Amazing art at Ancient Art

Dennis Dwyer's Ancient Art Tattoo has been in Tucson since 1976, but their mural is new:

The artists were Emmanuel Aqirre, Xaviar Morales, Adrian Encines, Johnathan Black, and Daryl Hardy.

Thanks to Stephanie Myers for sending the photo!

Rialto revisited

After a time when it looked like Joe Pagac wouldn't be painting more concert murals on the northeast corner of the Rialto theatre, he seems to be back at it. (There's some background near the top of our January 1 page New on Toole in 2013 (and Happy 2014!).) When I rolled by on March 8th, I found two new murals for March:

Lost cactus near Lerua's

Thinking of green corn tamales? You might be thinking of Lerua's Restaurant. Thinking of cactus murals? Unless you were poking around Lerua's last April 30 (2013) — as one mural-hunting bicyclist was — you might not have seen these murals that are (maybe still) just east of the restaurant, on an abandoned section of building:

Dogma Daycare

I rolled by early in the morning of April 30, 2013.

Desert scene on Calle de Madrid

Last April 25 (2013), I spent quite a bit of time in the art-filled neighborhood that includes this mural:

It's on the wall in front of the home at 250 S. Calle de Madrid (on the corner of Whittier).

Maybe a mural, part 56: Welcome to Brichta Neighborhood

A sign on a stone qualifies as “flat art,” but is it a mural?? That's the question I leave for you, dear viewer, as you look at works like this one I photographed on April 22, 2013:

The sign is on the northwest corner of Brichta & Silverbell.

Maybe a mural, part 55: Jacinto Park

OK, so I'm really stretching our (already lenient) definition of “mural” this time: a mural shaped like a sea serpent? Well, I didn't feel that this work could quite slither into the Public Art category of TucsonArt.info... so, why not call it a mural? Brilliant, ¿nó?

Whatever you think, I need to tell you that I took the photo on April 22, 2013.

¡One big chicken!

Check the size of this bird compared to the arch and the cactus. Maybe they should call this restaurant Pollo Gigante instead of Taco Giro?

(For some fun, have a look at this image search of Google México for pollo gigante.)

I spotted the mural on April 12, 2013.

Mashed mosaic

On the south side of Glenn, just west of Swan, is a two-part mosaic/tile wall that fronts the parking lot for North Swan Baptist Church and Carden Christian Academy:

The V del M above is for the Vista del Monte neighborhood association, who funded the work finished in 2000 by artist Robin Riley, RileyMosaics.com:

Robin wrote that “At some point, one of the mosaic walls was hit by a car ... So now, the mosaic is incomplete because the mosaic was never replaced on the damaged wall.” And she sent this tip: “My favorite thing about this mosaic is that at night when you drive by, it just sparkles.”

I took the photos on a cloudy March 28, 2013. (Sometime I'd like to roll by at night and take a video to post here...)

To see other work of Robin's, type her name into the search box or search link at the right-hand side of this page.

Toole flashback

The art along Toole Avenue keeps changing. (Check it out every month, before the First Saturday evening art walk, along Toole between the train station and Stone Avenue... then you might be able to keep up!)

Since January 1, I've posted several looks back on some of the changes along Toole toward the end of 2013. The biggest collection was on New Year's Day: New on Toole in 2013 (and Happy 2014!). It showed changes in several places, including the panels between Toole and the parking lots next to the railroad tracks, between 6th and 7th Avenues. (Whew! I've put a map with an approximate location below; click "Location:" to see it.)

In the past few weeks, as I've been working through my archives of mural photos from last year, I found photos of the panels on April 9th. Some were the same; others had changed. Here are three photos... which you can compare to the January 1 post, if you'd like, to see which are different and which have stayed the same:

PSA Art Awakenings: Murals being made, part 22

Almost a year ago, I spotted a partly-painted mural on the 6th Avenue side of PSA Art Awakenings. In the southern part of the art hotspot around 6th Avenue & 6th Street is Tucson's branch office/studio. Their webpage says:

PSA Art Awakenings is a psycho social rehabilitation program for adults and art therapy program for youth who are challenged by serious behavioral health issues and mental illnesses. Studios throughout Arizona offer therapeutic programs and expressive arts therapy in a supportive setting to promote mental health, personal growth, vocational training, and physical wellness through the performing and visual arts. ... Galleries, art exhibits, ... Art Walks and other venues offer artists opportunities to sell their paintings, sculptures, mosaics, jewelry, fine art, music, poetry, and writings to benefit from art sales. Staff include art therapists, behavioral health professionals, peers, family members and volunteers.

