at least one schedule challenge came up as he worked.

The first three photos below are by David Aber. They show the beginning of the mural with a reporter from KGUN 9 holding the mock-up.  See the report by Jennifer Martinez.

Jennifer Martinez in front and Joe Pagac in the far background on Mar. 27, 2017.

Status on Mar. 27, 2017

Status on April 3, 2017.

Next, from Jerry Peek:

David had been to the site two or three times by April 3. He mentioned to me (Jerry) that, when he was there a few days before, there didn't seem to be much progress on the mural. When I talked with Joe on my first visit, April 7, he said that he'd been sick the week before.

Though an experienced muralist must have a good idea of when the mural should be finished, this big work must be an amazing challenge. (I think Joe's next-biggest mural is probably the one behind Borderlands Brewing. There are three blog entries; if you follow the links from Joe Pagac finishing Borderlands Brewing mural, you should be able to see it in progress. Or, viewing all eleven entries from April, 2015 might be easier.) Anyway, Joe had a lot to finish here at Epic Rides — in just two weeks!

April 7: The mural, Joe (on the lift), and admirers

Place Joe in the next photo for a good idea of the size of this mural.

The mural at 5 PM on April 7th. (Joe is still working.)

April 8th, noon: Working on the bottom half of the left side

April 9, 9 AM: The top of the left side looks finished

Detail from the right half

The javelina's bicycle near the left edge of the right half
(we'll be following this detail as Joe paints)

We'll have more when Joe finishes — or maybe before.

Update (June 12, 2017): Part 46b, posted today, shows Joe's progress between April 12th and 25th. He seems to be finishing it up, so we're expecting the final photos to be online by the end of June.

Update (July 2, 2017): As I was updating Joe Pagac's Wikipedia page, I notticed that the pronunciation of his name was different than what he's put on his Facebook profile and that it didn't mention much about his mural work. From there, I found a Kickstarter page promoting this mural project. The original sketch shown on the page is a lot less polished than the gorgeous mural he produced, but he drew enough backers to finish the job!

Old Hotel Lewis mural updated (a lot!)

The former mural under the Hotel Lewis sign has been gone for several years. (You can see some of the vacant space in the first two photos below.) Late last year (2016), I noticed (couldn't help but notice!) a new, much larger mural just to the right of the old sign (which was still there, even more faded than before). I was super-busy then, so I waited until the dust settled (old joke… The dust never settles in Tucson…) — and parked in a no-parking zone along the Arizona Avenue alley to grab this photo on January 19, 2017 (with a trash container covering the bottom of the mural):

As Mark Fleming reminded me by email a couple of weeks ago, he had taken detailed photos of the same mural on December 10th. Here are his:

I found an photo of the old Julian Drew Building and Lewis Hotel, 178-188 E. Broadway Blvd., taken in 2004. It comes from Peg Price's Historic Tucson gallery on PBase.

Many thanks, Mark!

Update (April 10, 2019): The December 27, 2016 Street Art News article "Vergiss" by Fin DAC in Tucson, Arizona tells more.

Cavett close-up

Another of the mural-rich TUSD (Tucson Unified School District) schools is Cavett Elementary. We've had several entries with murals inside (and a few outside) this particular school.

One of the murals you can see (with permission from the school office!) is just along the hall from the office. It's one of the many school murals that Tucsonan muralist David Tineo made with help from students. We saw that mural — along with other murals — on our January 20, 2017 entry Cavett Elementary (you can click there to see it). Here's the last photo from that blog entry, showing the Tineo mural from the left end:

Without much of my usual editing to fix tilted edges, here are some parts of the mural that grabbed my eye as I wanted from left to right. The black stripe at top has quotes and the names of student artists.

David Aber and I met there — cameras ready to go! — on September 20, 2016.

TEP Substation

Joe Pagac recently completed a mural at the TEP substation near E. Prince Rd. and N. Mountain Ave. Photos taken on Mar. 5, 2017.  Click on any photo for larger and sharper images.

North Wall

First Panel on the East Wall

Second Panel on the East Wall

Third Panel on the East Wall

"Plants for the Southwest", a nursery

The nursery is located at 50 E. Blacklidge Dr.  However, the mural is on a separate, but attached, bldg. at 2936 N. Stone Ave.  Artistry by Rock "CYFI" Martinez and his assistant, Fernando Leon.

Front of bldg. attached to the West side of "Plants for the Southwest"

South side of 2936 N. Stone Ave.

Click on either photo for larger and sharper images.  Photos taken on Mar. 5, 2017.

Santa Rita High School

Santa Rita High School.  Home of the Eagles.

Photo taken on March 5, 2017.  Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

South Tucson tilework on the True Tucson blog

I just discovered the blog True Tucson. The story The art of tile, South Tucson style has a series of photos of the tile work next to streets in the city of South Tucson.

The Tucson Murals Project blog has some of those murals and others too. (To see them, use the search box at the right edge of the TucsonArt.info murals page and search for: South Tucson. Or zoom into South Tucson and scroll around its murals on the map:



You can see a bigger version of the mural map by clicking there.

Smitty's North Wall

This is the third and last wall around Smitty's Car Wash.

Photographed on Feb. 14, 2017.  Click on any photo for a slide show of larger and sharper images.

Smitty's West Wall

This is the second of the three walls around Smitty's Car Wash.

Photographed on Feb. 14, 2017.  Click on any photo for a slide show of larger and sharper images.

Smitty's South Wall

Several photos have been posted to this blog of murals found at Smitty's Car Wash.  There is also a wall around three sides of the car wash and this, the South wall, is the first of the three.

Photographed on Feb. 14, 2017.  Click on any photo for a slide show of larger and sharper images.

Music murals around the house

This home has murals of musicians. It's at 1121 West Fresno Street; Google wouldn't let me search for the location.

By the front door is a guitar made of iron. I grabbed this fragment from one of the photos you'll see below: the man holding what looks like a slice of bread (a sandwich?) with a bite out of the top. The bread has the caption "Yours truly Jack Smith" that's mentioned below.

Mark Fleming has contributed a number of photos to this blog. He sent these on March 5th (which is the same day his camera data says he took them). He wrote:

On West Fresno Street between Grande and Westmoreland, [this is a] private home, [we got] owner's permission. The murals can be seen from the street.

We asked permission to post on [this blog]; he said yes, we offered our names he did not reciprocate. One of the murals reads "Yours truly Jack Smith."

He's an oil painter and only does murals on his own home.

Let's see that mural and the other four:

Thanks a lot, Mark, and welcome back to the blog!