Monday, November 28, 2016

Rillito River Mural

Rillito River Park on N. Campell Ave. at the Rillito River.
The text in the mural is a Wendell Berry quote.
Photo taken on Sept. 24, 2016. Click on the photo for a larger image.
Also, here's a link to a much larger image on Flickr: Rillito River Mural
You can make it even larger and scrollable by clicking on the Flickr photo.
NOTE: May not work with all Browsers and/or Operating Systems.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Guadalajara Mexican Grill on Broadway

Just in time for Thanksgiving, here's a food mural located at 4901 E. Broadway Blvd.
The artist is Jos Villabrille.
Photographed May 28, 2016.

Update (January 29, 2017): I (Jerry) just added a new entry, due to go online February 17, 2017, called Guadalajara Mexican Grill on Prince.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Moth

Moth inside one of the bays at Smitty's Car Wash
Click for a larger image.  Photographed on 9/12/16.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Cars II

More murals of autos inside the bays of Smitty's Car Wash.



Photographed on Sept. 12, 2016.  Click on any photo for a slide show of larger images.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Cars I (more to come)

Murals of autos inside the bays at Smitty's Car Wash.




Photographed on 9/12/16.  Click on any photo for a slide show of larger and sharper images.

Friday, November 11, 2016

The Warrior

South end of Smitty's Car Wash.
Click for a larger and sharper image.
Photographed on Sept. 12, 2016

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Storage Shed at Smitty's

Two murals on a storage shed at Smitty's Car Wash.
Bad Attitude

UFT (Unidentified Flying Taco)
Photographed on Sept. 12, 2016.  Click on either photo for larger images.

Monday, November 07, 2016

Murals being made, part 41: Cyfi’s Día de los Muertos

Rock “Cyfi” Martinez has a long history in Tucson painting all styles of murals. You've probably seen his gigantic new work just off 6th Street, part of the Downtown Murals Project.

Three nights ago, Friday night the 4th, he and the neighborhood just south of Mercado San Agustín inaugurated a new mural that's almost as big. It's like two murals in one. The main scene is the (married) Mexican couple of artists, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, dancing. Behind them are parts taken from Rivera's famous mural Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda, which is located at the Museo Mural Diego Rivera in Mexico City.

We'll take a look at Rock's finished mural, the mural in Mexico City, some closeups of each, then a series of photos of Rock's mural being painted. First, the finished mural at dusk (with a table in front of it — part of the celebration, but also to help show the size of this mural):


Next, a photo of Rivera's mural. I took it from the balcony above the mural. (Like always, you can click for a larger view.)
You probably won't see the similarities without some closeups. Near the left edge of Rivera's mural, just to the right of the balloons:

Now the same part of Rock's mural:

In the background, instead of the Alameda Central (a big Mexico City park), is a Sonoran Desert silhouette.

The rest of Rock's mural isn't taken as directly from Diego's. Here's the middle of Rivera's. In front at the left is Diego. Behind him, Frida:

Next, Cyfi's. The man tipping his hat is smaller, more in the background. Frida and Diego are dancing, and Rivera is holding an artist's palette under one arm:

Rock added a cactus in Frida's hair. I think it's a part of his Cactus People series. Another is the Agave Lady in the 6th Avenue mural (see the start of this entry). A third is Mayahuel, the Goddess of Agave, in his 2014 mural on CostLess Auto Parts. You can photos of that mural on this blog, as well as on Rock's website.

Amazing mural, isn't it? I hope the news reaches the museums dedicated to Diego and to Frida in Mexico City!

Finally, here are some photos of the mural being made. On October 23, Rock is at the middle of a hydraulic lift, painting the left edge with a man who's learning mural-painting from him.

The center of the mural is finished more than the edges:

On October 26th, Rock is at work by himself. It's hot:

He's doing fast work! Three days after the previous set of photos, a lot of the detail looks basically finished:

November 4th, it's time to celebrate. The lot in front of the mural is filling with tables, chairs, and guests (most, I'd guess, from the neighborhood). And, of course, there's the mural. Here are photos of the left, right and center:

Friday, November 04, 2016

Cabrini Neighborhood

Two walls of a residence at 3061 N. Cardi Ave. have very interesting murals.  Here they are:

Entire mural on west wall along alley behind residence.
Half of above mural.
Continuation of above mural.
North wall of the residence along E. Presidio Rd.
Click on any photo for a slide show of larger images.

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

Holladay Elementary

I photographed these tile murals on May 7, 2016 at the Holladay Fine Arts Magnet Elementary School:

Hands

"Quilt Tile Mural"

"Red Hawks Take Flight"

The last mural has a buried message.  Can you find it?
Click on any photo for a slide show of larger images.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Ghoul

I found this mural on Aug. 14, 2016  behind Liquor Express on S. Park Ave.  I can't decide whether the tags are part of the mural or added afterward.  What do you think?

Definitely a Halloween theme with crosses in the background and a Ghoul and carved pumpkin in the foreground.  Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Friday, October 28, 2016

Red Hot

Photographed July 31, 2016 at the Speedway Center, a strip mall on the SW corner of Speedway and Swan.  It can only be seen from the alley behind the Center.


If you can interpret the writing on the mural, please leave a comment.  I interpret the initials in the upper left to be STP.  It may be the tag of the graffiti crew "Sworn To Paint".  Or,...something else entirely.

As usual, click on the photo for a larger and sharper image

The mural was painted in June or July of 2016.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Front of Miles ELC

Here's the front entrance of the Miles ELC (Exploratory Learning Center) on May 1st:

Monday, October 24, 2016

Blossom Head Skull Stars

(Or is the bottom something like an agave instead of a blossom?)

I found this on 7th Street, at the corner of Ferro Avenue, on May 1st.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Youth Employment

Nice mosaic at Pima County's Youth Employment One-Stop Center located at 2323 S Park Ave.

Photographed on Nov. 3, 2015.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Beep Beep

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner found on Sept. 10, 2016.

Click for a larger image.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Friday, October 14, 2016

Ben Maestas

Joy Maestas sent photos of murals by her son Ben Maestas in her back yard. Though we don't show murals on private property, Joy told me that you can see the murals from outside.

First, a long stretch of murals around two walls:
And two more:
If you'd like to get in touch with Ben, his phone number is (520)302-8038 and his email is bamairauto@gmail.com.

Thank you, Joy (and Ben)!

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Murals being made, part 40: Paulo Freire Freedom School entryway

The murals blog is back after a long weekend.

Today, the second set of photos of CITY Center for Collaborative Learning. Santo Nicotera sent photos of two murals at Paulo Freire Freedom School. Last time, we showed a mural downstairs.

Santo went above and beyond by sending 20 photos showing students painting a mural by the entryway! I can't show all 20 here — partly because I won't show students' faces without permission — but these should give you a good idea. Let's get started!

Thanks again, so much, Santo!