Revenge of the 35mm cameras?

Mark Fleming found this mural of an army (navy?) of 35-millimeter cameras:

He wrote: “A flotilla of old 35MM cameras bobbing down a river and headed into the sunset (N Echols Av, just north of E University Blvd) no sign of the artist.”

(Is this a retreat from the onslaught of digital cameras and phones? Or are they simply headed to port for repairs? :)

Thanks, as always, Mark!

Catch Jos at work! (Murals being made, part 16)

Even after seeing close to a thousand Tucson murals, I still seem to recognize new ones right away. Yesterday, eastbound on Broadway, I saw two. One was on a shuttered store; that's coming later. What really caught my attention was this mural, on the west side of Good Ole Tom's, 6305 E. Broadway.

This part of the mural seems mostly finished to me. (I tried to catch the artist, Jos — from Murals by Jos — to ask... but he'd just left.) As of sunset last night, other sides of the building were mostly empty white space. So, if you like to watch muralists at work, check the northeast corner of Broadway & Wilmot in the next few days. The district manager told me that they're hoping to have the murals done at the same time the store is ready for its grand opening.

Update (April 26, 2013): I've just posted photos of the murals being painted over these two months in murals being made, part 18.

Paul Bunyan (not a mural) Yarn-Bombed!

Tucson's famous Paul Bunyan statue — at the northwest corner of Stone and Glenn — has a softer touch these days: a knitted scarf. (Maybe it's keeping Paul toasty on these chilly evenings?)

Yarn-bombing a scuplture isn't exactly a “mural.” (It isn't even sort of a mural! :) But I wanted to spread the word now before the mighty lumberman shakes off this sissy scarf... or it falls off.

(By the way, once I re-launch TucsonArt.info, it'll have a section with photos of public art. That's where this sculpture belongs. Stay tuned!)

Thanks to Carlye Dundon for the heads-up and the photos!

Update (March 22, 2013): Paul's scarf is unwrapped. (Maybe, now that temps are in the 80's, it was getting too warm for him? :) Here's a photo:

Sunshine Mile mural unveiling Saturday

The Arizona Daily Star article below tells about a new mural by Jude Cook. It anchors the businesses along Broadway between Campbell and Country Club that are re-dubbing themselves “The Sunshine Mile.” Here's the story:

“The Sunshine Mile”: Tucson merchants hope to revive old name for stretch of Broadway

The mural unveiling will be part of the event, Saturday, March 2, between noon and 5 pm.

Here's more information from a message on a Google Group, forwarded by a friend of mine. The group is private (members-only), but the message seemed like one the group would want to spread...

Celebrate and Cultivate The Sunshine Mile

Broadway Blvd. between Campbell and Country Club
Saturday, March 2nd, Open House 1-5pm, Festivities 12-5pm

Imagine the Possibilities and ask questions on Saturday, March 2nd from 1-5pm at an Open House at 2419 E. Broadway (the former Panda Buffet) to showcase the property which is available for rent to non-profit organizations for 25% of market value. Information about other such properties will also be available and representatives from The Broadway Coalition, the City of Tucson, and the Citizens Task Force (responsible for presenting a roadway design for Broadway to Mayor and Council) will be available to discuss being a part of the uniquely diverse and historic Sunshine Mile.

From noon-5, The Sunshine Mile Re-launch kicks off at 2610 E. Broadway with live music and an unveiling of the newly painted Sunshine Mile mural. Ward 6 Council Member Steve Kozachik and Demion Clinco of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation will be in attendance to say a few words. Select businesses between Campbell and Country Club will offer special discounts, refreshments, demonstrations and other surprises in honor of the day which also marks the start of a month long Scavenger Hunt making visitors eligible for fabulous prizes.
The Sunshine Mile is essential in creating a vibrant community. It embodies so much of what makes us proud to call Tucson our home, and its architectural heritage is an irreplaceable regional asset -- come celebrate and cultivate it.

Contacts:

Broadway Coalition-
Sunshine Mile Merchants- Jessica Shuman, Business Owner, Kismet 207-9994

Update (March 9, 2013): I've just added the photo. I snapped it on the morning of March 1st.

Maybe a mural, part 42: SCS has a heart

On Christmas Day, I drove past the SCS Tile store at 3394 E. 22nd and spotted a heart painted on the east wall:

A closer look (you can click on the photo for a larger view) showed what looked like a graffiti tag underneath the heart. I'm guessing that someone tagged the building, and someone else (the owhers, maybe?) covered the tag with a heart.

Some people wouldn't call this a “mural,” so I've made this part of our occasional “maybe a mural” series.

Update (March 17, 2013): When I rode by a couple of weeks ago, I saw that the heart had been covered by a new tag. :^(

Was this mural stolen?

This is the Tucson Murals Project, but from time to time we show a mural outside of town. This story is about a mural in a northern part of London, England, that's probably by the famous street artist Banksy. (He keeps quiet about his art.) The mural was removed from the building; it turned up at an auction house in Miami, Florida, ready to be auctioned off. The sale was stopped at the very last minute, even though Scotland Yard and the art auction house insisted that there was nothing illegal about selling the mural.

Here are a few news stories that I (quickly) found about the controversy. They have photos of the mural, the empty space, and what popped up around it:

• Banksy Haringey mural auctioneers ‘will cancel sale if protesters prove theft' (Metro, London)
• Auction in US halted after Haringey residents campaigned for artwork to be returned to shop it was removed from (The Observer, London)
• Banksy Mural Taken From London Wall Withdrawn in Miami (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

So, who “owns” street art? The artist? The public? The owner of the building where it was painted? (Or maybe the tenant behind the wall?) Please feel free to tell us in the comment box below.

