Una cuadra llena de arte

When I opened my email on October 8th, I found a bunch of new photos from Mark Fleming. All were of southern Tucson. One set showed the 3600 block of South 7th Avenue, a block full of art. (Google Translate said that would be Un bloque lleno de arte in Spanish, but I remembered Una cuadra llena de arte from my classes umpteen years ago. ¿Como se dice umpteen en español? :)

Anyway, here are the photos. First, three murals, with a close-up of each of the first two:

He also caught an especially artistic food truck:

Mark added:

All of these photos were in front, or to the side, of 3649 S. Seventh Ave. This is the headquarters of Tierra Y Libertad Organization (TYLO). Note that the acronym TYLO is embedded in each of the two main murals. Here is a link for further info:

http://blog.whyhunger.org/2012/02/visiting-tierra-y-libertad-organization-in-tucson-az/

¡Muchas gracias, como siempre, Mark!

Note to self: check alleys, re-check email...

I found a photo that Mark Fleming emailed me a little over a year ago. It's a great catch: in the alley behind the Asamblea Apostólica de la Fe en Cristo Jesús church at the corner of Grande Avenue and Niagara Street. The photo data says that he took it on December 13, 2013:

Too bad they couldn't have found another place to put a sign about security cameras!

This isn't the only time Mark has found a gem by checking an alley: In November we posted a mural behind CostLess Auto Parts, off 6th Avenue. Thanks, as always, Mark.

BrokeOut of 4th Avenue

In 2010, we showed a photo of the former BreakOut Studios location on 4th Avenue. Not long after that, I spotted their new location on North Stone Avenue... but I don't see that I posted a photo of the mural on the north side of their building. I'm pretty sure that this is by Rock Martinez:

I took the photo on November 22, 2014.

The new BLX (and the old)

When the BLX skate shop was at 7th & Toole Avenues, they had a different mural every month or few. Now that they've moved to 7th Street & Hoff Avenue, I'm not sure if they rotate murals at their new location. (The store was closed when I rolled by 426 East 7th Street.) Anyway, here's the mural I saw on December 29th:

(The white tube is part of a support for a utility pole.)

In the meantime (Update: Friday, January 9th), the old location at 7th & Toole has a blank space where a mural used to be:

Ghost of Artemis

Yesterday, while I was looking for gallery openings to post on the @TucsonArt Twitter feed, I found a muralist whose work I hadn't seen before. She's Jenna Francine Tomasello. Though we usually only show murals in public places, you can see Ghost of Artemis through the front window of the gallery on Toole Avenue:

She gave me permission to use this photo of her work. (Thanks!) We'll show more of her murals from time to time. If you'd like to see this in person, her exhibition opens tomorrow (January 10) and stays up through January 25th at Yaybig Gallery.

Update (February 23, 2015): There's more of Jenna's work in our February 23rd entry.

Bits of BICAS (or Citizens Warehouse)

BICAS doesn't just support bicyclists; it supports art. We have more than a couple of BICAS murals on this blog. (If you'd like to see more, use one of the search links in the right column.)

During the 2014 fall artists’ open studios tour on November 8, I spotted three little murals that I hadn't noticed before. They were near the west end of the north side of the building — which is shared with the Citizens Warehouse (full of artists!) so I'm not sure who painted them.

Charlie Chaplin

Benny Goodman?

Ernest Shackleton

Previous mural washed off

The previous mural at Viking Car Wash (which The Arizona Daily Star called “haunting”) was painted over in the past year or so. Mark Fleming sent in a photo dated September 7, 2014:

I tried their top-of-the-line $21 car wash in November. Great job — and a great way to support art.

Youth Mural Club starts this month

The Tucson Mural Arts Program (here's the Facebook page) is hosting a weekly mural club for youth 8-18 years old. It's on Saturdays from January 24 to May 16.

Here are details.

By the way, the Tucson Arts Brigade (which organizes the Mural Arts Program — one among their many programs) had an amazing 2014. There are annual report highlights in the December 11 entry on their blog.

