Quincie Douglas Center ten years later

At the corner of Kino Parkway and 36th Street is a recreation complex named for Quincie Bell Douglas:

I found her biography and a photo in The Douglas Archives. She was born in Oklahoma Indian Territory in 1905, moved to Tucson in 1933, and died in 1986. Also:

Quincie Douglas became active in the Model Cities program that brought neighborhood centers, sidewalks, street lights. and neighborhood food programs to the poorer sections of Tucson. Her major accomplishment in Tucson was the Low Income Free Transportation Service (LIFTS) program that is still in operation today.

You can see a LIFTS van in the mural above. The mural is outside the library entrance. This plaque is underneath:

I visited in 2010 when there wasn't as much art. If you'd like to jump back, click on Quincie Douglas Center.

Before I checked out the other art nearby, I looked out back to see if there was any there. I found the sign for the garden:

There are two benches outside the recreation center. The first one is along the walkway between the library and rec center entrance:

Here are closeups, left to right:

(As always, you can click on a photo for a slideshow of larger images.)

The other bench is near the entrance to the recreation center:

Again, from left to right:

There's another mural, dedicated to the Buffalo Soldiers, to the left of the rec center entrance (there were a couple of glare spots):

And the plaque underneath:

I visited on June 3rd.

Mural on a dead-end street

Toward the south end of the Barrio Viejo, on a broken part of 9th Avenue, is a mural that Jessica Gonzales painted earlier this year:

Thanks to David Aber for finding it and giving me exact directions. (The best way to find it yourself is by clicking on the address at the end of this blog entry to get a Google Map.) I snapped the photo on September 25th.

"Love Is Essential"

 North wall of 'Girls Estate Sales'.  Photographed on Sept. 11, 2020.

By Jen Schrantz, aka "The Aquarian Bee"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Center Section

Click on either photo for larger and sharper images.

Arroyo Chico Community Mural

The Arroyo Chico Community Mural (named "FLOW") was painted by Porter McDonald on a wall on the west side of the Mission Church's parking lot.  The parking lot is enclosed by a chain link fence that is only open during services.  The photos were taken on May 18 and Sept. 13, 2020.

Here is a link to Porter's comments about the mural: Arroyo Chico Stories

Panel that is outside the fence.

Panels inside the fence.

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

 

Many murals at Govinda's

If you haven't been to Govinda's vegetarian buffet, it's delicious food that you might like even if you don't usually eat vegetables. (During the pandemic, they serve you.) Another reason to go is the beautiful grounds: a koi pond, lots of songbirds and a peacock, as well as lots of… you guessed it: murals. I don't think you need to eat to see them — as long as you go at meal times (see the website).

(By the way, I really enjoy Thanksgiving there. It's vegetarian, of course. And the fun part is that they've had a live turkey walking around the grounds.)

I stuffed my face (and took photos) on November 4th.

Vote more

On Monday, David Aber posted a Biden/Harris campaign mural. Today I found a second mural in the same style. If you aren't tired of the election yet, you can click there to see it.

Kind hospital

You'll find Ben's Bells murals all over Tucson. (You can click there to read a Wikipedia article with lots of details.) One of them is near the Emergency Department entrance at Banner-University Medical Center South:

If you look closely around the edges, you'll see that the mural is in a frame.

I was there on September 23rd.

Vote

Found Nov. 13, 2020 on the south wall of Yosi's Flower Shop on 4833 S. 12th Avenue.

The Spanish translates to English as "Together With Biden and Harris".  I realize that some of you will like the message and some won't.  If you want to make a comment, please keep it civil.

Artist not known

Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Update (November 16, 2020): Jerry Peek found a similar mural today at 4426 S. 6th Avenue that doesn't mention Kamala Harris: 

Artist not known

Update (July 21, 2024): Google Maps Street View shows that the mural at the top of this page, 4833 S. 12th Avenue, changed by January, 2021 and stayed that way until at least April 2024. It kept the face but not the lettering. Here's the April 2024 view:

Loft Cinema (Murals being made, part 57)

Thanks to the Loft Cinema — and board member Tim Fuller, the photographer — for that amazing photo! It's muralist Jessica Gonzales on a hydraulic lift painting a new mural, here:

Those photos are from September 10th. Jessica needed to return the rented lift by Sunday the 13th. I came back that day and found the mural almost done. She'd added more detail in the hands, but the bottom wasn't finished:

I'm not sure if she had the lift long enough to finish the bottom; when I got there, she had driven it to a storage area on the other side of the Loft:

I came back on September 22nd to find the mural signed:

Ignacio Garcia honors a fallen soldier

Marisol Arana sent photos and a video that she and her husband Roberto Flores took of a new mural by Ignacio Garcia. It honors a Fallen Soldier, Gregory Wedel. Here's what she wrote in email:

Gregory was a Deserter to the Military Had gone missing days before getting out of the Army. So when Soldier Vanessa Guillén went missing and searches began for her , his body was found Aug. 2019 . Buried close to where later Vanessas body was also found. Vanessas story was everywhere in the media , news and getting so much attention his mother was feeling a little desperate and forgotten. So a member of a group called “Voices of the voice less” (Andrea Diaz) asked we do a mural for his mother. For days and weeks they looked for a wall and no luck so I knew I was miles away but I decided to offer our wall for it and that’s how it all started. Gathering the funds for it wasn’t easy either but we made it happened and Ignacio the artist also donated some of his time since the go fund never reached its goal. Below is a little copied piece of Gregorys obituary. We are military parents and have a active duty that’s currently deployed so fully feel for Military.

“During his time in the military he went from Ft. Leonard Wood to Korea. After serving in Korea he was assigned to Ft. Hood. He then served in Kuwait and then returned to his base in Ft. Hood where he lived until his death. He received the following awards while serving in the United States Armed Forces; National service medal, Global war terrorism expeditionary medal, Global war on terrorism service medal, uwait Defense service medal, Army service ribbon, Overseas service ribbon, Army achievement medal 2nd award, Army good conduct medal, Certificate of achievement 2nd award, and Driver mechanic badge.”

…

He went from awol, to deserter , and when his remains were found they had such a hard time taking that off his record. He was obviously murdered and never went awol. His family fought for his honors until they made it right. He finally had a funeral almost a year later and was buried with all his honors.

This video and the photos below it show Ignacio painting.

MotoSonora

Found at the MotoSonora Brewing Co. and photographed on Sept. 9, 2020.

By Joe Pagac

 

 

 

 

 

Click photo for a larger and sharper image.

Sahuarita Chalk Art Adventure THIS WEEKEND (plus more...)

Mural by Carolyn Watson-Dubisch, 2016

Sahuarita isn't quite Tucson, but SAACA's chalk art mural festivals are worth the trip. If you haven't seen them, here are a few entries from this blog:

• Park Place Chalk Art Festival revisited (April 19, 2012)
• Park Place Chalk Art Festival, part 1 of 3 (April 10, 2013. Links near the end to parts 2 and 3.)
• Park Place Chalk Art Festival 2016 (April 11, 2016)

The web page for the Sahuarita festival also has lots of examples of artists’ work, at-home participation murals with home mural designs to download, and more. (I hope they don't replace the page with something much simpler before next year's festival.)