Faded at 12th and Park

December 21st, I was taking one of my favorite bicycle shortcuts from the west side of the Park Avenue “freeway” (south of Broadway) to the east side. As I rode along 12th Street, I spotted a faded mural on the northwest corner of Rustica, just west of Park Avenue:

Here's a closer view:

I didn't have time to go inside and ask if they know the story. If you know, please leave a comment below! (You can stay anonymous, if you'd like.)

Howling At The Moon

This mural first appeared in the Tucson Murals Project on June 16, 2011 as the Wildcat School from Warren V.  It next appeared in the Tucson Daily Photo on May 6, 2014 as the Sad piece of Tucson history. It had been completely covered by a chain link fence.  The fence is now gone.  The mural is on the west wall of the Pepe Barron Academy.  It is best viewed from behind the Eegees at Stone & Drachman.  I took this photo on Jan. 17, 2016.

Click on the photo for a larger (and sharper) view.

Mexico City is mural heaven!

Many thanks to David Aber for taking over while I spent most of February in Mexico. Since I'd only barely crossed the border in the past years to visit my dentist in Nogales (if you want a good dentist, just ask! :) my trip into central Mexico amazed me. There's street art (and other kinds of art) everywhere.

As I write from time to time: This is the Tucson Murals Project, but once in a while (such as Randy's post from Baghdad) we like to spread stories of murals around the world. Here's one from my time in Mexico — at the Garibaldi Metro (subway) stop, I think:

It shows Metro riders. The mural has more visual art around its edges, and urban/rap-type music (in Spanish, of course) plays in the background. It's typical of what I came to discover in the Mexican cities I visited: what seemed like much more appreciation for the Arts than in some places. (Let's please pull for even more Tucson art… and cooperation between artist groups and government… OK, off of my soapbox. :)

Next time, back to another of David's mural photos! I'll continue in March with an incredible number of murals at a high school I spotted while I was searching for my way out of a dead-end street.

P.S. I hope you enjoy your extra day (February 29th). How about some mural-watching? By the way, Dave is busy updating the mural map. It's one of the links you'll find on the TucsonArt.info murals page.

Natural World

Tile murals by Robin Riley (I think) and the students of Santa Clara Elementary.  I took these photos on 12/11/2015.

Click on any photo for a slide show of larger photos.
Another mural from the Santa Clara School was posted on 12/26/2011.

Conserve To Enhance

I was wandering the neighborhood on Dec. 24, 2015 looking at Christmas decorations and found this at Anna Henry Elementary School:

The school's mascot is a Gila Monster and it's painted on a 3,000 gal. rainwater recovery tank.
Click on any photo for a slide show of larger images.

Chicanos

Alley behind Tierra y Libertad Organization (TYLO), a Tucson-based grassroots neighborhood organization in Barrio Wakefield.  The alley is located in the 3600 block between South 6th and 7th Avenues.  Photo was taken on Oct. 28, 2015.

Click on the photo for a larger image.

That's actually only the left end of a long and exquisitely-painted mural. I stitched together a panorama.

There are more murals — not as long or polished as this one, but still impresssive — at IncrediblAlley.

Hummingbird Mural

The South side of a building at S. 12th Ave. and W. Lerdo Rd.  Photo taken on Dec. 11, 2015.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

Midtown Bar & Grill

Here are three photos of a mural painted on the front and side of the Midtown Bar & Grill:

Photos were taken on Dec. 11, 2015.
Click on any photo for a larger size.
NOTE:  By July 30, 2016 all of the murals have been painted over. What a shame.

Trash container murals revealed

The graffiti-abatement test program — of painting murals on five dumpsters — showed off its work Friday, February 5th in the parking lot behind the old Chicago store location (across the street from the new, much smaller location). Here's a wrapup from KVOA-TV News 4:

First 5 'dumpster art' containers completed Friday

New at Mexicayotl Academy

Around the corner from the other murals at Mexicayotl Academy (which are mostly faded now)I spotted a new mural November 20th. Here are two views:

David Aber joins the Tucson Murals Project

You've seen a number of David Aber's great photos on this blog. He's emailed them to me and I've posted them.

