Teatro Carmen's extreme makeover

The old entrance to Teatro Carmen, under the arch, is gone. A new mural is in its place. There's much more news about the makeover after these photos:

Let's look back two years and 16 years with Google Street View:

April 2022

January 2008

You can see that the right (north) building used to have windows next to the sidewalk and a door behind the big arch. There was also a mural on the left (south) building, which you can see better on our August 8, 2006 post Downtown Culture. A reader named Claire wrote in that post's comments: “I noticed on February 13, 2024, that this mural is now painted over. Are there any plans to replace or replicate the previous mural?”

As of this writing — November 9, 2024 — there's lots of info and photos on the home page of Teatro Carmen's website teatrocarmen.org. Also, a Tucson Weekly article from October 27, 2022, Teatro Carmen renovation is close to fruition, has more details and history. A July 15, 2024 Tucson Sentinel article, Teatro Carmen gets restoration funding from Pima County, says that roof reconstruction would start this fall after the monsoon ends. And you can check Instagram @teatro_carmen. (You don't need the Instagram app; you can use a web browser to glance through after clicking that link, but don't click on any photo unless you're logged into Instagram from the browser.)

Finally, a note about the turquoise line and number in the first photo. I made this closeup in my photo editor:

The Turquoise Trail is a 2½ mile loop through downtown Tucson that takes you past historic sites and classic architecture. It's the turquoise line on the sidewalk you can see above. Although the trail officially starts and ends at the Presidio San Agustin del Tucson museum, you can start and return from any point along the way. (For instance, there's currently free street parking not too far from Teatro Carmen, though the parking time limit may be too short for you to walk the whole trail.) The Presidio's Turquoise Trail page has a link to a PDF map/description, a list of places you can pick up printed guides, and a list of walking tours (I think the dates may need updating?).

Dorothy N. Yanez leads mural, public art, and Turquoise Trail tours; her website is www.dyaneztours.com. I've met her once; she knows a lot about downtown.

Update (November 21, 2024): Arizona Illustrated recently aired a 4 1/2 minute segment, Teatro Carmen: Restoring Tucson's Historic Cultural Gem in the Nation’s Oldest Barrio. Click there to watch it on YouTube.

Giant Park Place mural almost finished

Sonoran Skylines, which is billed as Arizona's largest mural, is almost finished on the south end of the west wall of Park Place mall. This was the view yesterday near sunset:

(As always, you can click for a larger view.)

Two artists were working on what I think is the last part to finish: the top right. (Jessica Gonzales and her husband Dakin Martin are the main artists. Neither were here… I think these are other artists helping with this massive project.) Someone had shouted at them from the parking lot below, and they were waving in that direction:

Once the mural is finished, there'll be lots of photos here!

Trash(ed) art

Back in 2018, the city of Tucson commissioned five trash containers covered with murals. The idea was to reduce graffiti. We posted several photos on this blog. One was on November 9, 2018: Beautiful trash containers III. It showed a dumpster sitting at the curb on 12th Street next to Yosi's Creations florist and across a small parking lot from Taco Fish restaurant.

I stopped by on October 19, 2024 to check out Taco Fish. I saw the painted dumpster, which had been there for six years; I snapped this photo of the front and right sides. (I forgot to photograph the back.)

It's ugly now, but it brightened up a neighborhood that's not too photogenic. I wonder if the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona has considered making more — or already has? (Idea: The mural is worn off in the places where the dumptruck picks up the container. Maybe the mural design could allow for that — for instance, an empty area with rust-colored paint around it? Hmmm…)

Artsy mural replaced by (similar) political mural

This blog is about art, not politics. There are at least a few other political murals around town. I thought you might be interested because a five-year-old mural was replaced by a similar mural within the last few months. If you write any comments (at the end of this post), please keep them civil and respectful. Thanks.

I tend to remember murals I see around town. As I was on my way to vote today, I noticed that this mural was gone:

It's from our February 25, 2020 post "Corazon Saguaro" (Saguaro Heart): Banner mural #3 of 5. Thanks to David Aber for the photo.

Here's the new mural (in shade, so the colors may not be the same as the first mural):

Notice that the left side of the mural is the same. Even the artist's signature is in the same spot, and it's still dated 2019:

(I enlarged the first photo a lot from David's original, so it's blurry.)

What's different is that the part of the mural acknowledging Banner Health "This mural by Lalo Cota is dedicated to our Tucson community" has been replaced with "Paid for by Harris for President." nearby…

Update (November 10, 2024): BG Boyd, who photographs from a drone, caught the KAMALA mural being transformed yet again. Now it's a TUCSON mural:

On the post in the Facebook group Tucson Murals and Street Art, he wrote: “Just as soon as it appeared, the Kamala mural is now ‘gone’. I caught the artist transforming it this afternoon. I actually think the idea of being able to change a mural so quickly is kinda neat.” Thanks, BG!

Outside Park Place Street Art Festival

SAACA, Rio Nuevo, and others organized this year's Park Place Street Art Festival on Saturday the 3rd. There were events inside and outside the mall. I didn't get there on Saturday, but I walked along the north wall outside early yesterday morning the 4th — before the rain likely washed away the chalk art. (I also saw the huge new mural at the southwest corner. I'll have photos of that another day.)

A number of professional artists drew with chalk outside and painted inside. Kids drew with chalk outside. Let's start with the pros, then see the kids' work.

Because there are so many photos, I haven't done my usual careful editing. These are all the original photos.

Tyson Krank

Tyson's mural, near mall entrance 3 on the west side of Total Wine, wasn't finished early this morning.

@Edwina the artist

Wes Creigh

Children

I started at the west end and walked to the east end.

Even in Death

The mural is called "Even in Death". Artist Akers (on Instagram, @waddup.native) painted it, thanks to the Fronteridades project through Galeria Mitotera and the UA Confluence Center. The artist's Instagram post for this mural is @waddup.native, April 21, 2023. (You can click there to see it. You shouldn't need an Instagram account.)

The skeleton figure in the mural an "Anciana" or elder, from the perspective of the Pascua Yaqui/Yoeme artist.

There's a lot of explanation and a video on Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Galeria Mitotera & Gifts (@galeriamitotera)

If you can't see that or would like to open the post yourself, here's a link to click: https://www.instagram.com/galeriamitotera/reel/CvisQ6ggA5T/.

David Aber took the photo at the top of this post. Thanks, David.