Another walk around El Rio Neighborhood Center

This Center has classrooms, a public library, and other facilities. Both Mark Fleming (who's contributed a number of photos over the years) and I walked through the outside of the complex, and took photos, twice in the past 16 years: El Rio by Tineo on May 02, 2008 and El Rio revisited on January 23, 2012. You might want to look through those photos before you see the photos below — which include murals that have been renovated in the past five years.

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This is the northeast entrance, off of the parking lot, on July 11, 2024:

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If you walk in from the Speedway side, on the south, you'll see a curved bench and a mural:

At the top left corner, the signature says Mural by David Tineo / Restoration by @TENZ520 and Community 7/18/19 (I can't find @TENZ520 on Instagram, so I might have that wrong):

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The rest of the photos are a tour through murals along the inner walkway, roughly from the Speedway entrance walking north, not necessarily in order (since July, I've forgotten the order 😉):

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The last mural in this tour is along the east side, a Pima County Public Library branch:

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I took those photos outside on July 11, 2024.

Back on March 9, 2018, I found three murals inside a building. The mural at the library was different. The post also has a shot of the northwest entrance murals from a different angle: Even more art at El Rio on Speedway!

Well-known Tucson muralist needs help (and 20 of his murals)

Daniel Buckley, who contributes art and history posts on Facebook every day, wrote that muralist Carlos Valenzuela could lose his home and art studio. The post includes 20 photos of Carlos's work… you'll probably recognize a lot of it as the ceramic tile murals that line main streets, and at the little city's borders, in South Tucson.

I'll try to include the Facebook post in the box below. If it doesn't work, here's a link that should open it in a separate window or tab: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/AFTnuk636tvednc4/

Whatta wall!

A wall behind a vacant lot, just southeast of Oracle and Grant, has a spectacular mural:

I can't find the artist's name in the mural, but to me it looks like a mural by Stenz: Galaxy Smoke Shop on Fort Lowell.

Here are closeups from left (north) to rignt (south):

The other side of the wall may be part of Overhead Door Company of Tucson & Southern Arizona, 313 W Sahuaro St.

Although Google Maps gives the address (in the Location at the bottom of this post) as 333 W Sahuaro St, that's confusing because you can't get here from Sahuaro Street. Instead, drive northbound on Oracle and turn right into the vacant lot to the east, here:

As always, you can click on that image for a larger view. If you'd rather use a GPS, the coordinates are 32.248685, -110.977360. It's also across the street from the restaurant with this tasty mural: El Taco Rustico.

El Taco Rustico

The south wall of El Taco Rustico has a mural back to front (west to east):

From left (back) to right (front):

The sign has been badly tagged 😞:

I took the photos on July 8, 2024.

Bad luck for this Joe Pagac mural?

Joe Pagac painted a mural next to the children's section of the Joel Valdez Main Library downtown. Today is Frday the 13th, so I'm posting this as “bad luck” because the main library may close at the end of the year. (This Arizona Daily Star story from September 3 tells more: Closing Tucson's main library included in cost-saving plan. The big building needs $90 million in renovations; they also can't hire enough staff.) The bright spot at top is from the floodlight shining on the mural:

If the library closes at the end of the year, the mural would have been there only nine months. Joe posted on Facebook April 1, 2024 that the mural was inspired by Byrd Baylor — who's also the author of the book in the photo above. Joe started it on March 30. (Both of those are Facebook videos.) But a label next to the mural says it was unveiled at Byrd's Centennial Celebration March 28, 2024:

See it in person while you can! (I'm guessing it wouldn't be moved to a new, smaller library… though of course I could be wrong.)

Woof!

Sit! Stay! Play!, south of Broadway and just east of Kino Parkway on 14th, is “a social learning center for dogs.” I took that photo on July 11, 2024. Check out the paws from left to right. In the background at the left is a bit of the fun mural shown in our post Teatime for the bugs. (As always, you can click on the photo above for a larger view.)

I thought I'd taken photos years ago, but I can't find them. Google Maps Street View shows that an earlier mural was there May 2017 and this mural was there May 2019. Here's a view from May 2016:

Speedway Corridor Mural Project

The boulevard that was once deemed “the ugliest street in America” by LIFE magazine in 1970 now has six new murals. They're on the walls that protect pedestrians from falling onto the Speedway underpasses near the University of Arizona. They were finished by the end of March, 2024. Allison Miller of Alley Cat murals had the idea for years, but it took lots of preparation and fundraising. (For example: It turned out that the walls themselves are owned by the City of Tucson, but the “wings” extending back from the ends of the walls are owned by the UA!) Here's a map, with thanks to Melissa Goodrich at the UArizona Poetry Center. Click to enlarge:

In coordination with the UA's Poetry Center, the murals are all based on poems — one a hip-hop song. There's lots more information at the end of the post, but let's see the murals! As always, you can click on a mural for a slideshow of larger views.

Each artist's section below finishes with a personal interview from the UA Poetry Center's blog. At the end of this post are links to more information.

Allison Miller (Southeast)

Allison Miller (including photos of her previous stingray mural): We marked up walls: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (April 8, 2024). Stingray mural info, and a closeup photo, from this blog: Stingray on Speedway (August 04, 2016).

Monique Laraway (Northeast)

Monique Laraway: Bring Art to the Masses: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (April 1, 2024)

Alex Fass (South central)

Alex Fass: it's raw, it's real, it's what I feel: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (May 13, 2024)

Sasha Lewis (North central)

Sasha Lewis: Bright blocks of colors and bold lines: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (April 15, 2024)

Jodie Lewers Chertudi (Northwest)

Jodie Lewers Chertudi: A world without art is so boring: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (April 29, 2024)

Jodie's painting partner was Miguel Flores.

Jenna Tomasello (Southwest)

The people are cold. The people are hungry.
The rich have stolen the land.
The rich have stolen freedom.
The people scream.

Jenna Tomasello: Art Without an Access Barrier: Interviewing the Speedway Muralists (May 6, 2024)

More about the project

The project has gotten lots of attention, including:

• Arizona Illustrated TV program from AZPM: Beautifying the Ugliest Street in America - Tucson’s murals on Speedway Corridor
• Map and links to the poems, from UA Poetry Center: Speedway Corridor Mural Walking/Rolling Tour and Ice Cream Social!
• Locations, poems, and the Poetry Center: Press release, January 2024
• Speedway Corridor Murals on BG Boyd's TucsonAZMurals.com
• BG Boyd's video: "Reckon" Jodie Lewers Chertudi Mural based on Logan Phillip's Poem (YouTube)

The “Location” address below is close to the North central mural by Sasha Lewis, which is where Highland Avenue crosses under Speedway. (As always, you can click there for a Google Map.) This mural is close to the UA Poetry Center, which helped coordinate the project; its address is 1508 E. Helen Street.