Rick's Place

These scenes are early in the morning, last December 23, at the Tanque Verde swap meet. The grounds are big, but I found an aerial view from Google Maps and put the pointer on the mural. (If you have a GPS, look for coordinates 32.175256, -110.919082.)


The business is Rick's Place, and it's next to the parking lot that fronts Palo Verde, near the north end. The murals seemed to be by Artistic Airbrush Nancy, 520 990-2351.

Dragon on Veterans Blvd.

Some of Tucson's most amazing murals are on side streets — painted or commissioned, I guess, by the owner of the home behind them. This dragon on the wall in front of 376 W. Veterans Blvd. (at Lundy) is a great example.

Carniceria del Sol

At 4519 S. 12th is the meat market named Carniceria del Sol. (For a closer view of the mural, as always, you can click on the photo. Use your browser's "Back" button to come back.)

Sweet mural on South Sixth

(I couldn't stop myself from using that title. :) The mural, and the old shelf, graced the east end of the north wall of Dulceria Ruiz, 4558 S. 6th, on December 23, 2010.

Tiny mural at Torres Taqueria

Humble murals are welcome here on the Tucson Murals Project. This one is both humble and small, almost a "maybe a mural." It's on the lower left part of the sign for the former Torres Taqueria, 4634 S. 6th Avenue. I rode by on December 23 and snapped this through the fence with a zoom lens.

Long mural at Lalo Guererro Housing

This string of murals lines the west wall of Lalo Guerrero Elderly Housing, 124 W. 18th St. I took the photo from Convent Avenue, just north of 18th Street, on December 18.

Las Artes under construction

Speaking of new murals: Last December 12, I rolled by Las Artes Learning Center at the southeast corner of 27th & 10th in South Tucson.

The first photo below is a view into an inner patio with murals standing along a wall. The second shows the south wall with the sign from above and empty spaces for murals.

Deconstructed mural?

Deconstructed art is a term for some contemporary art and architecture. But I think it's probably also a good word, by now, for this mural that I saw almost a year ago. It was around a construction site at 44 E. Broadway — last December 15 — where the Sonoran Institute was planning to move in. I haven't had a chance to check it in the last few months, so I'll let you do that as you drive by. If you have a chance, please let me know (by email or with a comment below) if it's been "de-constructed" by now...

Update (May 15, 2012): I found a post on the blog Tucson Kent's World with photos of this mural being painted. Mural Artists in Downtown Tucson has the story, and three photos, of Rock Martinez and Ed Muren painting the mural. The post is dated October 22, 2010 — two months before I snapped my photo.

Somewhere on South Sixth...

... last December 23, I found this urban art on the south side of an empty building. The building didn't seem to have an address posted, but it's around 4450 S. 6th (it was just north of 4460). The sign on front said:

RENT 2.OWN

822 1339

Edward Lindsey Center #2

And now for something completely different. After finding the mural in the previous post, I went around the corner and saw this on the north side of the Edward Lindsey Adult Learning Center: I've seen the mural described as “rattlesnake training.”

Edward Lindsey Center #1

Here's another mural I found on a lucky mural-hunting trip, December 12, 2010. It's along the east side of Edward Lindsey Adult Learning Center, 1602 S. 3rd:

For Gabriel Rene Cruz

I found this memorial mural ("In Loving Memory... Gabriel Rene Cruz") on the south wall of the Grand Central barber shop last December 12. It's signed Gorman 2009.
Update (May 15, 2017): The mural was removed sometime prior to April of 2015.
Update (October 12, 2021): There are two new murals here.

Around the corner at Glenn & York

Earlier this month, Howard Rains rode by the mural posted here two years ago — Keeling neighborhood shines along Glenn — and he noticed that we missed half a block or so! The rest of the mural is around the corner...

Here's the missing part — too long to include in one photo, so it's split in two. Thanks, Howard.

(Howard's blog is Sky Island Riders Tucson Scooter Club.)

