Saturday, December 11, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
May in December
Here's the Fathead Shop at 513 N. Fourth Avenue:
Thursday, December 09, 2010
(Solar) Culture changes (again)
Monday, December 06, 2010
A cut above
Three years ago, Erik S. emailed Randy photos of the mural as it was before — on the west side of what was then Menlo Park Video. Now the building is a barber shop named Money Cutz, and the mural is freshly painted. The article quoted Eddie Urias telling the story of growing up in his neighborhood, Menlo Park, how the mural was a bright spot between two liquor stores at that corner: Grande and Congress. This year, as the shop owner, he wanted to restore the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe. What a great story!
I mentioned the article to Melo King. She told me that she'd caught a photo of the mural as it was being repainted, on October 21 of this year:
Fast-forward to this afternoon, December 6, when I drove by to see the mural. The shop was closed, so I got this view without any cars:
If you're on the west side of town, if you're passing by on Interstate 10, or if you're downtown (just on the other side of I-10) — well, or wherever you are — stop by to see this beacon of hope in the neighborhood. And if you need a barber, come inside to meet the owner and thank him for what he's done — definitely a cut above.
Update (August 7, 2011): Here's a photo of the back side of the store.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Adios para siempre...
Farewell to an Icon
Sunday, December 19, 3:00 - 5:00 pmJoin us for Mexican hot chocolate and pastries as we bid a fond farewell to the mural Nuestro futuro/Nuestras raices humana and honor artist David Tineo's contribution to this iconic work of art. The mural will be de-installed in January.
Bring your mementos and memories to this despedida and share your stories about the mural with the artist. Filmmaker Angela Soto will be documenting the event and de-installation of the mural.
There are more details, and mural history, on the museum's press release (a PDF file). Here are parts of it:
I'll hope to see you there on the 19th.Unveiled in 1992 as part of CARA Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, a temporary exhibition celebrating the Chicano art movement that traveled nationally, the mural was created by applying paint directly to untreated plywood. Originally intended as a short term installation, the long term exposure to Tucson’s weather has made it unstable and a public safety risk. “The mural was commissioned by the Museum and made with the intention of having it on display for a few months,” says Ann Seirferle-Valencia, Curator of Latin American Art, “although we have tried to stabilize it over the years, the plywood has warped to the point that it is separating from the frame. It is with David Tineo’s blessing, and in the best interest of the art and safety of our visitors, that we have decided to take it down.”
“It has fulfilled its purpose more than I could have expected,” says David Tineo, “It’s a piece of history and has been embedded in many hearts. I see this as a transition from public display back into the community.” The mural will be cut into sections and framed by Galeria Mistica, Tineo’s gallery representative and the home of much of his work. Once framed, the sections will be offered for sale to benefit the students at the Museum School for the Visual Arts. “The most important thing to me is that it benefit the kids at the school,” states Tineo.
(Update: Several Arizona Daily Star articles say that Antonio Pazos worked on the mural too. There's more information in the East Valley Tribune story Tucson mural, artist battle ravages of time.)
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Mary's street
The second mural also looks like something Mary painted, doesn't it? Some day I'll head back to the neighborhood to see if I can get the story. (If you know, please tell me...)
Update (December 24, 2012): Thanks to the comment that Mary's daughter Crystal left recently (see below), we've got the story of the bottom mural. The top mural of a woman with paintbrushes must be Mary herself! I've also posted more details today.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Studio 220, Got All Your Marbles?
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you mural lovers!
Update (August 4, 2013): Mark Fleming just sent another photo of this same mural. It seems to be in good shape (which quite a few murals aren't these days: many are being trashed by taggers... sigh). I'm guessing that its position above the store's window helps protect it.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Farewell, Print Well
Monday, November 15, 2010
Exceptional elementary
The walls are covered with desert scenes of critters making music:
Monday, November 08, 2010
Down under (Speedway)
The second is over Highland, between Mountain and Cherry:
Update: As always, you can click on an image for a larger view. Use your browser's "Back" button to return. And you might want to try that on the last photo above. On February 16, 2011, while I was waiting for a bus at the stop next to the mural, I spotted some UFOs that weren't on Melo's original picture. Did the original muralist add them, or was it a clever tagger? I snapped the photo below...
