Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Murals being (re-)made, part 52: Anita Market

The Anita Street Market has had murals on its north wall since at least 2009 — which is when I took this photo on May 14th:

(It's from the blog entry Murals in (on) store.)

Since then, the left (east) side of the mural has been repainted; the right-side mural was also freshened up. Let's start with photos of the completed mural… I took them on May 15, 2019. After these are photos of the new murals being painted.

Next, the murals being repainted on August 22, 2018. In the second photo, you can see that they've kept the man holding the moon and the sun in his hands from the older mural. The last photo shows that the mural had been tagged.

The right-most mural is signed Gino M. on the bottom left corner and Jesus C. on the bottom right.
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Location: W Lord St & N Anita Ave, Tucson, AZ 85705, USA

Friday, July 19, 2019

"Water is Life"

Murals by students from Pima County's Las Artes Program.  Part of the Primavera Foundation's South Tucson Greenway Public Art Project.  The murals depict daybreak, noon and evening but, frankly, I'm not sure I've captioned them correctly.

Found on the back wall of the Capilla Community Garden at W. 34th St. & S. 9th Ave. in South Tucson.  Can only be seen from the Southwestern Greenway.

Photos taken on Feb. 27, 2019.
Evening

Noon

Daybreak
Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger and sharper images.
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Location: 227 W 34th St, Tucson, AZ 85713, USA

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

A history of Joe Pagac's little man on the Rialto

I've been working again on my never-ending project: sorting through a backlog of photos I've taken. I found a folder that I made some time ago — but never posted here, I think. It shows a man standing to the right side of the murals Joe Pagac has painted and re-painted for at least ten years. The first Rialto mural we showed on this blog — without the man — was photographed December 13, 2009.

I'm sure we didn't get all of his concert murals over the years. The first time I saw the “little man” (as I call him) was April 14, 2012:


Here he is, from 2012 through 2018:

April 14, 2012
May 18, 2012
March 6, 2013
December 25, 2013
December 21, 2014
March 7, 2015
July 27, 2018
After a while, Joe replaced the protest sign with a monkey and the man both holding onto a banana. (Notice how both the man and the monkey have a hand or two wrapped around the downspout?) Though I haven't checked this year, I'd guess that's still the way it looks. The shrubbery in the last photo was taken away sometime later.
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Location: 318 E Congress St, Tucson, AZ 85701, USA

Friday, July 12, 2019

Kiss of Smoke

Kiss of Smoke is a barbecue restaurant on S. Plumer that opened Jan. 5, 2019 next door to the Silver Room. The owners have entered barbecue competitions for a decade. They had a food truck for about a year before they decided to open a brick-and-mortar.

I took this photo on Feb. 4, 2019.
Painted by Jonny Ballesteros, aka Jonnybubonik
There's an identical mural on the front of the restaurant.

Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.
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Location: 663 S Plumer Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA

Thursday, July 11, 2019

New KVOA-TV video: painting new Palo Verde Pool mural

Four students are working with muralist Isaac Caruso on a new mural that'll be dedicated at the end of the month:



To see the video on the YouTube website, click there.
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Location: 355 S Mann Ave, Tucson, AZ 85710, USA

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Daily Wildcat story on Joe Pagac's latest mural

The story about Joe's new whales mural was published Monday, July 8th:

UA Alumnus Paints Tucson's Largest Mural

It's on the north wall of the former Catalina Cinemas building, behind what was a Bookmans location until it was torn down.
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Location: 2320 N Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA

Tuesday, July 09, 2019

Murals being (re-)made, part 51: Fantasy Comics

Somehow we (I hope! :) haven't posted the murals at Fantasy Comics. In July of last year, I decided to fix that. I took photos… then forgot to post them.

It turned out to be a good mistake. Since then, I saw a blog with a photo of a Batman mural hidden behind a wall next to the entrance. When I went back to photograph it in May of this year, an artist was in the parking lot touching up the murals. It turned out to be Danny Martin; he's done a lot of other murals around town, too. He told me that he hadn't painted the Batman mural but that he'd done the rest.

The murals did look a bit worn last year. Let's look at those photos, then the same murals being touched up — and the Batman mural.

July 28, 2018

The first detail photo, below, shows a part of the mural off the left edge of the overall photo above:

May 16, 2019

(If you can't see the ladder and Danny in the photo below, you can — as always — click for a slideshow of larger views.)

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Location: 2595 N 1st Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA

Thursday, July 04, 2019

Rockets Red Glare

Found at Brawley's Restaurant.  They like to decorate the kitchen window for each holiday.
4th of July, 2019 painted by Gorman
Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.
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Location: 7848 E Wrightstown Rd, Tucson, AZ 85715, USA

Tuesday, July 02, 2019

New Palo Verde Pool mural this July

Here are three tweets from the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona, on Twitter, about a new neighborhood mural at the Palo Verde swimming pool. The dedication is July 25th:



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Location: 355 S Mann Ave, Tucson, AZ 85710, USA

Friday, June 28, 2019

Superheroes at Marymar

South wall of Marymar Raspados as seen from West Oklahoma St.  This mural replaces one previously posted to this blog on May 8, 2010.  See Superheroes and a rose 

Photographed on Feb. 6, 2019.