Shark! on 22nd

Mural-hunter extraordinaire Warren V snapped a hammerhead shark just east of the Mariscos Chihuahua restaurant on 22nd Street:

I followed Warren's lead and found the mural. Here's a map with a satellite view (the mural is at the green arrow), and here's my snap:

(Check the details on the back side of the building near the mural.)

You'll also find Warren's photo at (or near) the top of his blog, www.TouchTheWind.org. Thanks, as always, Warren!

Saludos de Arequipa, Perú

This beautiful city (the central part is made of local white stone) is surrounded by snow-capped volcanoes. It's also a "foodie" paradise (lots of great restaurants!). Here are two simple murals I've spotted as I walked around town:

The sandbags are leftovers from the terrible floods that hit the city a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get the exact location of the store, but it's pbobably along Calle Paucarpata, not far east of the Plaza de Armas (the main square).

This one was on near a street corner. Again, I didn't get the exact location, but it's probably off of Calle 1 northeast of Lambramani — maybe on Calle 8. The vertical yellow area on the corner says:

Promo 2008
United Ways
Prop. (?) Laura Espinoza M.

If you'd like to know the exact locations, both photos are geotagged — as most photos on the blog are these days. (The latitude and longitude are recorded in the image file, and you can use a geotag viewer to find the location on a map.)

Next, back to our regularly scheduled Tucson murals!

Update (May 3, 2015): I found out last year that Blogger removes geotagging data from photos. It's for privacy, I guess, when people don't realize they're showing the location of their home (or whatever) through a geotag. If you want to know where one of the photos on the blog was taken, send me an email. I can send you the coordinates or the original photo.

Murals being made, part 15: Back@BLX

In the past half a year or so, we've posted lots of murals from BLX Skate Shop at the corner of 7th & Toole.

On January 20, I rolled by (on my bike — not a skateboard :) and noticed that the mural space was blank:

There was just a hint of the previous mural (which you can see at the end of our December 30th post) showing through.

I talked to a man who, I think, was one of the owners. He said they invite a new guest artist to paint the corner — on the 7th Street side, near Toole — every month. (Apparently all of the artists work BLOCKS into their designs — though I didn't ask him that.) He also pointed out that the mural is “skateable”... check out that lip at the bottom of it. (BLX is a skate shop, so why not a skateable mural?)

At dusk on January 26th, I was on the way to dinner with a friend when I rolled by the corner (in my car)... and saw a muralist painting. I pulled over, of course. :) It was ROGO (Rich Rogowski) starting a new mural. He'd drawn sketches on plastic slides, and he had an overhead projector shining them on the wall, one by one, to let him paint the outlines. Here are Rich and the crew:

Another photo from later that evening, taken by one of the crew:

The afternoon of the 27th:

When I rode by on the afternoon of the 28th, I could tell that Rogo had been out there the evening before (with his projector):

Then I left town for a week. When I got back, I checked the mural and found that it all seemed to be there...

...so I emailed Rogo to ask if he was planning to do anything else. Then I left town again. :) He emailed me the following photos on February 4th.

First, he's painting areas of white around the figures:

Next, he's adding green and red. This next photo looks like it was taken with a fisheye lens... a way to catch the whole scene without the power pole in front, and also fun!

Here's the finished mural (at least, the last photo Rogo sent of it... maybe he's still tweaking it as I write this from Perú):

If you haven't seen it in person, check it out soon — before it's replaced by next month's mural!

Murals being made, part 14: WintaFresh 2013

This year's urban art extravaganza was February 2nd at the usual place: the lot just south of Und1sputed Fitness at 1240 N. Stone. Before the day of painting started, last year's work was covered with a plain coat, ready for the artists. The walls are divided into areas where a single artist — or, in some cases, several artists working together — create something new.

Before the photos, here's a video I shot to give you an idea of the scene. The camera is hand-held, and the video is unedited, but at least it has stereo sound!



(You can also view that video on the YouTube website. And here's an audio slideshow featuring T.H.K., a Tucson graffiti crew.)

Now, on to the photos.

Update (January 7, 2014) Mark Fleming came back to shoot photos of some new murals here in WintaFresh 2013 revisited.

What Winta Fresh 2013 painted over...

... was (mostly) created during Winta Fresh 2012. (If you haven't heard of Winta Fresh, here's our recent post about it. You can also use the search box at the right side of this blog.)

On January 23, I decided to walk along the length of the empty lot (just south of Und1sputed Fitness at 1240 N. Stone) and snap photos all along the two walls. These are mostly unedited, but I hope they'll help to preserve the art that was replaced on February 2nd.

Here's the north wall (the south wall of the gym) from the east end:

and the same wall from the west end:

Now, from west to east along that wall:

I couldn't help photographing the man at the bottom of that last photo (an exhausted art lover, I guessed, overwhelmed by so much creativity :). Homeless, down and out, or whatever he was, it felt wrong to leave him as a speck there, so I snapped a closeup (with my zoom lens) and I've blurred his face here:

Back to the northern wall — the eastern half:

Now the south wall. Here's a view from the west (right) side:

And the south wall murals, starting at the left (east) side... these works are a lot smaller than the north wall, so there are more to photograph:

If you painted any of these in 2012 and would like to tell us about what you painted (you can stay anonymous if you'd like), you can leave a comment below. Please tell us the number of the photo — which you can get by hovering your mouse over the photo, and a caption like “Click for a larger view of photo 19” should pop up. (If your work has been trashed by taggers, and you have a better photo, please email it to me and I'll add it.) Thanks!

If any of you artists or readers want any originals, let me know. As always, I've kept high-resolution copies of every photo; I'd be glad to share the ones you need — and clean them up first, as I do for most other photos on this blog. To make time for posting the Winta Fresh 2013 photos, I didn't edit most of these.