The Lone Palm

Sounds like a cool place to pull over for a drink along a hot desert road, doesn't it?

Sorry if I got your mouth watering. :) Around the home at 115 E. Alturas is a wall with peaks and saguaro. ’Most every peak has its scraggly saguaro — except one:

I spotted this lonely palm tree between the other saguaro. The photos are from October 4, 2011.

Mural backdrop at 2012 Tucson Festival of Books

If you attended this year's Tucson Festival of Books, you probably saw the six-by-sixteen-foot stage backdrop "Nuestras Raices." I missed the unveiling, so I didn't know until this week that Mel Dominguez painted it. I read about it on her new blog. Here's the story.

Critters on a wall, part 2

Just along the street from my previous post I saw this mural-like address sign on the home at 2002 E. Lee:

But take a closer look at the lower right corner. It's...

...a critter, not a part of the art (at least, not permanently).

I looked down at my camera for a moment — to go to the macro setting, to get another photo — and our friend was gone.

Critters on a wall, part 1

My last couple of posts have been about “critters” (animals. bugs, or, I guess, basically anything alive that's not human). Here's the first of two new posts with more of the same.

I found these along the alley between Adams & Lee, on the sides of the carport for 2050 E. Lee. This kind of discovery is one of the main reasons I like to do mural-hunting on my bicycle.

I took the photos on April 6th.

Maybe a mural, part 32: critters glued on

From time to time, I post a photo of art that might or might not be a mural — depending on how you define “mural.”

The previous post was of critters painted onto a sidewalk and wall. This time, they're bigger, three-dimensional, and made (I think) of plastic:

They're on the wall around 2350 E. Elm... but that's just the address, and you'll find them on the west side of Norton Avenue, just south of Elm. I took the photo on September 29, 2011.

Update (May 16, 2013): There's much more art around the home. You can find photos of some of it, and links to the rest, from the page 2350 Elm Street on TucsonArt.info.

Park Place Chalk Art Festival revisited

Last Sunday, I made a quick visit to see the artists drawing at the Park Place Chalk Art Festival. Then, on Tuesday, I came by on my bicycle around 7:30 AM to see the finished works. There were just a few people around, so (I realized after a few minutes) I could lay down the chain barriers around the bigger works to get better photos.

I'll start with the bigger works along the north side of the mall — and give each artist's name after their work:

Susan Kay Johnson

Audra Cobelis

Cindy Guare

Joshua Woodhall

Katy May Goodson

Jose Ignacio Garcia

Chris Leon (too wide for my camera, so I snapped it in three sections)

Matt Cotten

Martin Quintanilla

Toward the west end were smaller works — mostly, I think, by kids and others who just walked up and started to draw. There were hundreds of them! Here are three that caught my eye:


The long walkway to the mall entrance...

...and a 12-minute HD video. I took it as I walked along the rows of murals above. (If you can't play it from the window below, you can try opening the video directly from YouTube.)

Update (April 11, 2013): The first of three pages of photos of the 2013 Festival are here: Park Place Chalk Art Festival, part 1 of 3.

Park Place Chalk Art Festival

Though it was a busy weekend for me (Tucson Artists' Open Studios and a great concert by the Southern Arizona Symphony), I stopped by Park Place Mall for a quick look at the inaugural Chalk Art Festival. What a crowd — of both spectators and artists!

I've heard that the murals will be up for the next few days (along the north side of the mall, west from the Sears store). So I decided to come back and try to catch some better photos.

As I was about to leave, I saw a familiar artist's name. Cindy Guare had just contacted Randy last week to let us know that she painted the God's hands mural as well as the amazing Girl Scout mural. The scout mural took an entire year to paint, she told me yesterday.

If you'd like to see more of Cindy's work, her website is CindyGuareArt.com. And there are more photos (and a video) of the entire show in our next post, Park Place Chalk Art Festival revisited.

Quiet at the Rialto

On March 22, we were following the continually-changing murals on the east side of the Rialto Theatre downtown. The latest of the three was for a Todd Rundgren concert on April 1.

Three days ago — April 11th — there was just one new mural (Joe painted it, by the way) for a get-together at the Tucson Museum of Art on April 7:

I'll keep riding by from time to time and see what happens!

A peacock and (much) more, part 2

Tuesday's post showed a forest scene, including a peacock, on a wall wrapped around a Tucson home. Today's post is from Reid Park. Here's the peacock in front of the Zoo entrance. Titled Pavo cristatus (the scientific name — appropriate for a zoo, eh?) it's © 2003 by Nina Borgia-Aberle and Stephen Grede. I waited in line to take my photo while kids sat on the peacock and their parents snapped shots. It might not exactly be a mural (the feathers count; the head probably doesn't) but it's part of the public-art scene in this central Tucson park.

Across the way, the Edith Ball Adaptive Recreation Center has ceramic murals — and a very fun ceramic non-mural near the pool. Let's start with the shelter along the road, just east of the building entrance:

The plaque at the left side has the mural’s text in Spanish and Braille:

Inside, around a drinking fountain, is Tranquilidad en el agua / Calmness in the water, by Nina Borgia-Aberle in 2004:

As you walk into the locker rooms, you'll see The ocean’s garden / El jardin del oceano, by Nina Borgia-Aberle & Stephen Grede in 2004. (As always, you can click on that plaque for a larger view.) Here's the mural overall...

