New Year, New Mural

The 20-year-young community mural along Stone Avenue, between Roger Road and Limberlost Drive, was repainted this month — just in time for New Year 2022.

It was the first mural covered on this blog — Looonnnggg on Limberlost, posted July 12, 2006.

The repainting got a lot of attention in the press from Tucsonans, and especially the neighborhood around this 200-yard-long mural. A number of the artists who first painted it 20 years ago came back: Pasqualina Azzarello, Adam Cooper-Terán, Matt Cotten, Paloma Jacqueline, yu yu shiratori, Serena Tang, and Gavin Troy. Pasqualina was the lead artist; she flew in from Massachusetts. The Arizona Daily Star section #ThisIsTucson tells some of the story in their December 21 article This Tucson mural was restored by its original artists 20 years after its creation. Pasqualina tells the story of the mural and more in a 34-minute-long podcast on KXCI community radio on December 22: Pasqualina Azzarello – Painter, Public Artist, Educator, and Community Advocate.

Painting wrapped up on Thursday, December 23. Donations from Tucsonans, and especially from the neighborhood around the mural, paid for high-quality paint that should last even longer than the amazing 20-year life of the previous paint. (West-facing murals tend to fade quickly in Tucson's strong summer sun.) The first plan was to recognize major donors with personalized stars on the mural; now donors will be thanked on placards that will be attached to the mural in the coming weeks.

Ten years after this blog started, we posted photos of the entire mural, from north to south, in Ten years of Tucson murals. (That post also includes a video of the whole thing.) The mural is painted on 16 sections of the long wall. Below are our 2016 photos followed by photos of the same sections — from the north end to the south — taken on Christmas, December 25. Our next post — January 4, 2022 — will show highlights of the mural before and after repainting. Parts of the mural have been simplified… I'm guessing that makes sense because there's no way just a few artists could re-paint every detail of the mural in two weeks!

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As I mentioned, our next post — January 4, 2022 — will show before-and-after closeups of parts of the mural. The section numbers above each group of photos will be used to locate each close-up. See you then, and Happy 2022!

Monsoon in a Bottle

If you're driving along West Ft. Lowell Rd. you can't miss this very large mural on the north side of the street.  I took these photos on Nov. 23, 2021.

By Ignacio Garcia

Fig-Eater Beetle on a watermelon

Tarantula Hawk

Monsoon in a Bottle

Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger images.

 

Update (July 8, 2024): Jerry Peek took a closeup photo of the interesting scene at the bottom of the right central part of the bottle: a scuba diver and underwater pickup truck:

 

An unusual shopper

It's Christmas Eve. Maybe you need to rush out for some last-minute shopping? One character can't get enough of the La Encantada shopping center… she's there every time you stop by:

It's another of Joe Pagac's critter murals — this time with a huge turquoise necklace and a bunch of shopping bags.

Here are some close-ups:

I shopped until I dropped on November 20th.

Untitled

I chose 'Untitled' over 'Large Round Object'.  Without knowing the intent of the artists I can only guess whether it's a sunrise or sunset or even a partial eclipse.

The mural was found and photographed on Nov. 23, 2021.  It's located on E. 1st St. on the north wall of 1000 N. Park Ave.

By Brady Fellows and Mike Cochiolo

Click on the photo for a larger image.

Community mural dedication today!

This past Monday, I posted an announcement about the 200-yard-long Stone Curves mural being repainted. The dedication is today (Saturday 12/18/21) from 2 to 4 pm. Here are photos of the artists busily painting on Tuesday:

At least some of the artists will continue painting in the next few days. You can contribute, and show your love for the mural too, on their GoFundMe page North Stone Avenue Mural Revitalization Project.

I hope to see you this afternoon!

Update (December 19, 2021): Quite a few people turned out yesterday to see the mural. Police blocked off the lane of Stone closest to the mural to give more space. Here are two photos:

Some parts aren't finished yet. Artists will be working from time to time this week.

