Fourth Time

Arizona Palms Tinting has appeared in The Tucson Murals Project three times - 11/30/2011, 05/18/2018 and 01/19/2021. Each time with a different paint scheme. Here is number four:

"Comida del Barrio"

                     Translated as "Food of the Neighborhood"

SW Corner of S. 10th Ave. & W. 32nd St., Tucson, AZ

Tribute to Dino of Tino's Pizza

Maybe it's too soon after Thanksgiving to think about food, but… Did you ever visit this pizza place that was a favorite of lots of Tucsonans?

Or maybe you didn't visit it in person. Tino also delivered, as you can see in this photo from their website… I copied it (with their permission) in June 2023:

The restaurant's last day was February 2, 2022. As of November 12, 2023, the website (tinospizza.com) was still online. It had a link to a story on KOLD News 13, Tino’s Pizza prepares to close after nearly 4 decades of business.

I'm glad that I could catch photos of the mural; it's on the west side of the building. I was there on June 6, 2023. I'm a bit swamped, as usual, so these are only lightly edited… but you can still see the love that family members, friends and former employees painted for Dino. (As always, you can click or tap on any photo to get a series of larger versions.)

Desert Scene

 

By Erica Cantua

 Found at the Agave Apartments on E. 22nd St.

The Palm Tree is casting a shadow that covers a small portion of the mural.

Sahuarita Public Art

                                        "The Land Rests"

By Wagon Burner Arts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  "Sahuarita and Astronomy"

By Wesley Fawcett Creigh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 "Sahuarita Pecans"

By Wesley Fawcett Creigh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                    "Sam and Sara" (view large)

By Isaac Caruso from a children's book he has written and illustrated.

                                            "Sonoran Sunset"

By Wagon Burner Arts 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These murals were all found at Anamax Park in Sahuarita.  As my schedule permits, I will continue to photograph the many murals within the city.

Bada Bing! Bada Boom!

            It's a pizza restaurant with an arcade game player.

The artists names are on the mural but unfortunately they are too small to read in this photo.  I didn't take a close-up.  My bad.

XTREME Off Road & Performance

By Monty "Ses" Esposito

By Monty "Ses" Esposito

Update (March 28, 2024) by Jerry Peek: I posted more photos today in More Xtreme.

Having Fun

 

Artist Unknown

Al Foul

 Tribute to the musician Al Foul by Jessica Gonzales.

Our Culture Is Our Power

The language is Tohono O'odham.

Artist unknown

Note the earrings.  They are 'The Man In The Maze'; a common symbol among the Tohono O'odham tribe.

Evil Spirit

This post has been moved to November 1, 2024, and updated with more information. To see it, click here: Even in Death.

Silver City: Murals and fun

This blog hasn't been updated for a few months while I got some much-needed rest; co-editor David Aber took a break too. We're back! You've probably seen David's post three days ago, Apex Predators Take Over.

I've spent two of the months away from Tucson… I'll be home for a month or two before I leave for some more art-hunting out of town. 😎 Although this is the Tucson Murals Project blog, from time to time I like to write a post with murals from another place. Today I'm in Silver City, New Mexico. It's an old mining town, with a very fun downtown full of history, art, and kitsch, surrounded by a big variety of scenery. There's a lot of murals, especially downtown. Just wander the streets — maybe especially the streets north of downtown toward College Avenue (which connects to Western New Mexico University and its Francis McCray Gallery of Contemporary Art).

Here's one of the easiest murals to find—in a place most people probably visit, at the corner of Broadway & Bullard:

(As always, click or tap on any photo for a set of views you can click/tap to enlarge.)

A youth mural project created another detail-filled mural. This one is an old neighborhood scene. The mural is along Bullard at Spring Street:

Some details:

(Above, note the artists' names along the border in ceramic tiles)

I want to visit some art galleries now. So, to save time, I'll only lightly edit the photos below.