On June 2, 2016, the Tucson Foodie rated Marymar as one of the 19 best raspados spots in Tucson.  A Raspado is a Mexican-style shaved-ice drink topped with fruit, flavoring, syrup, and various condiments.

Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Update (March 18, 2022): This mural has been updated and there's a mural on the front too. See today's post Raspados Marymar Revisited.
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Location: 4766 S 6th Ave, Tucson, AZ 85714, USA

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Fun worldwide street art that fits in

A mural can show just about anything… for instance, the side of a building can have a person's face. But it can also play on its surroundings — like this cheerleader with pom-poms made from clumps of grass growing in a pavement crack:



For the past week, I've been following a bunch of street art on Twitter. Here's some of what I found of street art that fits in.
















































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Friday, June 21, 2019

Yerberia San Miguel

Herbal medicine store on S. 12th Ave. Palms and tarot cards are also read here.
The mural shows the Archangel Michael defeating Satan in battle.
On the right of the photo, note the symbolism of the cupped hands holding several people seated at a table.  Note the all-seeing eye of God, which also appears on the back of your one dollar bills.

Photographed on Feb. 6, 2019.
 Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.
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Location: 5151 S 12th Ave, Tucson, AZ 85706, USA

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

More mural photos in the AZ Daily Star

From time to time, the Arizona Daily Star runs an article with photos of murals. They ran another this week:

A look at some of Tucson's many beautiful murals

A lot of the murals are on this blog, but some aren't. (I don't need to tell you that Tucson has a lot of murals!)
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Location: Tucson, AZ, USA

Friday, June 14, 2019

A's Barber Shop

902 N. Grande Ave. in Barrio Hollywood.  Viewed from W. Ontario St.  Photographed on Dec. 11, 2018.
Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.
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Location: 902 N Grande Ave, Tucson, AZ 85745, USA

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

(Not) Mural Lovers, part 5: Howsabout movin' that junk?

OK, to be fair: I was downtown first thing on a Saturday morning (July 27, 2018). Maybe the planter was in front of the mural to accommodate a crowd the night before. But (what looked like) an air conditioner? Grumble, grumble. (Maybe I'd been out too late the night before. :) And, when I stopped by last week, things looked back to normal.
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Location: 318 E Congress St, Tucson, AZ 85701, USA

Friday, June 07, 2019

Owwwwry Park

August 22, 2018, I stopped by to see if the long mosaic mural at Oury Park has been repaired. There wasn't much sign of that: just the owww of missing tiles. (The swimming pool re-opened this year after being closed by budget cuts. KOLD 13 has the story: Pool at Oury Park to reopen after nine years.)

The mural was still pretty spectacular unless you stood up close. Here are earlier blog entries showing it in better shape:
  1. The Amazing, Fantastical, Beautiful Oury Park Mural
  2. The rise and fall of Oury Park's murals
I'll include a description of the photos, left to right. I took it from the Waymarking page The Oury Park mural - Tucson, AZ. Since it's called the Artist Statement and the Description, I'll hope that copying it here isn't a problem. The artists' website isn't working.) Let's start with a photo of the mural from across the playing field in front of it.

(As always, you can click for a larger view — in this case, a much larger view: It's a big mural! Also as always, if you want a full-size copy of any individual photos below, write me through the Contact Us form at the right edge. The photos are all in the public domain, though we appreciate credit.)

I'll try to include each part of the description underneath the photo it describes. They won't always fit neatly, so you may have to do some scrolling. Here goes:

Artist Statement: The murals are a reflection on the vital elements that helped shape Barrio Anita's past and future. The murals pay homage to the family members, leaders, and artists who nurture the people of Anita. These figures are intertwined with presentations of the water that once flowed through the neighborhood and which brought together a diverse population.

Description: The Barrio Anita Mural Project combines photography, mosaic and painted murals, metal features, and words into a comprehensive community art project expressing the past, present, and future of Barrio Anita, one of Tucson’s oldest neighborhoods with a population reflecting Tucson’s heritage including Native-American, Mexican-American, Chinese-American, African-American and Anglo-American residents.

The mural measures 14’ x 390’ and viewing from the left side moving to the right the mural shows the following:

The Woman of the River has lifeblood and energy running out of her vessel, themes and colors that continue through the rest of the piece. She is covered in flowers, and she feeds spiritual energy to the community. Discussions during early meetings with the Anita community inspired this figure from tales told of the neighborhood. The artists wanted to take these stories and imbed them in the history of the neighborhood. The water and blood that flow through the piece are the synergy that weaves the entire piece together, giving it symmetry. The model for this particular figure was the granddaughter of one of the Orie Tigers baseball league.

(Above is a closeup of the clothing of the Woman of the River.)

Rio Santa Cruz. This river was once a part of the neighborhood prior to the construction of Interstate 10. Water played an important role in the daily lives of the people of this community. There was once an irrigation ditch that ran through and under some of the homes here, and people from the neighborhood used to swim in it to cool off.

