Moving murals

On December 7, I spotted the Arizona Daily Star article Tucson Oddity: Graffiti-covered boxcars, site now store parts for old trolleys. About ten years ago, the story said, Old Pueblo Trolley let winners of a graffiti art contest paint the boxcars. The cars -- stored in a fenced lot at 10 N. Park Avenue, are about to be re-painted to look like they did in the mid-1950s. I grabbed my camera and got out there around noon yesterday:


The lot's fence is high, topped with razor wire, and you can't see much through it. Luckily, the gate was open. I walked in, chatted with two men who came out of the building that opens onto the lot, and I walked right up next to the cars. Here are two views of the mural on the south side (the far side of the right-hand boxcar in the first photo above):


The back of the other boxcar was harder to see -- close to the fence and half in shade. Here's what I got:


This is one more view -- facing the inside (northwest) corner of the two boxcars in the first photo, looking through a dilapidated trolley:


Soon these murals will be part of Tucson history. (By the way, a good place I've found to read and discuss Tucson history is at Vanishing Tucson.)

Public Art at PCC East

The east campus of Pima Community College, 8181 E. Irvington Road, has public art around the grounds -- including modern sculpture along some of the central walks. Here are two murals.

Half-hidden mural

This tile mural at the William Clements Recreation Center, 8155 E. Poinciana Drive, was probably easier to see before the plants in front of it were as high as they are now.

Mystery murals

I call these "mystery murals" because I took a photo of them but didn't write where they were. I put a note on this blog, and mural-spotter extraordinare Warren V wrote back right away to tell me that they're on the east side of Stone, just north of Glenn. Thanks, Warren!

Update (November 13, 2024): We've posted more-detailed photos of the murals, a photo of a few of the children who helped paint it, and a list of everyone who contributed, in today's post Murals being made, part 82: "Mystery murals" 25+ years later.

Tucson Mountains in Midtown

If you can't make it to the west side of town to see the Tucson Mountains close-up, try the southwest corner of E. Fort Lowell Road and N. Mountain Avenue. (This photo is from early morning on May 19, 2009.)

You can see this mural under construction in an entry from September 14, 2006.

Culture changes

Back in July, 2008, Warren V sent us a photo of Solar Culture Gallery at 31 E. Toole. Almost a year later, May 2009, that scene had changed. Here's a closeup of the new mural.

(Update: The mural had changed again by November, 2010.)

Arnold has company

Back in July of 2006, Randy snapped this photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger standing by himself on the back of the building at 1240 N. Stone Avenue.

This past May, as I was surveying all of the murals for the list of murals by location, I saw that the wall around Arnold was now filled with urban art:


(As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view. Use your browser's "back" button to come back here.)

This is one of a batch of photos I just found. I'll post more when I get a chance...

Park along Park to see...

...this mural along a parking lot south of 375 Park Avenue. It's not easy to find, but here's a Google Maps satellite view that marks the spot. If you're driving, head along the Park Avenue Expressway and turn into the buildings just north of the Basket Bridge. Or, if you're on a bicycle, look east from the north end of the Basket Bridge — which is where I took this photo. (Remember that you can click on any photo for a larger view.)

Parking by an ocean...

…with a fanciful underwater (?) forest of saguaro and fish, or the sign of the now-closed Grande Tortilla Factory, or a train's smoke billowing a sea monster into the sky… it's all on the wall along the parking lot just west of the Tucson Museum of Art, along Paseo Redondo, east of Granada.

There are more murals around the corner.

Update (April 19, 2022): We posted closeup photos of the entire mural today in The ocean and more.

You can't miss this mural...

…though somehow we haven't put it onto this blog yet. It's on the east side of the entrance to Hotel Arizona, just at the place where Broadway and Congress merge.

(Update: Luis Mena painted this. There's more about him and the mural in the August 14, 2007 Tucson Citizen article Buildings are his canvases. You can also find an earlier story — from September 28, 2000, as the mural was being painted — in the Tucson Citizen archives: A brush with history. Unfortunately, those photos were lost.)

Seniors shine at Freedom Inn

Weekdays between 8:30 AM and 3 PM, you can walk in the entrance to the Freedom Inn at Ventana Canyon, 5660 N. Kolb, check in at the front desk, walk down the hall, and be taken away to New York, China, Egypt, and more. (San Francisco is coming soon.)

This is thanks to staff member Pam Stafford and, especially, the residents and their memories of the places they've been. (Many of the people who live at Freedom Inn are world travelers, Pam told me.)