...and each panel closer-up:

This sculpture by the pool definitely isn't a mural, but I couldn't leave it out. I didn't catch its name or the artist name(s). I just found the web page What's the difference between a crocodile and an alligator? and decided that it's a dancing... crocodile. (If you know more, please send me an email or leave a comment below.)

A peacock and (much) more, part 1

Drive south on Swan from north of Grant. As you cross Grant, look to your right. Behind the businesses, you'll catch a glimpse of one of the longest murals in Tucson. It wraps around the back of the home at 4659 E. North Street:

You can really only see the north side from the dirt alley that parallels Grant:

Here are two closeups of the east side:

Update (March 24, 2015): Just across North Street is one of Tucson’s most fun mailboxes. Click there to see it on the Tucson Mailbox Art blog.

Is it real or is it mural? (Part 2)

Our December 22nd post, “Is it real or is it mural? (Part 1),” has a photo of a home with a real potted plant and a painted mural behind.

Here's another mural with the same idea: a mural in back and real plants in front. It's on the wall along the east side of the street at 1802 N. Dodge:

Two close-ups:


The word in the second close-up is BACKPACKING. I'm not sure what that's about. It looks like there might have been more words, painted on top of the original mural, that have peeled off over time? As always, I'll try to find someone there who can tell me. Or, if you know the story, please send email or write a comment below.

I took the photos on September 23, 2011.

Another OMA school: Lineweaver

Adah Lineweaver Elementary, at 461 South Bryant, is one of Tucson's OMA (Opening Minds through the Arts) schools.

This is Lineweaver's OMA Gold banner; I took the photo on September 23, 2011.

And here are two more photos from around the campus. The first is at the northwest entrance, and the other is by a ramp near an inner building on the north side of campus.

Another OMA school on the blog is Townsend Middle School.

Musical gate

I can imagine that, every time the home owner walks through this garden gate, they remember putting money in a jukebox... and some favorite song pouring out. I took the photo on September 23rd at 3719 E. 28th Street.

A wall with wallop

Why have a plain white wall if you can add murals for some extra wallop? Here's the wall in front of the home at 65 N. Sierra Vista Drive (1/2 block south of Waverly) on September 22, 2011.

Sunny mailbox on Hampton

Here's an early-morning view, last September 22nd, of the mailbox and curb at 2040 E. Hampton. It's across the street from Tahoe Park, a pleasant neighborhood for a stroll just behind Bookmans at Grant & Campbell.

Mural artists needed at Park Place April 14-15

Here's an announcement from SAACA, the Southern Arts & Cultural Alliance. (By the way, I'm hoping to stop by to grab photos for the blog.)

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Inaugural Chalk Art Festival, April 14 & 15
Park Place Mall - 5870 East Broadway Blvd. - Tucson, Arizona, 85711. Saturday 7am - 5pm, Sunday 9am-3pm (Located in the North Entrance Courtyards approximately between former Borders location to Old Navy) Local established artists, amateur artists, students, children and attendees will all participate in the festival to transform Park Place sidewalks into colorful works of art. The space will stretch from former Borders location and Sears's entryways to the front of the Old Navy store. Complete details at www.saaca.org/Chalk_Art_Festival.html. Opportunities for Artists:

· DOWNLOAD THE ARTIST & TEACHING ARTIST APPLICATION HERE. Application Deadline - MARCH 30

· PROFESSIONAL ARTIST MURALS ($300 per artist honorarium). Eight local mural artists will be selected to create original artwork pieces 8 foot wide by 6 foot high chalk murals in the area stretching the length of the sidewalk of the North Park Place entrance.

· COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION MURAL Artist Facilitator ARTIST TEAM - 2 ARTISTS ($400 per teaching artist honorarium). The public participation mural will be administered by a local teaching artist to facilitate the growth of the signature piece as well as onsite instruction for emerging and amateur artists from an established artist.

· KIDZONE - 1 Artist Facilitator will be selected ($200 per artist honorarium). The KIDZONE will be managed by an artist instructor specialized in working with children.

Kate Marquez

Executive Director

Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance

A non profit organization dedicated to the preservation, expansion and creation of Arts and Culture in Southern Arizona

Office (520) 797-3959 x 6

Cellular (520) 240-2766

www.SAACA.org

 7225 N. Oracle Rd, Suite 112

Tucson, AZ  85704

(NW Corner of Oracle & Ina)

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Update (April 16, 2012): The first photos from the festival are in today's post, Park Place Chalk Art Festival.

Taggers top topped tags

A lot of graffiti is a battle between taggers and the people who try to out-do them... or to clean up their often-artless scrawl. Of course, some is wanted and worth watching for, like the lot on North Stone where Winta Fresh has been held.

And then there's tagging that falls between those two types:

I found this scene last September 22nd, along the alley just across Spring Street from R-Galaxy. The tag at the right side looks to me as if someone painted something on the wall... which someone later covered with gray paint... which someone later topped with a head and shoulders in black. Clever, eh? Farther along the alley (two tags to the left) was another face, this time in white:

Artistic or awful — or both?