Ft. Lowell crossing Alamo Wash

Driving Ft. Lowell Road east of Swan, you'll cross the bridge over Alamo Wash. Along with the guardrails, there are murals along the bridge. From southeast to northwest clockwise:

The first shows the wall; I cropped the other two to just the mural. The photos are from April 18th. The artist was Robin Riley, 2011.

Slower posts for a while (but maybe not?)

I've been getting a welcome flow of murals, from a couple of contributors, that've let me add new entries to this blog twice a week: Mondays and Thursdays. But I'm running low enough on murals to post that I'm going to drop back to once a week for a little while… a short while, I hope!

(I'll also add news clips, etc. — like Tuesday's video and clip of Joe Pagac — when I find them.)

If you find a mural photo, I'd be glad to get it! You don't need to worry about making it technically perfect. Just tell me (approximately) where and when you took it. Old photos are welcome, too! The mural must be somewhere visible to the public (it can't be inside a home or in a restaurant you have to pay to get in). Just email me through the TucsonArt.info contact form and I'll send you back instructions for emailing it.)

Thanks, and please stay tuned!

Joe Pagac paints the Rialto

On Sunday 10/18 at 9:23pm, @JoePagac tweeted the link to a video by Julie Luchetta, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6JtBNo4TkM&feature=youtu.be&a, showing him painting one of his many murals of music groups. Along the way he talks with friends and people passing by. He also has time for some beer (I think?). It's a fun video. Click on the photo still or the link above to watch it.

Near Richey Elementary

One of the reasons I'm glad to have David Aber's help on this blog is that he goes to places I haven't. Here's an example. The mural is across 15th Avenue from Richey Elementary — on the east side of 15th Avenue, just south of Rillito Street. He wrote “I assume that the mural was painted by students from Richey.”

My (usual) thanks, Dave.

Flowing Wells Public Library

As David Aber was driving along West Wetmore, he spotted a tile mural on an outside wall of the library:

The camera data says that he took it on September 16th. (He sent it the same day. Thanks for the quick work!)

Artist paints mural on border fence

Ana Teresa Fernandez painted the mural in Nogales on Tuesday. Here's the story from News 4 Tucson (KVOA TV).

Gorgeous Galveston garage

I'm on the road from Tucson and the south-central US back to Tucson. From time to time, I post photos of murals outside of Tucson. That's one of them.

It's in Galveston, Texas, just off Texas highway 87 (the road to the Port Bolivar ferry) along an alley between Strand and Mechanic Streets. The edge of the roof has HP Dodge (which, I'm guessing, is the artist's name) and the hashtag #HarlandArt.

On Thursday, it's back to Tucson murals.

Around the corner at “Mural View” Elementary

On May 11, 2010, I posted photos of the north side of Mission View Elementary — which I dubbed “Mural View” because of the three beautifully-done murals.

When I took photos of those murals, I also tried to photograph the long mural on the west side. But it was too long to fit in one frame… so I put re-shooting it on my “mural to-do” list. (I keep a list of murals that I hear about, see while I'm driving by but can't stop, etc.)

It must have fallen off my (overflowing) list; I never did go back. A couple of months ago, David Aber caught this. On July 25th, he sent a photo and wrote:

On July 21 I sent you a mural from Mission View Elementary. As I mentioned, I had to shoot thru a chain link fence and couldn’t get the last 3 or 4 feet of the mural. Since then I’ve had some time on my hands and managed to stitch together two photos to make a complete mural.

Thanks, David, for your dedication to murals — and to the people who see this blog. I hadn't thought of stitching! Here's the two-part photo:

As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view. And, by the way, that black line toward the right side isn't the stitch; as I zoomed in on the original photo, I could see that it's a tall pole.

Update (July 3, 2024): Sometime in the past nine years, this mural was replaced. There are photos in today's post Mission View Elementary blasts off.

Along the north side of Tucson Greyhound Park

Five years ago, we showed photos of two murals on the north side of Tucson Greyhound Park along 36th Street. Fast-forward to this autumn: David Aber spotted a mural he didn't find on the blog. I searched and also checked the out-of-date table of murals and the murals map (fixing them is on my overflowing to-do list)… but I also didn't find that mural.

I posted Dave's photo here, then removed it once Dave spotted the duplicate. Here's a link to the February 2, 2010 entry showing the mural David photographed and another one.

The White Rabbit and a rainbow fountain

From the El Rio Community Health Center, Dental Care & Children's Health building:

Appropriately for a dental clinic, the Rabbit (from Alice in Wonderland) is holding a toothbrush.

The camera data gives a date of July 11th. Whenever you took the photos, David, thanks as always.