The back of The Murray Hotel, in a style sort of like Mondrian:

Next, an underwater mural along 6th Street east of Texas Street. (Yes, the curbs are that high so water can run along them without flooding — the same way that some residential streets in Tucson are designed, mostly without the curbs. Around 100 years ago, so much water ran along the former Main Street that it became a huge ditch… now called the Big Ditch Park!)

A mural showing two sides of a bicycle race. The second and third photos show the route for a challenging mountain race. Don't miss the upside-down bicyclist in the second photo:

Last, another very detailed youth mural along Bullard Street between 6th and 7th:

I'll finish by recommending a route from Tucson to Silver City and back. I can't find a way to share a Google Map from my laptop, so I'll include a screenshot and directions. As before, you can click/tap for a larger view:

I suggest starting by driving to Safford and east from there. This route includes a paved but steep and narrow road. If there's been a thunderstorm in the past few days, the road may be closed at Mule Creek, New Mexico:

1. Drive I-10 and US 191 to Safford, AZ
2. Drive US-191/US-70, US-191, AZ-78, NM-78 to Mule Creek, NM (see notes above!)
3. Drive NM-78, then US-180 to Silver City
4. Drive NM-90 to Lordsburg, NM, then I-10 to Tucson

If you want even more adventure along the way, I suggest taking this detour through Clifton, AZ (a mostly steep and narrow road):

1. Don't turn onto AZ-78 (at the intersection called Three Way). Instead:
2. Stay on US-191 north through Clifton, AZ
3. Along US-191 around Morenci, AZ, stay right at the fork toward "Mine entrance" and continue up the side of the mountains along narrow US-191. You'll pass miles of mines, then suddenly be in high country with amazing views.
4. Either turn around or continue north on US-191 to Alpine, AZ, where you can take US-180 south to Silver City. This is a long, remote, slow remote road. Bring water, warm clothes, etc.

Last, if you aren't used to driving on steep, narrow roads:

• If you don't know how to down-shift your engine so you aren't constantly pressing your brakes going downhill, read your car owner's manual to learn the maximum safe speeds in each gear — and ask a friend / auto mechanic who understands how transmissions work.
• A courtesy tip: Watch your rear-view mirror. If there's someone trying to pass you, make a brief pull-over at the first opportunity. It will cost you a few seconds but can save the other driver lots of time following a slow “flatland” driver.

Apex Predators Take Over

       A fence prevented me from getting a better photo of this mural.

Artist Unknown

 

                           

                                Midsection of Apex Mural

                                           Goofy

Goofy is not part of the Apex mural but it is on the same wall.

Taking a break...

I forgot to post in June to say that I'm taking a long break from social media until (probably) sometime this fall while I pare down my long list of projects and get some ZZZs. In the meantime, David Aber may post some.

Thanks to negativespace.co for this public-domain photo.

A few of Jessica Gonzales' many Rialto murals

Jessica Gonzales paints bright, sharp and very colorful murals. You've seen her work all over the Tucson area. If you're downtown fairly often, a great place to see her murals is on the east wall of the Rialto Theatre, just off Congress Street as you enter downtown. Here's an aerial example, taken by BG Boyd, from his Tucson murals database tucsonazmurals.com, as Jessica and her husband paint, assisted by Dakin Martin, on November 16, 2022:

Iron Maidens / An Irish Christmas

Below are links to pages in BG's database. The photos were taken from Jessica's Instagram account. Each link will open the mural in a new window or tab. After you close that, this page will still be here.

• Zoe / Marty Stuart
• Mon Laferte / Blue Oyster Cult
• Tito Puente Jr / Kevin Nealon
• Jenny and the Mexicats / Los Lobos
• The Wailers / Marcus King Band
• Purity Ring / The Zombies
• Don Carlos / Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
• Killer Queen / Christopher Cross
• Underoath / Black Violin
• The Wailers / The Psychedelic Furs
• Pepper / Stryker

There are earlier murals in our December 9, 2022 post Jessica Gonzales paints (& paints...) the Rialto.