Dr. Laura Banks. Banks grew up in the neighborhood during the mid 20th century. At the time there was a greater African American population in Anita. She had to drop out of high school at one point but managed to go back and finish and she then continued on to the University of Arizona. She received a degree in education and then worked at Davis School. In 1980, she was selected as the first African American Assistant Superintendent in TUSD and retired from that position in 1982. Dr. Banks was also a prominent civil-rights leader in Tucson. Today there is a Tucson middle school named after her.


Davis School. This image These images show shows the students of the past and present running in front of the historic building.


Mr. Alfredo Valenzuela. “Mr. V” taught mariachi band courses at Davis School for over 25 years and still continues despite his retirement. He has inspired hundreds of student and professional musicians. His students carried the mariachi tradition throughout the community, and this is visually represented with the lifeblood pouring through his guitar, where it gains energy and continues through the mural.

The Heart and Hands. This central image in the mural is the visual representation of the community. The hands are supporting a glass heart, again adding to the overall symmetry of the piece. The blood and water that run through the piece converge on the heart, the community, as an essential part of the circulation of Barrio Anita.

Oury Park (now David Herrera & Ramon Quiroz Park). This image features the Rosas, the neighborhood’s women’s softball team, on the left, and the Tigers, the men’s baseball league, with David Herrera as the central figure. Herrera served as director of the Recreation Center in Barrio Anita and played an essential role in getting the neighborhood involved in sports and community outreach. Alisa Cortez sits on his shoulder, representing the current rec center students.

Frank Soto and his mother. The mural closes with this pair. The Sotos’ Apache heritage reminds the viewer that this area was once Apache land. Soto’s mother holds the same vessel seen in the beginning of the mural with the lifeblood and spirit of the neighborhood flowing into it. This representation not only seals the symmetry of the mural, it also serves as a reminder of her role as a medicine woman in the barrio.

The Waymarking page The Oury Park mural - Tucson, AZ ends with:
  • Artist: William Wilson & Joshua Sarantitus of Hozhographos Studios
  • Date: 2005
  • Media: Ceramic and glass tile, cast concrete, ecrete, steel and paint
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Location: 600 W St Marys Rd, Tucson, AZ 85701, USA

Tuesday, June 04, 2019

Dent Busters

Auto Body Shop on North Stone Ave. Painted in 2018 and photographed on Jan. 30, 2019. The muralist was Clint Tzu of Old Pueblo Signs.

Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Update (March 15, 2022): There's another mural along the back wall of their parking lot.
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Location: 2002 N Stone Ave, Tucson, AZ 85705, USA

Friday, May 31, 2019

Little mural painted for Patricia



As I was wandering through the Lost Barrio (a commercial area on a dead-end part of Park Avenue south of Broadway) on August 22, 2018, I spotted this little mural on a wall by the entrance to Tooley's Cafe. It seemed to have been painted around with new wall paint, as if it had been there for a while.

The caption was a bit faded out; I darkened it. It says “Painted for Patricia / In the year Two Thousand Ten / Francisco”

But who is Francisco? The artist's last name(s) seem to have been painted over. I remember a mural on South Meyer Avenue in the same style. It has a scroll signed “Francisco / 1990”. You can see it at the bottom of the May 31,2009 entry (just by chance, exactly ten years ago!) Marvelous Meyer. If you know whether they're the same artist, or what the artist's name is, please leave a comment below. (You can remain anonymous.)

Update (June 20, 2019): Thenks to David Aber for tracking down the artist. It's Francisco Franklin, a Tucson artist for 50 years. He sells other artwork, too; he's represented by Jane Hamilton Fine Art. His page on her website is janehamiltonfineart.com/franklin/.
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Location: 299 S Park Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Murals Being Made, Part 50: Davis Elementary main entrrance

I guess it's a good thing to have too much of a good thing — if it's murals, anyway. David Aber and I are swimming in a sea of (mostly, I think) acrylic paint these days. I've been going back to my photos from the past year or so, cross-checking to try to be sure I've posted everything.

On May 12, 2018, I stopped by mural-covered Davis Bilingual Elementary school to snap photos of Luis Gustavo Mena painting a doors at the school's main (south) entrance. He wasn't finished at the time I got there; I just noticed this as I was going through the photos.

I went back to the school for permission on May 15th (2019). The person I spoke with said that Mena (as he calls himself) is well-loved and has done a lot for the school. She pointed me toward his cafeteria mural and let me wander the school to find all the murals by students. I'll include all of those photos in a later blog entry (I promise :).

Let's start with the photo I took a year ago:

Next, the finished mural, followed by a closeup of Dolores Huerta:

The colored handprints are by students.
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Location: 500 W St Marys Rd, Tucson, AZ 85701, USA

Friday, May 24, 2019

Kon Tiki


Yes, that Kon Tiki restaurant. When I met Chris Andrews to get copies of his mural photos for this blog, I realized how many murals he's painted in this town.

You'll be seeing more of them from time to time on this blog in the next few months. Thanks, Chris.
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Location: 4625 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85711, USA
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