...Glad to see another Tineo work of art

After reading yesterday's post, Goodbye to one Tineo mural..., you had a hint of what would be coming in the evening. Our August 15 post on this blog showed a photo of the new mural, the list of sponsors, and some details. Back on July 9th, we even showed the empty mural frame. Still, would 110 degrees and thunderstorms threaten mural-lovers and community enthusiasts at the Mountain View Church of Christ? Ha! Tucsonans go all out for a new mural by revered local artist David Tineo. (Maybe I should also mention the free food inside the church multi-purpose room. :)

Around 5:15, the parking lot was mostly empty... as were the seats outside the mural, which was still covered with a blue tarp:

Not long after 5:30, the multi-purpose room inside was mostly full. The group headed outside, and people who contributed to the mural (with support, ideas, and the actual brushstrokes) yanked off the tarp that'd been covering the mural against rain (as well as sneak peeks):

... then posed for photos as everyone else applauded:

You've seen the mural in the announcement from August 15, so here's a close-up of the "heart":

The mural has eight panels, each painted by a different group but designed to fit together (and bolted in place, for sure). You can see that above, along with some participants' signatures.

Below is the celebration inside the church. That's David Tineo on the right, holding a framed print of the work that he helped to coordinate:

It was a real community-building project. Around the edges of the indoor festivities was a table full of people — kids and above — painting another set of works to be made into a collage. People in recovery through CODAC worked side-by-side with residents of the Hedrick Acres Neighborhood — and anyone else who wanted to join in. I had a long talk with an artist named John who said that art has let him express himself, helping him recover in a way that words alone can't. (Some of his work hangs at Café 54 downtown.)

As David pointed out in his remarks after the unveiling, projects like this help to build bridges — even (and especially) in communities like Tucson with the two tragedies of the January 8th shooting and the terrible economy that could also tear us apart. He and others are working to do just the opposite through mural projects like Changing Hearts & Minds.

(The Tucson Sentinel story Mural's brushstrokes meant to encircle community has more about the evening, and another story Mural paints picture of hope has background information. There's more on the Hedrick Acres Neighborhood Association site: "Changing Hearts and Minds" Mural Project. And here's the CODAC web page Changing Hearts & Minds Mural.)

Goodbye to one Tineo mural...

If you've lived in Tucson for at least a year (or seen this blog), you knew the mural that Tucsonan David Tineo painted (with others) along the main patio at the Tucson Museum of Art. It wasn't supposed to be there for years and years, but people loved it and it stayed... until last December, when it was falling apart from years of weather. The museum held a despedida to say "goodbye mural, hello again concrete wall." The story was Adios para siempre... posted here last December 1.

Since he painted it, eyesight problems made David announce that he wouldn't paint more... but he's back again! His newest neighborhood mural will be dedicated tonight, at Mountain & Hedrick... see Celebrate the new mural on August 27!.

I was the Museum's event photographer back then, so I caught lots of photos of David and the crowd that came to talk with him (families, especially kids, are important to him) — before the mural was cut into sections and sold to benefit the Museum School.

Desert critters on South 10th

This street-side mural is along South 10th Avenue, at the southwest corner with 29th Street, in South Tucson. (Here's a map.)

More South Tucson streetside art

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you've seen some of the murals on sidewalks and next to main streets all through the city of South Tucson. I snapped this mural on December 12. It's along South 10th Avenue, in front of the lot at 2222 South 10th.

Update (August 31, 2015): Mark Fleming sent closeup photos of the mural:

La Jaliciense

Just north of the murals from yesterday's post is this one. It's on the north wall of 395 W. 33rd Street in South Tucson — La Jaliciense Candy Factory & meat market. (If you're looking for it, note that the sign on the west wall says "The Gizmo Factory, S&G Embroidery"). The artist was Ruben Moreno, and the credits panel at the bottom shows the other muralists:

Tigger is (was?) here

These murals are on walls south of The Gizmo Factory and S&G Embroidery, 395 W. 33rd Street in the art-filled city of South Tucson. I took these photos from the corner of S. 10th at W. 33rd on December 12th, 2010.

This close-up of the middle mural shows a date of Jan 2 2010, and what might be the artist's signature: TIGGER.

Toltecalli Academy sign

You'll see this bright mural at Toltecalli Academy, 251 W. Irvington.