Learning Bee is buzzing (sorry :)

The corner of 22nd & Longfellow has two long walls that've had murals for years. You can see some of the older murals in our posts on March 06, 2011 and August 08, 2016. On November 11, 2021, I stopped by to photograph a new mural along 22nd Street where there the wall had been mostly blank for years. The new mural is yellow in the photo below; the other murals are to its right:

(As always, you can click for a larger view.)

Here's the mural along 22nd Street, then two closeups and the artists' signature:

Untagged Treasure

On Jan. 15, 2014, Jerry Peek posted a mural that had been heavily tagged.  You can find it here: Tagged treasure.  I came across this same mural on Nov. 23, 2021.  All of the tags have been removed yet the underlying mural remains unchanged.  Thus, the new name, "Untagged Treasure".  Here's my photo:

Artist Not Known

 

 

It's along N. Los Altos Rd., on the west side of the building at 502 East Ft. Lowell Rd.

Click on the photo for a larger image.

Huge community mural repainting: help needed!

If you've driven along North Stone Avenue between Roger and Limberlost in the past 20 years, you've likely seen this 200-yard-long mural on the east side of Stone:

You can see the whole mural in our July 12, 2016 post Ten years of Tucson murals, for this blog's 10th anniversary. There are photos of the restoration on lead artist Pasqualina Azzarello's Instagram @pasqualinaazzarello (you don't need an Instagram account to scroll by the photos). Here she's refreshing a star:

The mural has been there since 2001. Last week and this week, the artists who came together 20 years ago to paint it are back together repainting and making some changes. I'll stop by once or twice this week and aim to post an update by Thursday. The rededication will be this coming Saturday, December 18, from 2 to 4 pm.

Can you imagine how much paint it takes to cover a 200-yard-long mural? (It's a lot.) The team of artists is in the final homestretch to meet their fundraising goals. Their GoFundMe page North Stone Avenue Mural Revitalization Project has details and a place where you can donate. For donations of $50 and above, they'll also hand-paint a star with your name or someone's you choose.

Thanks for your help. I'll hope to see you on Saturday!

Update (December 14, 2021): KGUN 9 TV news ran a story today (with video): Tucson mural along Stone Avenue in need of some restoration.

Promo

Mural to promote H & H Small Engine and Equipment Repairs.

Artist Not Known

Click for a larger image.  Photo taken on Nov. 23, 2021.

Neighborhood DNA

Joe Pagac keeps amazing me with his creativity (…you too, I'll bet). What's now downtown Tucson, and the city-to-come around it, grew up and prospered when the railroad came in 1880. The Barrio Viejo neighborhood, on the south edge of downtown, grew up in the decades after… the railroad was part of its DNA. Joe showed that intertwined destiny in this mural along a driveway on Simpson Street:

The driveway is narrow, and my camera couldn't catch it all. Below is the original photo, which I stretched with my favorite free photo editor GIMP to make the version above:

Here's what you'll see from the street:

If the homeowners are available, they'll let you into the driveway. (Their dog might bark and be a "doorbell".) Tim told me the story of the mural:

"The man on the left is Frank Bone. He lived there many years. He was distinct because he always wore a white linen suit and a white pith helmet walking around downtown. We didn't know what he looked like, so we painted him from the back. The people on the right — the couple — built this house in 1910. The mural represents the neighborhood. It's got our home and our neighbors' homes, but it also has trains and the homes in the shape of DNA because it's part of the neighborhood's DNA: the trains and the train sounds."

You can read more about this mural, and others in the neighborhood, in the Arizona Daily Star article This historic Tucson neighborhood is exploding with works of art. It adds to Tim's comments: "…Andres and Guadalupe Herrera, who built the home in 1906, as well as Frank Bone, who resided there for more than 40 years."

Here are closeups from left to right:

I took advantage of a quieter downtown to snap a lot of photos on Veterans Day, November 11.

La Nalgona has neighbors

In South Tucson is a group of restaurants like a shopping mall food court, American Eat Co. Across the street are three murals:

The first, at the left, for La Nalgona, has been there for a while; on July 20, 2021, we showed a closeup of it. Here's are the two new murals on the right:

And the two murals, one by one, with the artist signature on each:

I took the photos on October 21 — as I contemplated stuffing my face :) at the restaurants behind me.