Underwater murals at Jesse Owens Park

The camera data in these photos says that they were taken around 6:45 AM on June 30th. If that's right, it seems that David Aber is an early riser.

Thanks much!

More change (as usual) on Toole: #3 of 3

Here's a third entry about new art along the northeast side of Toole Avenue. The previous entry showed a five-panel row of Tucson scenes. A little farther northwest is another one:

Close-ups, from left to right:

I took the photos on September 15th.

More change (as usual) on Toole: #2 of 3

Friday I saw a new mural and sign along Toole Avenue just northwest of the corner of 6th Avenue and Alameda.

Both panels have been repainted with Tucson scenes. These look more permanent to me than the earlier works (though, on Toole, you never know...). Here's the panel closest to 191 E. Toole:

Next to the Warehouse Arts District sign is one of two sets of mural panels. The panels have been repainted over and over; here are links to photos of both sets of panels over the past few years. (You can use your browser's “back” button to come back here after seeing each one.)

• August 17, 2015
• April 21, 2015
• February 26, 2014
• January 1, 2014 (scroll down past a few photos)
• October 4, 2012

Next time, a look at the other panel.

More change (as usual) on Toole: #1 of 3

If there's one thing you can count on about the street art along Toole Avenue downtown, it's that the art is always changing. Another thing you could count on — until a month or two ago, anyway — is that the art was usually eclectic.

Let's start with the north side of the building at 191. For years, it had a mural of Tucson scenes: Train, trolley, and a three-eyed alien. This spring, most of the mural was whitewashed — except the edges of the right side (which you can see at the second photo in the post linked above). Three days ago, I photographed a new mural, wrapped by a bit of the old one, at the right side of the wall:

Not far from the mural is a new sign, dedicated on July 31st. It's by artist/supervisor Amy Novelli with metal fabrication and construction design by Jason LaFleur. There were also ten youth artists.

To the left of the sign are ten painted panels with new scenes. I'll show them next week.

Mark Fleming revisits Jorge's Tire Shop

In 2012, I made a couple of visits to the corner of 10th Avenue and 32nd Street. You can see those photos in the entry Jorge's Tire Shop. Mark Fleming stopped by on June 8th of this year and sent these closeups of the north wall:

Much appreciated as always, Mark!

10th at 27th revisited

Not long after this blog started, we posted photos of murals along South 10th Avenue just as it entered South Tucson from the north. In June, Mark Fleming revisited one of the murals — the fantastic one around the power substation at 10th Avenue & 27th Street. Some of the mural has been trashed by taggers, but overall it looks pretty much the same — more than seven years later.

The Tucson Citizen article (by Charlotte Lowe), quoted in that original article, said: “Perhaps South 10th Avenue, which becomes Main Avenue as it approaches downtown, should be renamed Art Avenue. Or maybe Avenida de las Artes."

Thanks, Mark!

Mural-covered Soviet bus stops

A Wednesday article in the Guardian, the British newspaper, showed photos of amazingly-designed bus stops in countries of the former Soviet Union. From time to time, I like to show murals outside of Tucson... if this sounds intriguing, check them out:

Next stop, Siberia! The strange and beautiful world of Soviet bus stops – in pictures

South Tucson urban style

Mark Fleming (thanks!) took that photo in June.

Just up Stone, something completely different

Last time, we showed a fantasy Tucson scene in the 2700 block of North Stone. Now let's head three blocks north, to the 3000 block. Both sides of Head Hunters Smoke Shop have fantastic murals.

Here are two shots of the north-side mural. The first one shows the part closer to the street. I shot the right-hand part with my cell phone's digital zoom, so the quality isn't as good:

The south-side mural is, again, different. First, the west side and some of the south side:

All of the south side:

And details of the south side:

The north-side photos are from July 14. I took the south-side photos July 29th.

"A" Mountain, Paul Bunyan, a flying VW bus, ...

This mural must have a story behind it... but the high fence topped by three strands of barbed wire, and the guard dogs behind it, made me decide not to try to find out. The building doesn't seem to have a number, though Google Maps told me 2735 North Stone when I clicked on the building. It's the next building south of Tommy's Food and Drink, which is at 2747... I pulled into their parking lot on April 12th to take this photo:

The mural is full of Tucson icons, as well as (mostly) old Volkswagen cars and "buses" (the classic VW camper wagons). (Click on the photo for a larger view and have a look for yourself.)

All of the VWs in the mural reminded me that the business across the street, and just north — at the southeast corner of Glenn & Stone — used to be called Uncle Bob's VW Repair. (Then it was Uncle Bob's Used Cars.) Is there a connection? Hmmm. (Our photos of the murals on that corner are on August 18, 2008... March 11, 2010... and May 3, 2012.) I'll aim to stop by the office at Uncle Bob's and ask.