Superb on Sixth

The building at 316 E. 6th has murals on front:

and back:

May in December

It's hard to keep up with all of the murals around Tucson! Tonight and tomorrow (mid-December!) I'll finally post the last of my photos from May.

Here's the Fathead Shop at 513 N. Fourth Avenue:

(Solar) Culture changes (again)

Some murals change; others stay the same. One that keeps changing is in front of Solar Culture Gallery at 31 E. Toole. We posted a photo from May, 2009 in Culture changes. Here's the view on November 23, 2010.

A cut above

When I opened my copy of the Arizona Daily Star on November 27th, the front-page photo of a mural caught my eye. The headline underneath was Icon of hope has faded, but barber brings it back.

Three years ago, Erik S. emailed Randy photos of the mural as it was before — on the west side of what was then Menlo Park Video. Now the building is a barber shop named Money Cutz, and the mural is freshly painted. The article quoted Eddie Urias telling the story of growing up in his neighborhood, Menlo Park, how the mural was a bright spot between two liquor stores at that corner: Grande and Congress. This year, as the shop owner, he wanted to restore the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe. What a great story!

I mentioned the article to Melo King. She told me that she'd caught a photo of the mural as it was being repainted, on October 21 of this year:

Fast-forward to this afternoon, December 6, when I drove by to see the mural. The shop was closed, so I got this view without any cars:

If you're on the west side of town, if you're passing by on Interstate 10, or if you're downtown (just on the other side of I-10) — well, or wherever you are — stop by to see this beacon of hope in the neighborhood. And if you need a barber, come inside to meet the owner and thank him for what he's done — definitely a cut above.

Update (August 7, 2011): Here's a photo of the back side of the store.

Adios para siempre...

...though it will live on with collectors — and in all of our memories. Come to the despedida on December 19 for David Tineo's mural at the Tucson Museum of Art. It will be removed next month. (Randy's post about it in 2006 was "You Could Spend Hours...") Here's the announcement and photo from the museum's e-news:

Farewell to an Icon
Sunday, December 19, 3:00 - 5:00 pm

Join us for Mexican hot chocolate and pastries as we bid a fond farewell to the mural Nuestro futuro/Nuestras raices humana and honor artist David Tineo's contribution to this iconic work of art. The mural will be de-installed in January.

Bring your mementos and memories to this despedida and share your stories about the mural with the artist. Filmmaker Angela Soto will be documenting the event and de-installation of the mural.

Photo by Carter Allen (click for a larger view)

There are more details, and mural history, on the museum's press release (a PDF file). Here are parts of it:

Unveiled in 1992 as part of CARA Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, a temporary exhibition celebrating the Chicano art movement that traveled nationally, the mural was created by applying paint directly to untreated plywood. Originally intended as a short term installation, the long term exposure to Tucson’s weather has made it unstable and a public safety risk. “The mural was commissioned by the Museum and made with the intention of having it on display for a few months,” says Ann Seirferle-Valencia, Curator of Latin American Art, “although we have tried to stabilize it over the years, the plywood has warped to the point that it is separating from the frame. It is with David Tineo’s blessing, and in the best interest of the art and safety of our visitors, that we have decided to take it down.”

“It has fulfilled its purpose more than I could have expected,” says David Tineo, “It’s a piece of history and has been embedded in many hearts. I see this as a transition from public display back into the community.” The mural will be cut into sections and framed by Galeria Mistica, Tineo’s gallery representative and the home of much of his work. Once framed, the sections will be offered for sale to benefit the students at the Museum School for the Visual Arts. “The most important thing to me is that it benefit the kids at the school,” states Tineo.

I'll hope to see you there on the 19th.

(Update: Several Arizona Daily Star articles say that Antonio Pazos worked on the mural too. There's more information in the East Valley Tribune story Tucson mural, artist battle ravages of time.)

Mary's street

Murals like these are the kind that keep me hunting for more. I found them at the end of May, just west of Country Club around a home at 2939 E. Monte Vista. The top one is titled Mary's Wonderfully Whimsical Ways:

The second mural also looks like something Mary painted, doesn't it? Some day I'll head back to the neighborhood to see if I can get the story. (If you know, please tell me...)

Update (December 24, 2012): Thanks to the comment that Mary's daughter Crystal left recently (see below), we've got the story of the bottom mural. The top mural of a woman with paintbrushes must be Mary herself! I've also posted more details today.

Studio 220, Got All Your Marbles?

Thanks to Melo King for this photo of 220 E. Congress. The sign says Studio 220, but there's also a business named Got All Your Marbles? that sells interchangeable marble jewelry.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you mural lovers!

Update (August 4, 2013): Mark Fleming just sent another photo of this same mural. It seems to be in good shape (which quite a few murals aren't these days: many are being trashed by taggers... sigh). I'm guessing that its position above the store's window helps protect it.