Art Saves Lives!

On March 2, 2013, the mural was still part sketch:

Three weeks later, on March 23rd, the finished (as far as I could see!) work:

Longtime Tucson muralist Antonio Pazos painted the mural.

Entomophobiacs may want to skip this!

If a mural of insects would bug you a lot, you might want to skip this entry now... and also, if you ever need to pass by the northwest corner of Linden Avenue and Vine Street, look away. Mark Fleming found a new mural stretched along the wall there.

I haven't seen it myself (as usual these days, I'm out of town). But I'll try to put the photos in left-to-right order:

Mark sent the photos on January 9th. Much appreciated, as always, Mark!

Pocket Park with mural benches

In a little park — a wide spot in Montecito Street (the street splits in two and runs around both sides of the park) are benches with mosaic tile murals on the ends. The spot is between Longfellow and Irving Avenues — in the Poets’ Square (also often called Poets’ Corner) neighborhood just east of Randolph Park.

For a photo of the park and more details, see today's entry in the Tucson's Pocket Parks blog. Now, on to the murals!

I rode by (and stopped for a while) on March 29th, 2013.

Our 900th post: BICAS!

As their website says, “BICAS (Bicycle Inter-Community Art and Salvage) is a non-profit bike repair and recycling collective in Tucson, Arizona.” They do a lot of good for the community by helping people use bicycles.

BICAS is also full of art: murals and sculpture (and whatever else they dream up!). Some of the art there has likely changed since I took these photos on March 26, 2013, but they'll give you a good idea...

Click on any photo for a larger view.

The Tucson Murals Project has come a long way since Randy Garsee started the blog in 2006. We've had 900 posts since July 12, 2006, but a number of them (like this one) show more than 1 mural. So, I'm guessing we have over 1,000 murals online here. If you haven't taken a look back recently, check the Archives in the right-hand column of any page. And thanks for coming along!

Update (September 22, 2020): Sarah Herr emailed a photo she took September 20, a close-up of the mural in the first photo above from a different angle. Thank you, Sarah! Because people at Citizens Warehouse have been evicted due to the Downtown Links road project, I was glad to see that this mural is still there:

Update (April 7, 2024): The last mural above is still there.

Rolling hearts...

...and a lot more, on the unique Mathbus. Mentioning the heart was my sneaky try at making this a Valentine's Day blog entry.

Here's the left side, which is more fun than others (as always, you can click for a larger view):

I found photos of the first painting work (but not the last!) on the Physics Factory blog. I also read that the bus is powered by recycled eegee's french fry oil, provided by Grecycle.

I took these photos on June 12th.

Stop by another day

Today's entry on the Tucson Mailbox Art blog shows a bright, handpainted mailbox. (You can click there to see it.)

The reason I'm writing about a mailbox here on the murals blog is that... you guessed it... there's also a mural here at 2702 E. Edison (which, for some reason, wouldn't show up in the “Location” box at the end of this entry):

I stopped by on May 20th, 2013. If you'd like to see more of the mural, find out what day of the week those big bins will be out at the curb for collection!

Tank's for the art!

Tank's Green Stuff hauls compost to gardens and other spots around Tucson. A while ago, I got a tip from a friend of Chris Andrews (the Tucson airbrush painter extraordinaire who also did —among others — the Roses & More store at Broadway & Tucson that was just painted over recently to become an urgent care facility). The friend told me that Chris had painted a semi trailer and that I'd see it around town from time to time... though not long in one place!

Somehow, on March 23, 2013, I caught it at the Ina Road Land Reclamation Facility, just west of I-10. Here are the left and back sides:

And the right:

Chris' website is ChrisAndrewsArt.com. When I checked it recently, there was nothing but a link to contact Chris. Too bad: I'd love to see more of his work in one place!

Fits the spot...

A Corvette, cactus, and mountains with the moon behind. I found this mural... perfect for an auto repair place... on March 22, 2013 at Roy Metcalfe Automotive:

Update (September 18, 2020): The mural has been repainted.

Murals being made, part 21: Toole at 6th

On January 1, I posted a lot of photos of new murals along Toole Avenue. The second photo, of a Rosie-the-Riviter woman, was completed at that point.

Before that — on March 18th, 2013 — I caught the mural partly-painted:

Next door to Dale's Doors

On Kino Parkway south of Broadway, Dale's Doors has had murals by Jos Vilabrille for years. On March 6th of last year, I snapped a photo of the front of the next store(s) south: Desert Diva's Boutique (and Photos by Shana, and Red's Patch Sewing and Alterations):