Keeling neighborhood shines along Glenn

Glenn, just west of 1st Avenue is filled with public art. The photo above is part of a wraparound mural at the corner of York Place. (Yes, someone defaced that face in the foreground. Sad, isn't it, that some taggers have so little pride in their neighborhoods?) Just above the curb at the corners of the next two blocks west — Los Altos and Hopi — are small murals like this one:



As if the murals weren't enough, the island in the middle of Glenn is lined with colorful posts.

Thanks, Keeling neighborhood, for brightening a bit of Glenn!

While in Baghdad...

Until the Tucson Murals Project receives more photos, I'll just shoot murals wherever I happen to see them. I snapped these photos of two murals at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq earlier this week. They are located just outside of a chow hall.

For more about my adventures in Iraq, visit my "Have News, Will Travel" blog.

Many more murals, no more time...

With Randy away in Iraq, I've been trying to pick up the slack this month… riding my bicycle around Tucson early in the morning, checking out murals that were already on this blog and finding new ones. I hope these new murals will keep you mural-lovers busy for a while! (While you're out exploring, please grab your camera and send photos of other murals you find to Randy.)

This scene, just after sunrise on the wall of 668 S. Main (at 18th St.), seemed like a good way to end a month's worth of murals.

Four photos at Five Points

Just west of Five Points on 18th Street is this block-long urban art. I took it in four (digital) photos and put them together with the filmstrip tool in GIMP, the powerful free image editor. (As always on this blog, you can click on the image to get a bigger view.)

More on Meyer

This mural, at 600 S. Meyer, was painted earlier this year (2009).

Update (July 9, 2012): Johanna Martinez painted the mural. You can read more about it, and see more of her work, on her Sage Brush Studio website. To see all of her murals on this blog, click on her name in the “Labels:” list below.

Marvelous Meyer

There are several murals along this street in the Barrio Viejo. (You can find others in the mural map.) This one's at 555 S. Meyer.


Update (May 31, 2019): Who was the artist? The scroll of paper near the bottom of the painting is signed “Francisco / 1990”:

Another painting in the same style, signed “Francisco” but without a date, is shown in today's blog entry Little mural painted for Patricia. If you know, please leave a comment below. (You can remain anonymous.)

Update (June 20, 2019): Thenks to David Aber for tracking down the artist. It's Francisco Franklin, a Tucson artist for 50 years. He sells other artwork, too; he's represented by Jane Hamilton Fine Art. His page on her website is janehamiltonfineart.com/franklin/.

Carrillo School

This mural takes a bit of hunting to find -- unless you're at Carrillo School, that is. I caught this view across the street from 428 S. Samaniego.

Twelfth Street revisited

After reading Randy's story and photos of artist Cliff Brown painting murals, you might be surprised to know that there are even more murals here at 346 E. 12th! The first one you'll probably spot is this wraparound mosaic.

Thanks, Roadrunner Hostel, for giving Tucson visitors such an artistic welcome.

Update (October 20, 2014): A photo of the mural on the parking lot behind the hostel is on today's entry, Roadrunner's back.

Spider mural

Though a spider isn't the only feature of this mural on 5th at Congress, it looks amazingly realistic in this photo, wouldn't you say? As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view.

The main artists were Rock Martinez, Chris Rush, Eurice Gomez, Alex Fass, and about a dozen young artists.

(Update: Here's the same wall on October 19, 2010.)

Mural brightens motonony

Strip malls aren't always charming. But this one brightens its part of Broadway with colorful cactus. (The address is 1221 E. Broadway.)

Sunset at sunrise

Early summer mornings are a great time to go mural-hunting: the streets are quiet, the air is cool, and there's no one behind you honking as you slow down to gawk. (Even better, go on your bicycle!)

Somehow this mural — on the west side of the Roses & More building, Tucson Blvd. at Broadway — seems to me like a sunset view. The sun was rising as I snapped this photo.


Chris Andrews painted the mural.

Update (May 7, 2019): For more color, see today's entry More Roses & More photos from Chris Andrews.

AccessTucson

Even if you're driving by in a car, you can't miss this mural on the west side of the AccessTucson building, 124 E. Broadway. (You might want to stop by, though, to take a closer look.) It's titled “Girls Unchained.” The Tucson Weekly article from January 5, 2004, Pick: Girls Kick Ass has lots of information.

Chicago re-(re-)visited

Thanks to the Chicago Music Store, 130 E. Congress, for adding so much art to downtown! The building is wrapped in murals. This is in the alley on the south side -- next to another mural that keeps changing as time goes on. (To see earlier versions, click on all of the entries for 130 E. Congress in the mural listing.)