Farewell, Print Well

Something about this humble image — a mural in the style of the store's front sign — caught my eye. I shot the picture back in August, but didn't post it until today. And now the Print Well store, formerly at 2310 E. Broadway, has moved to the back of the building. The sign on front is gone, and mural (and the tag) are covered with a fresh coat of white paint.

Exceptional elementary

Howell Elementary School has two mural-covered buildings near the corner of Longfellow & Holmes (just south of 5th Avenue). Classes weren't in session while I was there in May, and the gate was open:

The walls are covered with desert scenes of critters making music:

Above them all is the slogan "Opening Minds Through The Arts":

Down under (Speedway)

Mural-spotter extraordinaire Melo King sent photos of two longggg murals by the bus stops/underpasses along Speedway at the U of A. The first is over Olive, between Mountain and Euclid:

The second is over Highland, between Mountain and Cherry:

Update: As always, you can click on an image for a larger view. Use your browser's "Back" button to return. And you might want to try that on the last photo above. On February 16, 2011, while I was waiting for a bus at the stop next to the mural, I spotted some UFOs that weren't on Melo's original picture. Did the original muralist add them, or was it a clever tagger? I snapped the photo below...


Update (January 21, 2016): For more-detailed photos of the Olive mural more than five years later, see today's entry Over Olive again.

(Not a) ratty mural

This fun mural fits the business as well as the building. It's at Desert Rat Truck Centers, 3705 S. Palo Verde:

Beautiful mural in a surprising spot

Melo King spotted this wild and gorgeous wraparound mural at 901 E. 12th Street, behind the Sonoran Plant Nursery — (which is behind the OfficeMax store on Broadway, just east of the Diamondback Bridge).

She took the second photo after asking permission to come inside the fence. The muralist was Martin Q. Chamanacux. What a great find!

Around the corner...

...from the huge mural on one side of the building, Paseo Redondo, east of Granada... is another wall with two murals that Melo King photographed. First, at the right side of the wall, a continuation of the previous mural:

The rest of this wall has a big graffiti mural:

Update (April 15, 2022): A new mural covers the whole wall. See it in today's post Art near Tucson Museum of Art.

More from Melo

A week ago I mentioned Melodi King — also known as Melo. She's working on a map of downtown Tucson murals that could grow into a much bigger project. If it all works out, I'll let you know about it here!

In the meantime, she's been revisiting downtown mural sites and taking more photos. Here's a scene from Fourth Avenue: Creative Ventures at 522 N. 4th:

At left side, you can see part of Breakout Studios, 526 N. 4th. Earlier this year, I posted a photo of the mural on front of the then-vacant building. Now the building is neatly painted, but without the mural. Things change...

Update (September 28, 2012): Here are more photos.

Big Brothers Big Sisters needs a muralist...

...to help this weather-beaten mural on the Toole Avenue side of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Angel Youth Center:

It's at the corner with Alameda. (The shadows are from early-morning light.)

Here's the same mural back in July, 2006.

Updates: On Saturday, June 25, 2011, Joe Pagac painted a new mural. The new mural is in our June 30 post.

Armory Park Center

Here's another of Melo King's photos: the front of the Armory Park Center on 5th Avenue.

Look up!

Melo King sent this photo of the top of one of the new buildings downtown. It's east of the Ronstadt Center, just north of the corner of Arizona Avenue and Congress:

Bicycles on stage

My May 2009 post Murals past and present showed murals on both sides of the outdoor stage at Winsett Park, 316 N. 4th. Melo King noticed that I hadn't shown the mural behind the stage itself. Here's her photo:

Country in the city, part 2

Last year's post Country in the city showed the mural on the south side of the Tucson Yoga building at 12th Street and 4th Avenue. For some reason, I didn't include the mural on the east side of that same building. Here's part of it — and parts of two bicycle-parking loops:

The photo is from Melodi King (better known as Melo). She's building a clickable map of Tucson murals. I'll post more of her photos next. Thanks, Melo!

Next along the block...

...from the Dunbar/Spring Neighborhood Garden murals is this mural in the neighborhood playground, a bit north of 11th Avenue & University. It's too long for one photo, but here are the center and right sections:

Creative Costumes...

...has this mural on their front wall, so you'll only catch a glance as you drive by. Instead, pull in at 4220 East Speedway and have a closer look.

(Another way to get closer is by clicking on the photo. To return to the blog, use your browser's "Back" button.)

Fish and feet

Here's an unusual mural. It's at Speedway Veterinary Hospital, 3736 East Speedway. (The dark part at the right side is a tree's shadow.)