TUCSON

Let's start 2015 with a mural in a prominent spot: the corner of Speedway & Stone, across from Pima Community College. It was painted around a year ago or so, replacing a Dia de los Muertos mural.
All except the first and last photos are Mark Fleming's taken (according to the timestamp in the photo files) on February 16, 2014. I took the first photo and the last on September 28, 2014 (not long after Mark sent his photos... thanks, Mark!).

T by Titus Castanza

U by Donovan White

C by Rock Martinez

S by Ed Muren III

O by Danny Martin

N by Ruben Moreno

The figure on that last mural seems to be peeling off. It looks like a paste-up. (As always, you can click on a photo for a larger view.)

The artists' names and website links (except Rock Martinez’s) came from a Tucson Sculpture Festival 2014 page.

Have an art-ful 2015! We'll help.

Update (February 15, 2022): The mural is cracked and faded. It's also hidden behind a restaurant. There are photos in today's post TUCSON is fading….

Missing (Solar) Culture

On January 1, 2014, I posted a series of photos of new art on Toole Avenue. The last photo was of a spinning sculpture in front of Solar Culture gallery.

I didn't show what else was near the ground and up above. Mark Fleming noticed that and sent this photo dated (by his camera) September 1:

More Plush art, last month

Last time, we saw photos of the parking lot for Plush on Christmas, 2013. Since then, some of the art has been changed and some hasn't. Here are three photos of some of what was new when I visited on November 8, 2014:

End-to-end Plush art, 2013 and before

It was a year ago — Christmas Day, 2013 — that I went out for a bike ride to burn off my figgy pudding (or, more likely, tamales :). I rolled by the Plush parking lot and saw a lot of new art. The photos start at the northeast end and finish at the southwest:

For a look at the whole parking lot — though not the same murals you see above — here's a Google Street View showing the view from the east end. The view is currently from June 2013. (For earlier views from the same spot, click on "Street View - June 2013" at the upper-left and use the slider that appears. The 2008 view shows the lot before it was painted!) To see a map, click on "Back to map" at the lower-left corner.

Joe just now

Last week we posted a video of a Joe Pagac mural in progress on the side of the Rialto Theatre. Today, about an hour ago, I walked by the Rialto and saw a new mural:

Sometime this year, a new downspout was run over the top of the little man with a sign (which often changed) at the right edge of the mural. (At least they angled the pipe around the main mural space!)

Flashback: 100 Congress Street, 1974

You Tucsonans who've been here since 1974 — or were visiting back then — might have seen some murals on Congress that were since hidden. Mark Fleming found them again on November 9th of this year. He wrote:

A mural from 1974 exposed during demolition of 100 E Congress store. Perhaps back then the clientele was fraternity or sorority? The Dylan piece was in a derelict store next door. These two decrepit stores seem to have defied the latest renewal efforts. They are in bad shape. 100 E Congress no roof and no south wall.

I think Mark got the date from a line in the next-to-last photo below: John Iungerich 1974 / PO? 443 Coolidge AZ 8.....

Here are the photos as Mark sent them, without my usual nitpicky editing:

If you have any other photos of long-gone Tucson murals, please let me know!

Time-lapse video of muralist Joe Pagac

Heather Hoch of Tucson Weekly has posted a time-lapse video of Tucson muralist Joe Pagac painting over two murals and making two new ones:



The story is titled Watch a Time Lapse Video of Joe Pagac Painting a Mural at Rialto Theatre. (You can click there to see the story and a larger video.)

Spotted at Grande & Congress

In the first half of September, Mark Fleming sent this photo (no date in the camera file) of a “Free Rosy” paste-up on a hardware store:

Google Maps Street View shows the store on the southeast corner, a bit east of Grande.

Thanks for helping this blog alive, Mark, until I can get back out on my bicycle! I hope that'll be a couple of weeks from now.

Update (September 13, 2022): Today's post Parade of murals on 910 West Congress has photos of this wall between October 2013 and April 2022.

Update (May 13, 2024): There are much better photos of the next mural here — which was painted sometime before April 2022 — in today's post Congress mural parade 1 of 3: 910 W. Congress.