Friday, April 12, 2013

Park Place Chalk Art Festival, part 2 of 3


This past weekend, April 6 & 7... way over at the west side (the northwest corner) of Park Place Mall... past all of the professional artists making chalk murals along the north side of the mall... was the community participation mural.

The first thing you'd see on your way over was this little chalk mural for some community organizations — at the west end of the main north wall of the mall (before Macy's):


Then, on the west side (north of Macy's) was the community participation mural:


I came back mid-morning on Monday the 8th to photograph it and the kidZONE murals.

First, at the north end of the wall (a construction wall around a new VisionWorks store that's coming soon), you'd find this sign showing the overall design of the mural:



"Travel the road through our commuinty," it says, "From Saguaro Nat. Park to Kitt Peak." There's a winding walkway (which you could actually walk on — if you have small feet, at least — though I'm not sure everyone realized that).

Below are photos of the mural, from north to south along the wall:

Toward the end, you can see places where the walkway was washed away — maybe by the same kind of drains that washed away Michael Schwartz' mural?

More photos are coming in Part Three — this weekend, I hope. (My income taxes come first, though. :)

Notes about the photos

  • They're in the public domain. I've cut the size and detail, though, for posting online. If any you'd like an original photo, please send me email. (If you use the photo somewhere online or for profit, I'd suggest asking the artist's permission first — and giving their name so they get credit for their hard work.)
  • Most of these are geotagged. So you can use geotagging software to find the exact location of the art.
Update (April 14, 2013): Here is today's entry, Part 3

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Park Place Chalk Art Festival, part 1 of 3



This 800th post on the Tucson Murals Project (Happy Birthday to Us! :) shows part of the second annual chalk art festival, April 6th & 7th. Held at Park Place Mall, it's organized by SAACA and bankrolled by merchants — as well as Park Place. (You can see last year's festival there.)

Last weekend, when I posted my announcement of the second day, I'd only seen the professional artists on the north side of the mall — and some of the Community Participation mural. I didn't realize how big the festival would be! I ended up with more than 150 photos — including every bit of the kidZONE art. So I decided to wait until today to post the first part; I'm aiming to post the rest by the end of the week.

Let's go! Here are the works by professional artists, from east to west along the north side of the mall. First I show each work as it was being made, mid-afternoon Saturday the 6th. Next I show the finished work, mid-morning Monday. As always, you can click on a photo to get a larger view.

Marisa Salazar



Park Place Merchants sponsored Marisa's work. Her email address is b1stmrs12@yahoo.com (click there or, if you type the address, both of the "1" are the number one, not the letter l).

Matt Cotten



Matt's website is www.PuppetsAmongUs.com. His sponsor was Arizona Virtual Academy—Insight Academy of Arizona.

Jamie Tooley



There's more of Jamie's work at www.TooleyCreations.com.

Chris Leon



You can reach Chris at artworx.leon@gmail.com. Park Place Merchants sponsored his mural.

Martin Quintanilla



Martín's phone number is (520)333-9999. His work shows traditions of Michoacán, México. The Southern Arizona Attractions Alliance sponsored him.

Michael Schwartz



Michael's personal website is www.MichaelBSchwartz.com. (He's also the Executive Director of the Tucson Arts Brigade.) His sponsor was RBC Wealth Management — Tom Binder.

See that little hole in the wall above Michael's finished work in the second photo above? It's some sort of drain. While I was there on Monday morning, workers opened a valve and water washed away parts of the mural. There's video of the sad scene on the TucsonArtInfo YouTube channel; click there or on this photo...

(Here's a larger version of the photo.) Parts of some murals farther west of Michael's had already been washed away; I'm not sure if others met the same fate later. Chalk art isn't supposed to be permanent, but I wished the workers could have used a hose to direct water around the mural... or the organizers had placed every work away from the drains!

Susan Kay Johnson



Her website is SusanKayJohnson.com. NexCare Urgent Care supported this work of Susan's.

Wesley Fawcett Creigh



To see and read about more of her work, visit WesleyFawcettCreigh.wordpress.com and PaintingByNumbersProject.wordpress.com. This mural was sponsored by Park Place Merchants.

Kati Astraeir



Kati wasn't there when I took the first photo (or the second photo!) above, but I found her website www.KatiAstraeir.com with a Web search. The work on her home page is quite different than this chalk mural, but I recognized her style because met her outside Solar Culture Gallery on Christmas Day — when she and Steven Eye showed me their amazing rotating wooden sculpture.

This chalk mural was sponsored by merchants here at Park Place.

More photos are coming...

...in Part Two and Part Three!



Notes about the photos

  • They're in the public domain. I've cut the size and detail, though, for posting online. If any you'd like an original photo, please send me email. (If you use the photo somewhere online or for profit, I'd suggest asking the artist's permission first — and giving their name so they get credit for their hard work.)
  • Most of these are geotagged. So you can use geotagging software to find the exact location of the art.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Park Place Chalk Art Festival continues today!

Tucson’s second annual Chalk Art Festival started yesterday at Park Place Mall. It's sponsored by the Mall, as well as by merchants there and in other parts of Tucson. Professional artists are making chalk murals on the north side of the mall. At the northwest corner, there's also a “Kids’ Zone” (where anyone can make chalk art... my guess is that you only need to be a kid at heart to “chalk” there):

These two “kids” had just spilled their Jamba Juice, and (it turns out that) it doesn't stick to chalk... they found that they could blow it off their mural. :)

I’ll post lots of photos here on Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, head over to Park Place! The artists are supposed to be there in person today from 11 am to 3 pm.

Update (April 10, 2013): The first of three pages of photos starts in today's entry, Park Place Chalk Art Festival, part 1 of 3.

Saturday, April 06, 2013

The pets of Dunbar/Spring

On the southeast corner of 9th & University is this community bulletin board for the Dunbar/Spring neighborhood:

(The other side has announcements, etc.) I snapped it on April 16, 2012.

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Mural Heaven at Harelson

The front (south) side of Harelson Elementary, 826 W. Chapala Drive, is covered with murals. Some are far enough away that you can only see them well when the school is open — or with binoculars. I had a zoom lens when I stopped by on April 15, 2012:









There might be more murals that I couldn't see when campus was closed. If you know of other work here at Harelson, please tell me!

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Sun and Moon over Santa Cruz Park

On the northeast corner of St. Marys & Riverside is this entrance to the Santa Cruz River Park:

The mural has Santa Cruz River Park and Dedicated May 16, 1992. Here's a closer look (you can click for an even larger view):

I didn't spot an artist name, though, when I took the photo on April 11, 2012.