Video: The Tucson Murals Project

Hidden but worth the trip

If anyone in Tucson should know that you can find murals anywhere, I should. So, last May, as I was driving along East Pinal Vista after a visit to Utterback Middle School, I looked in the vacant lot south of me and saw...

...this mural. All I had was my cell phone camera, which couldn't shoot a photo wide enough to capture the whole scene. Next time!

The mural is on the opposite side of a wall behind the homes along Sunland Vista, just south of the corner with East Pinal Vista. (The homes along Sunland Vista are behind the mural. To find the mural, drive west along Pinal Vista, pass Sunland Vista, and, a few seconds later, as you see the vacant lot on your left, you'll spot the mural on the wall. Here's a satellite view. The spot where I took the photo is near the marker, on one of the roads through the vacant lot. If you can think of a better way to describe it, please let me know!)

Update (December 20, 2013): This may be one of the murals to be painted over; today's post has more information.

Welcome to Fourth Avenue!

Here are both sides of the mural on 4th Avenue at 7th Street. The merchants (and the tagger, I guess) welcome you to one of Tucson's most interesting streets for shopping... and for murals.

Garden murals...

...or mural garden? These photos are from University, just west of 11th, the Organic Community Garden and Mini-Nature Park, in the art-filled Dunbar/Spring neighborhood. I took them in May:

There are more murals — and more to see, too — in this part of the block. Next north on 11th, for instance, is the mural in the neighborhood playground.

Arizona Ave. from the archive

Tucson has so many murals (and I enjoy riding my bike so much) that I have a lot more mural photos than I have time to post. This week, here are two shots from May — on Arizona Avenue, just south of Congress. The murals — or the tags :( — may have changed in four months, so head for this alleyway and check for yourself!

How'd we miss this?

I use the table of murals to keep track of the more than 250 murals on this blog. (It's gotten so long that it's a bit confusing, but it still helps when I want to know whether a mural at a particular place is on the blog — and for you, I hope, when you want to know what murals are in an area.) Anyway, thousands of people walk and ride past this mural, at the corner of Broadway & Church, every day, but it wasn't on this blog... until now.

Update (October 1, 2014): Here's an article from the Tucson Citizen archive — May 30, 2008 — about the dedication of the mural: New downtown mural dedicated Friday.

Update (June 6, 2023): Elizabeth Bernays wrote on Facebook (with a photo) that the mural was removed for a new building:



I think it's been gone for some time, but I hadn't updated this post until now.

New woman, same spider

The last two weeks' posts have covered murals around Fourth Avenue — and changes in murals at the Tucson Museum of Art. This week, here's more on both of those themes.

First, Fourth Avenue. Back on May 17th, as I was headed for the finish of that week's Meet Me at Maynard's walk, I spotted this mural at Sacred Art and Piercing Studios, 315 N. 4th:

Last week, as I rode my bike along Fourth Avenue, I noticed that the mural had changed... or, at least, I thought it had. The spider looked the same, but the woman had changed... or had she? I snapped a photo and checked it against my backlog of mural photos when I got home. Sure enough:

Things change... murals do, too.

And that leads to the story of the murals painted by students at TMA's Museum School for the Visual Arts, covered here in our August 9th post. Two days ago — on Friday, only a week after I'd posted that story — I heard that a tagger had ruined the murals, and that the murals and the tags had just been erased. More students will get a chance for fame outside their school... but let's hope that thay'll have longer than these muralists were given before a tagger trashed their hard work. Here's a photo of the spot where the murals were: the (newly) red wall in the middle of the shot. Keep your eye on this wall!

Found around Fourth Ave. #3

What reason would United Fire Equipment Company have to hire a muralist to put a huge work like this in a storage area behind two fences and razor wire? (Maybe there used to be a different company or setup?) It's on the northeast corner of 7th St. & Arizona Ave. — though I took the photo from the corner of 7th Street & 5th Avenue. (To get this shot, I needed the maximum zoom setting on my little point-and-shoot camera.) When you go mural-hunting, bring your binoculars...

Found around Fourth Ave. #2

A block west of 4th Avenue, just north of 8th Street on Herbert (an alley), I spotted this painting on the back wall of a building, facing a trash bin.

Why would an artist put something this interesting in a spot where people have to track it down? I don't know... but it's one of the things that makes murals interesting to me.

Update, January 22, 2011: The mural is gone — behind one of the many new-looking rectangular patches of paint on the alley walls.

Found around Fourth Ave. #1

Fourth Avenue (the section between downtown and the U of A, that is) has so many murals that I'm always spotting something new. This mural has been at 526 N. 4th for a while, I guess — the store opened and closed before I caught this early-morning photo:

(Update: By October, the mural was gone. You can read more here.)

Update (January 15, 2015): BreakOut Studios has a new mural on the north side of their new location.