Tucson murals, spring 2000

Our previous post showed a long-gone mural on South 6th Avenue. One of the photos came from a collection of Tucson mural photos taken sometime around March/April 2000 by Bangbay Siboliban and Bettina Shzu. Bangbay gave me the OK to re-post the photos here, along with links to more recent photos that we already had here. Thanks to both of them for sharing these Tucson murals from 12 years ago!

Christ for Life church

Bangbay wrote “A church sports a mural-in-progress which shows destruction, paradise, and graffiti.” It was somewhere in South Tucson.

Greyhound bus station

Back then, the station was at 2 South 4th Avenue in downtown Tucson.

Update (February 20, 2021): Jenny Kilb emailed to say “I was the painter, in the early 90s. It was meant to be up for 1 year, but I believe it stayed until the end of the building.”

Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl

Here are three photos of a mural on South 6th Avenue in Tucson. The first shows a long view; the others show details. It's “Illustrating the Aztec myth of the two lovers Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl, this mural exemplifies the strong influence of indigenous Mexica religion still present today.”

The bottom two photos are versions in Spanish and English. You can click on them for a larger view.

Memorial at a tattoo parlor

Bangbay wrote “This mural, on the corner of a tattoo parlor, commemorates the death of the small child under the Virgin Mary.”

The business here has changed, but the mural was the same — on our August 11, 2011 post In Memory of Crystal — though the color of the wall is different and there's now a “Parking in back” sign above the mural. It’s Rosy’s Beauty Salon, 4453 S. 6th.

 

Mi Casita

That’s Mi Casita Restaurant at 4439 South 6th Avenue, Tucson.

Fast-forward to January, 2011, the wall was yellow, but the two windows in the middle still had what looked like soot over them. Maybe what I thought was a fire inside the building was just everyday smoke coming out of those two windows?

Two Virgin Videos?

This photo shows Virgin Videos on West Niagara Street.

Seven years later — December, 2007 — Erik S. sent Randy photos of a building and a mural that look a lot like this one. Erik wrote, “The Virgin of Guadalupe is on a video store on the southeast corner of Grande and Congress.” At the end of 2010, Melodi King and I found the mural at Grande and Congress being repainted.

San Judas

Yerberia San Judas Tadeo, 4107 South 6th Avenue, Tucson: “A South Tucson shop advertises its religious amulets and medicines with a portrait of San Judas.”

By December, 2010, the store here was named La Orquidea... it had been selling floral arrangements and handling special events... was available for rent... and still had a mural showing San Judas.

More...

Thanks again, Bangbay and Bettina, for those photos! If you have info about or photos of these murals — or any other murals that used to be in Tucson — please leave a comment below or send me email.

Before it was a mural...

...it was another mural. Say what? Here's the story.

Back on July 10th, I posted a photo of the mostly-blank wall below, at 1016 South 6th Avenue (across the street from 1001 S. 6th):

Right away I got an email from an intern at the Arizona Historical Society. She'd been studying old Tucson murals and thought she might have photos of an earlier mural on the same building. Here are the photos she sent me:

That was taken by Patricia Katchur in 2000. The second photo was on Bangbay Siboliban's website:

The building in all three photos has the same shape. And there's another clue. In the background of the last photo is part of a gas station at El Barrio Market across the street from this building. (The market has since closed.) I had another photo of the market, and the gas pumps look the same in that photo.

So, it looks as if, 12 years ago, the mural here was of Emiliano Zapata, painted by Luis Gustavo Mena. Sometime since then, another mural — the one peeking out around the edges of the solid paint — replaced the Zapata mural. And, after that, the mural was painted over to leave the mostly-blank wall. Or something like that!

If you know more, please write a comment below or send email.

Maybe a mural, part 35: Santa Rosa sidewalk

A couple of blocks north of 22nd Street — South 10th Avenue & La Paz Street — west of our previous three posts — is the west entrance to the library and Santa Rosa Park. These three tiles are on the sidewalk in the middle of that intersection.

Below are closeups of each tile. I found them on January 18th.