I realized that he might just post the photos himself — and he's agreed to become the blog's co-editor. You'll start seeing his name at the bottom of some blog entries on the "“Posted by” line.

Welcome, Dave!

Slovly('s) mural updated

Three years of Mondays ago — January 21, 2013 — I posted photos of the mural by Sabrina Vincent — better known as the artist SLOV — on the wall outside her family's Tucson home.

(If you haven't seen that blog entry, I hope you'll click over! The mural was one of my favorites. And don't miss the links from that blog entry to the Arizona Daily Star article and to the photos of the mural-making, as well as the Portfolio section, of SLOV's website.)

Yesterday, as I drove along Columbus Boulevard — on my way home from a planning meeting of the Heart of Tucson Art group — by the way, their spring artsists' open studios tour will be April 9-10 — I drove by this familiar spot. (I know Tucson streets mural-by-mural. “Such-and-such mural is two blocks over there,” I'll think.) I did a double-take and pulled over right away to take some photos.

The left side of the old mural — next to her garage door — is now solid blue-green. The new mural is on the side of her home along Columbus:

The words are: thee lift me / and I'll lift thee / and we'll ascend together.

La historia del Güero Canelo, part 2 of 2

Part 1 of this two-part series showed the mural along the east wall of El Güero Canelo's South 12th Avenue parking lot… the first part of the history of this popular restaurant. The mural on the south wall shows the rest of the story (the story until the mural was painted, that is). It starts at 2007, so it isn't as long as the previous one (which started in 1961)… though it's still way too long to see while you're browsing this blog entry:

No screen I know of — except maybe in a cinema — has enough pixels to show the whole thing. So here's a link to David Aber's entire panorama. If it works on your computer or phone, you should be able to scroll through it from the left end to the right:

El Güero Canelo mural, south wall: panorama by David Aber

These first four parts of the mural have text with the story through 2012:

The mural finishes with three painted scrolls. The first and second have grass painted underneath; the trees at the right sides are real:

Thanks once more, Dave, for all of the time that you spent on this!

La historia del Güero Canelo, part 1 of 2

The popular restaurant El Güero Canelo has two very long murals along the parking lot at its South 12th Avenue location. The murals show its story, beginning in the 1960s. David Aber did a tremendous service to all we art-lovers by taking lots of photos and stitching them into panoramas of each mural. We'll see the east wall first.

As you can tell — even if you clicked on the image to get a bigger view — the whole panorama is way too long to show in the little space on this blog. If you'd like to see the whole mural, try clicking on this link:

El Güero Canelo mural, east wall: panorama by David Aber

That page is so wide that it still may not be easy to see on your phone or computer. In case you couldn't see it, here are some excerpts. These are closer views of pieces of the mural that have places and dates, from left to right:

Again, if you'd like to see the whole mural, try clicking on this link:

El Güero Canelo mural, east wall: panorama by David Aber

The next time, the south wall!

Over Olive again

About five years ago, we posted two photos of a series of murals along Speedway at the U of A, over Olive Road between Mountain and Euclid in Down under (Speedway). I stopped by on November 6, 2015, to take a closer look.

These photos show a bit more than the pair we posted back then. They run from the left (east) end to the right:

Tucson Arts Brigade murals being removed

I'm sad to announce that Tucson Arts Brigade Executive Director Michael B. Schwartz has told me to “Remove all tab murals from your site immediately.”

TAB does a great service to the community — for instance, working with youth (some who've been tagging buildings) to teach them to paint murals. Though I don't understand Michael's request, I'll do what he asked ASAP. If you love TAB murals, here's a Google search you can click on to see them while they're still online:

"Tucson Arts Brigade" OR TAB site:tucsonmurals.blogspot.com

Three years ago, I posted a list of Murals on TAB's Facebook page. You might find some newer photos there as well as on TAB's website.

By the way, I won't be removing the entire blog entries — just the photos.