Update (January 21, 2016): For more-detailed photos of the Olive mural more than five years later, see today's entry Over Olive again.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
(Not a) ratty mural
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Beautiful mural in a surprising spot
She took the second photo after asking permission to come inside the fence. The muralist was Martin Q. Chamanacux. What a great find!
Around the corner...
The rest of this wall has a big graffiti mural:
Update (April 15, 2022): A new mural covers the whole wall. See it in today's post Art near Tucson Museum of Art.
More from Melo
In the meantime, she's been revisiting downtown mural sites and taking more photos. Here's a scene from Fourth Avenue: Creative Ventures at 522 N. 4th:
At left side, you can see part of Breakout Studios, 526 N. 4th. Earlier this year, I posted a photo of the mural on front of the then-vacant building. Now the building is neatly painted, but without the mural. Things change...
Update (September 28, 2012): Here are more photos.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Big Brothers Big Sisters needs a muralist...
It's at the corner with Alameda. (The shadows are from early-morning light.)
Here's the same mural back in July, 2006.
Updates: On Saturday, June 25, 2011, Joe Pagac painted a new mural. The new mural is in our June 30 post.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Look up!
Bicycles on stage
Country in the city, part 2
The photo is from Melodi King (better known as Melo). She's building a clickable map of Tucson murals. I'll post more of her photos next. Thanks, Melo!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Next along the block...
Monday, October 04, 2010
Creative Costumes...
(Another way to get closer is by clicking on the photo. To return to the blog, use your browser's "Back" button.)
Fish and feet
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Hidden but worth the trip
...this mural. All I had was my cell phone camera, which couldn't shoot a photo wide enough to capture the whole scene. Next time!
The mural is on the opposite side of a wall behind the homes along Sunland Vista, just south of the corner with East Pinal Vista. (The homes along Sunland Vista are behind the mural. To find the mural, drive west along Pinal Vista, pass Sunland Vista, and, a few seconds later, as you see the vacant lot on your left, you'll spot the mural on the wall. Here's a satellite view. The spot where I took the photo is near the marker, on one of the roads through the vacant lot. If you can think of a better way to describe it, please let me know!)
Update (December 20, 2013): This may be one of the murals to be painted over; today's post has more information.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Welcome to Fourth Avenue!
Here are both sides of the mural on 4th Avenue at 7th Street. The merchants (and the tagger, I guess) welcome you to one of Tucson's most interesting streets for shopping... and for murals. |
Monday, September 13, 2010
Garden murals...
There are more murals — and more to see, too — in this part of the block. Next north on 11th, for instance, is the mural in the neighborhood playground.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Arizona Ave. from the archive
Monday, August 30, 2010
How'd we miss this?
Update (October 1, 2014): Here's an article from the Tucson Citizen archive — May 30, 2008 — about the dedication of the mural: New downtown mural dedicated Friday.
Update (June 6, 2023): Elizabeth Bernays wrote on Facebook (with a photo) that the mural was removed for a new building:
I think it's been gone for some time, but I hadn't updated this post until now.
Monday, August 23, 2010
New woman, same spider
First, Fourth Avenue. Back on May 17th, as I was headed for the finish of that week's Meet Me at Maynard's walk, I spotted this mural at Sacred Art and Piercing Studios, 315 N. 4th:
Last week, as I rode my bike along Fourth Avenue, I noticed that the mural had changed... or, at least, I thought it had. The spider looked the same, but the woman had changed... or had she? I snapped a photo and checked it against my backlog of mural photos when I got home. Sure enough:
Things change... murals do, too.
And that leads to the story of the murals painted by students at TMA's Museum School for the Visual Arts, covered here in our August 9th post. Two days ago — on Friday, only a week after I'd posted that story — I heard that a tagger had ruined the murals, and that the murals and the tags had just been erased. More students will get a chance for fame outside their school... but let's hope that thay'll have longer than these muralists were given before a tagger trashed their hard work. Here's a photo of the spot where the murals were: the (newly) red wall in the middle of the shot. Keep your eye on this wall!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Found around Fourth Ave. #3
Found around Fourth Ave. #2
Why would an artist put something this interesting in a spot where people have to track it down? I don't know... but it's one of the things that makes murals interesting to me.
Update, January 22, 2011: The mural is gone — behind one of the many new-looking rectangular patches of paint on the alley walls.
Found around Fourth Ave. #1
(Update: By October, the mural was gone. You can read more here.)
Update (January 15, 2015): BreakOut Studios has a new mural on the north side of their new location.