Gate on South 7th

This is the entrance gate to the home at 1018 S. 7th Avenue. I rode by on January 18th.

Maybe a mural, part 34: entry arch with flowers

Lots of Tucson homes have painted designs that you might call a “mural.” There are so many that we won't show them all here! I thought this one was especially nice, though. I found it at 932 S. 7th Avenue on January 18th.

There are more murals in the block north and south of here (see the previous and the next entries on this blog), and it's near downtown. Stop by!

Pio Decimo Angel Children's Center

There are two beautiful murals here at 848 S. 7th Avenue.

This tile mural is on the east wall. It's signed at the bottom left Community Artists Project / Carol Kestler / Nancy Martin / Partial funding by (unreadable). At the bottom right Bishop Francis Green / Bishop Manuel Moreno / Director Esther Tang / (P)resident Constance Howard / 1982:

And, on the south wall, behind the playground:

Our sixth anniversary!

As Melodi King and I were discussing how to update the mural map just recently, I realized that this blog has been online for six years now — since July 12, 2006.

If you'd like to look back, click on the collage above or choose one of the years from the Blog Archive in the right-hand column.

Happy sixth to us! Thanks for reading.

Was a mural

This was the south side of the building at 1016 S. 6th Avenue (south of 20th Avenue) on January 18. There are bits of what looks like the original mural popping out from underneath the paint.

If you know what mural was here, please leave a comment below or send me email. If you have a photo, I'd be glad to post it! (Same goes for any former mural that we haven't shown on the blog. There's a list of mural locations in the table of murals.)

Update (July 22, 2012): More of the story of this wall is in today's post.

KY Supermarket

This (tagged) mural is on the southwest corner of 21st Street & 6th Avenue. You can see it on this photo of the KY Supermarket building by Dean Jeffrey.

Olde Town Apartments

This is along the street at 720 S. 5th Avenue on January 18th.

Calle de Jardin revisited

Want to take a stroll after your Fourth of July cookout? One of the nicest short streets for murals is Calle de Jardin, just south of Broadway. You can see that street corner in our February 17, 2010 post.

Next south, at 125 S. Calle de Jardin, is a home with some painted plants and pots as well as some real ones:



A few steps farther, at 136 S. Calle de Jardin, another desert scene:



On the other side of the street, at 211 S. Calle de Jartin, is a nural on a wall next to the street:



And, at the corner of El Volador, a pleasant place to sit — in the middle of the intersection!



Here's a map centered at the corner with Cooper Street.

I took the photos on January 11.

Bread from Heaven

The mural, for Perfection Bakery, is on the front wall of 719 South 4th Avenue.

Compass High School!

I used an exclamation point on the title because the murals here are overpowering: big, bright, and almost everywhere. This charter school looks to be preparing its students for a career — including one in art. You can see a list of school businesses in the sign at the left. (As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view.)

A lot of these murals are not painted on; they're "wraps," applied with what looks like a printed film of some sort by s student business at the school. But there's plenty of paint, too.

We showed one of the murals here a year ago in Flaming mural on 22nd. That's at the west end of campus, at the school's auto shop. Around the corner is the entrance to the shop, with cars painted on the doors:



(I took the second photo on April 8th.) That name GatorEyez comes from the school team name, the Compass High School (Navi)Gators. (“Compass navigators”... get it? It took me a little while.)


On the right side of that building, next to the auto shop, is a mural with five scenes from the school:



I'm not sure that the middle of the five photos is actually from 2012. A staff member told me that the photo shows the student who painted the huge mural on back of the school; he's standing on the lift that he used to reach the top of the wall. The mural has been there for a while — long enough to be covered by a couple of storage sheds (there was nowhere else to put the sheds, the staff member told me). Here are shots from three angles:



(While you're waiting in line for the Arizona emissions testing facility, look to your left to see that mural.)

On my first visit, January 10th, there was a mural in the outside hallway in front of the art studio. This mural was gone when I came back on April 8th:


Last, here are the “wraps” on the buildings around the northeast-side parking lot:





Quite a place, isn't it? Here's a map.