Giant plants (or tiny buildings)

One of the things I like most about painting is that artists can shift perspective and make, say, a barrel cactus as big as a building. Here's an example: the wall around a patio on the south side of the Armory Park Senior Citizens' Recreation Center. It's on the northwest corner of 13th Street & 5th Avenue.

Grand entrance

Two murals decorate the two-story north entrance to Safford Elementary School. I took this shot from outside the fence at the corner of 13th Street and 5th Avenue. (The entrance is about a block away, so bring your binoculars or a zoom lens — or ask the school office for permission to get closer.)

Update (July 30, 2012): There's a mural at the back of the school. See The World at 14th & Herbert.

La Pilita Museum

Next to the El Tiradito shrine is the La Pilita Museum at 420 South Main.

Update: the major mural is gone — temporarily, at least. It was taken down in summer 2010 during construction work on the building. But here's another mural, in the building's back yard, snapped by Melo King in October 2010:

Update (May 28, 2010): The re-painted mural is almost finished. The new design is somewhat different.

Update (August 17, 2012): Today’s post shows more murals.

Country in the city

This countryside scene runs the whole length of the south side of the Tucson Yoga building at 12th Street and 4th Avenue. As with all of the other photos in this blog, you can click for a bigger view.

You can see the mural on the building's east side in the post Country in the city, part 2.

Bright on Broadway

On Broadway at 5th Avenue, this colorful mural is on the outside of the Childrens Black + White Photography Gallery.

Bikes and murals

BICAS (Bicycle Inter Community Action & Salvage) is a non-profit bicycle recycling and education center, where you can get bicycle parts, work on bikes, take classes on art (and bicycle repair), and more. Like a lot of the downtown warehouse district these days, things at BICAS aren't at all certain.
For now, at least, their walls are decorated with murals -- like this one on the alley named Ash, just north of 6th Street.

Murals past and present

The murals reported here, less than a year ago, at 300 N. 4th and 400 N. 4th, are both gone. Times change, and so do murals...

There's another bright spot on the block, though: wall-filling murals on both sides of the outdoor stage around Winsett Park, 316 N. 4th. Here's the south side:

and a part of the one on the north:

Bicycles on stage shows the mural behind the stage.

Update (May 7, 2012): The May 5, 2012 post has wraparound photos all around Winsett Park.

Arte para y por los estudiantes

Was your school playground lined with murals? It was if you went to Davis Bilingual Learning Center, 500 W. St. Marys (at Granada). This artistic school is one of the many bright spots you'll find around this arty corner of Tucson, nestled against the east side of I-10. (Check the mural table to find more of them.) Thanks to the students, mentors, the Barrio Anita Association's mural restoration program, and a mural grant from the City of Tucson.

Though the gates were open and no one was around during the early morning time I was there, you might want to check with the school office (520/225-1400) before you come on your own tour.


Update (June 12, 2013): Here are more photos.

Train, trolley, and a three-eyed alien

Next to the tracks, along one end of the Toole Parking Lot (191 E. Toole) is this wild mural that includes a bunch of Tucson landmarks, a guy (?) with a paint roller over the courthouse dome, a saguaro, a locomotive, the archway at El Tiradito, and much more. I'll let you find the alien yourself, but here’s a hint: look for the paper airplane.

Update (May 1, 2010): Here's another detail from the same mural at night (it's the second photo on that page). If you compare that photo to this one, you'll see that the later version of the mural has a lot more detail added in the “sky” and the doorways. (If you'd like to jump between the two, try your browser's "back" and "forward" buttons.)

Update (May 21, 2015): The mural has been (mostly) covered by white paint.

Update (September 18, 2015): There's a new mural at the right end of the wall.

A treat along Toole

Even with the refurbished railroad depot to spruce up the area, let’s face it: Toole Avenue isn’t exactly gorgeous. But, along with other murals in the neighborhood, this mural-fronted building, La Frontera ("The Border"), spruces up one side of the street. It’s at the corner of Council & Toole.

Update (May 1, 2010): Here’s the same mural at night.

You can find art (almost) anywhere

Humble murals are okay here! (Right, Randy??) And these murals — at the northwest corner of the bridge across the Silvercroft Wash, near 1700 West Speedway — have some creative tricks. Those raindrops under the cloud on the left side, for instance, cover what look to me like plugged holes in the concrete.
I do most of my mural-hunting on a bicycle. That makes it easier to spot art in places that aren't so obvious (and is a fun way to get some exercise, too).