Cool scene on Kelvin

This dark desert scene is on a wall facing the garden at 2202 S. Kelvin Stravenue. I found it on January 17th.

Brandi Fenton Memorial Park

Sunday (the 24th) I saw a notice in the Arizona Daily Star's In Memoriam section for Brandi Michelle Fenton. She was born on that day in 1989. I remembered that I had photos of the wonderful little park near the Rillito, dedicated to her, filled with mosaic murals. The photos (which I took on December 8, 2011) were just coming up in my long backlog of mural photos... so, here they are!

As the park's Pima County web page says, “Brandi Fenton Memorial Park is the result of a unique partnership between public and private sectors. The Fenton family initiated a public-private partnership to help fund and develop the park, in memory of their daughter.” Even if you aren't a mural lover, this place is worth the trip to see. Let's start with the plaque showing Brandi and the park's story:


Near the entrance to the garden area is a mural with safe driving tips. (Brandi lost her life in a car accident during March 2003.)

The garden entrance:



The "Tree of Life" wall on one side of the fountain:


A bench with a mosaic mural on the top dedicated to Jose Luis “Guapo” Rincon, and the mosaic on one end for Herb Carson...


...and the other end, with several names:


Tne top of another bench, a memorial to Casey Allyn Gosnell:


And two thank-you murals for contributors:

You can read more about the park on the JewishTucson.org website, Pima County park memorializing Jewish teen is community-wide effort. And here's a map.

By the way, for some reason, the official address of the park is on River Road (it's at the bottom of this page), and Google Maps will show you the middle of the park if you click on that address. But the park actually stretches from the southwest corner of Alvernon and Dodge, and the clubhouse is near that corner.

Update (March 5, 2018): For photos of the rest of the Community Garden, visit the Tucson's Pocket Parks blog and see the entry Brandi Fenton Memorial Park.

Update (May 25, 2018): There are more murals on the AKS Kickin’ It Clubhouse.

Murals from around the world

Tucson has some great muralists. You can find them here every couple of days or by searching local news (see our December 15, 2011 post for some suggestions).

Outside Tucson, Google follows the latest mural news. Check the "Murals in the News" section in the right-hand column of this blog.

I've seen some great websites and blogs with street art from around the world; one I found today is StreetArtNews.net. (The home page keeps getting longer and longer as you wait. You might try clicking there, then going for a cup of coffee and waiting a few minutes before you scroll down.) Don't miss their wraparound mural in Namibia — and imagine going past it yourself as drive around that corner! (Reminds you of Eadweard Muybridge's animal locomotion photos, doesn't it?)

There's a new building along the Thames River in London called The Shard. The 360-degree view from the top is like a non-stop mural.

If you have any favorite mural sites, you can share them by leaving a comment at the end of this post. Thanks.

Grunewald-Blitz Clinic

This is the north-side entrance to the Grunewald-Blitz Clinic at the University of Arizona, November 24, 2011. The address on the window says 1131 E. 2nd Street, but I actually took the photo at coordinates 32.234356,-110.953835 — which is just off the south side of the parking lot where North Palm Drive ends.

Sign (sigh) at McCormick Park

Nice idea to paint a mural on the back side of an information sign! This is at the east edge of the west-side parking lot for McCormick Park, along Columbus south of Blacklidge, on Thanksgiving Day (November 24), 2011. It's sad that the tagger wouldn't leave it in peace.

Frida by Enuf

This portrait of Frida Kahlo is by Francisco Enuf Garcia. The photo is the east wall of Carnicería La Noria, 704 E. Prince, on November 16, 2011. The bottom left is signed

Frida Kahlo
Enuf
2011

and the bottom right has his Facebook address www.facebook.com/grafftruth.

Update (December 20, 2012): When I stopped by on October 2, I saw that the paint on the mural is peeling. (Actually, paint on other parts of the wall was peeling the same way. Unfortunately, the mural is painted over that poor base paint, so it's falling apart through no fault of the muralist's. I emailed him to let him know. How heartbreaking.)

I stopped because I saw a new mural just west of here.