More of Kristin's gift

A week ago, we published Artistic gift to neighbors and passersby — a series of murals that a Tucsonan named Kristin commissioned along one side of her home. She invited me to stop by and see the murals myself. On October 8th, I did.

Here's the view south from Kennedy Street along Rubio Alley (a.k.a. Rubio Avenue):

I walked along the alley and found more murals. They're facing the alley, so I'm pretty sure they aren't private. From the back (south), looking toward the front side at Kennedy Street:

Don't miss the statuette in the agave patch at the foot of the above mural:

Here's the east side of that shed:

I walked back up the alley and back toward my car, which was parked along Kennedy. On the west side wall of her home was another small mural:

Thanks again, Kristin, for your artistic gift to neighbors and passersby!

Federal law protects murals

Thanks to the Tucson Arts Brigade for tweeting this Honolulu Star-Advertiser news article (via Twitter) about VARA, the Visual Artists Rights Act:

Two disputes over isle murals show potential legal and PR pitfalls

I haven't read any more. But if you're a muralist or know one, you might want to check into this yourself and/or spread the word.

Artistic gift to neighbors and passersby

A block west of the Downtown Clifton Hotel mural, owners of a home have commissioned three murals on the home's side facing the alley. (That's Rubio Alley, which Google Maps calls Rubio Avenue.) Kristin has written us twice: once with the first two photos below, then with the third photo.

Here's what she wrote in the two messages:

We had these murals painted on the side of our house facing Rubio alley in Barrio Viejo.

The image of the virgin was painted by our very good long time friend Raechel Running. She is a photographer, writer, illustrator, and visual artist who hails from Flagstaff and now resides in Barrio Viejo in Tucson just around the corner from us! Her works include covering the greater southwest and the US/Mexico borderlands.

The second mural is a portrait of Artist and poet Jim Harrison that we commissioned just after his death in April 2016. It was created by a great long time friend from Flagstaff, Jaybyrd Willison. Jaybyrd has a colorful history (literally) painting portraits in oil, being an outlaw biker and no gooder-turned-philosophical-hermit and writer.

…

We have added to our collection as well since I emailed you last. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. We continue to commission new work and will hopefully have another in progress soon. I have attached one of the murals with the artist Danny Martin standing next to it.

Google Street View shows more art on the front of their home (facing Kennedy). Fabulous!

Thanks very much, Kristin. I'm looking forward to stopping by and seeing the next mural.

Update (October 15, 2017): There are four more murals to see: More of Kristin's gift.

Magnificent mural in Memphis

When I'm away from my Tucson home, I usually end up finding some spectacular murals. Although this blog is about Tucson, I'm also glad to share a few photos of murals in other places.

As I was driving north along 2nd Street — to see a home-turned-museum in Memphis along the former Underground Railroad — I spotted this mural:

The words are familiar here in Memphis — an important city in the US Civil Rights struggle. But I also liked this mural for the rainbow colors and for the painterly way that the letters are partly covered by dripping paint.

(I wonder if the drips partly covering the words symbolizes some Americans still struggling for their freedom? If you go to Memphis, I'd really recommend the National Civil Rights Museum.)

Mena repaints Roskruge mural (our 1,300th post)

This blog started on July 12, 2006. This is the 1300th entry since then… most are murals,but some are news and announcements. We have plenty more murals waiting to go online… please stay tuned!

Long-time Tucson artist Luis Mena has been here much longer than the blog! He's still painting murals — as well as sculpting and other work, he told me recently. One of his latest projects was restoring his mural on the back wall of the Roskruge Elementary and Bilingual Middle School auditorium stage. It's one of at least two murals he's painted in the school over the years. You can see them by clicking through the list below.

The top mural in the first page below is the auditorium stage mural during October, 2016, as restoration started. See the blank white band running down from the woman's dress? If I remember correctly: Some kind of internet equipment was hung there; it was moved to a side of the stage. There was more to do, too.

Below are the five blog entries showing murals at Roskruge before he started repainting. (Most of the artists were painted by other artists.) You can come back here by clicking your browser's “Back” (or <—) button.

Note that murals are not open to the public without permission. Check in at the office: Come in the north entrance, then turn left at the top of the double stairway inside.

• Roskruge Part 1 of 3 (January 9, 2017)
• Roskruge Part 2 of 3 (January 11, 2017)
• Roskruge Part 3 of 3 (January 13, 2017)
• Scholars on Second Avenue (January 12, 2010)
• What the scholars see (November 3, 2011)

After Mena told me that he'd be repairing the mural, I stopped by on June 21st, 2017. He suggested I stand on a ladder for a better view over the raised auditorium stage. Here's my first photo:

I'm not sure if he'd done much work by this point; the mural looked pretty much the same as in David's photo posted on January 9th.

Mena showed me some of his plans. Here's the stripe that I mentioned:

Next, two closeups of the bottom left. Roskruge's school mascot is a puma, and there's one in the first photo below… though I'd guess it's not always shown with its skeleton inside:

The woman dancing is Mena's daughter. Here he's working from a photograph of her.

Above, on a podium, is the Mayan plaque he'll add to the mural. To the left, he's holding the plaque in the place it'll go.

I came back on August 10th, when (I think) he was basically finished. First, here's the photo David Aber took; then, a photo I took in August:

(If you'd like to compare larger versions of the photos: Click on one of them, then click on the thumbnails at the bottom of the slideshow window that opens.)

You can see that he's fixed the white stripe next to his daughter. The plaque is near the top right corner. There are probably some smaller changes that I didn't notice. (And the two hanging decorations in front of the mural have been taken down sometime since October of last year.)

Miss Muffet's Tuffets II (maybe a mural part 80)

Miss Muffet, better known as Mary Lucking, in collaboration with Dwayne Arnspiger made cast-concrete tuffets that form the bases for eight different ceramic tile mosaics.  They placed them along the Arroyo Chico Greenway in 2013 where I found them on Aug. 10, 2017.  I posted four on Sept. 15.  Here are the rest:

Click on any photo for a slide show of larger and sharper images.

Miss Muffet's Tuffets I (maybe a mural part 79)

Miss Muffet, better known as Mary Lucking, in collaboration with Dwayne Arnspiger made cast-concrete tuffets that form the bases for eight different ceramic tile mosaics.  They placed them along the Arroyo Chico Greenway in 2013 where I found them on Aug. 10, 2017.  Here are four for now.  I will post the rest in a week or so.

Click on any photo above for a slide show of larger and sharper images.

I had to take two of the photos from a side angle to keep my shadow off the mosaic.

Dots and dashes outside TMA

When I spotted this wall on October 26, 2016, it was a fairly new design. (I don't have many photos of the different designs here over the years. Some from November 26, 2015 are in Banda Calaca murals. Others from August 9, 2010 are in Murals at the moment.) The wall is located between the Education Building and the main entrance:

Update (October 20, 2017): Today, the walls are blank… ready for more murals?

Crossroads Selfie (maybe a mural part 78)

Here are two murals (you can call them posters if you like) that I found outside the entrance to the Crossroads Restaurant on June 26, 2017.  The artist is Miguel but I wasn't able to find any further info.  You are supposed to place your face in the opening while someone takes your picture.

Child Size

Adult Size

Click on either photo for larger and sharper images.

The Restaurant also appeared in the Tucson Murals Project on Oct. 31, 2012. Cross Roads restaurant.

A Long Journey Home

Between 2006 and 2008 Pima County exhumed an estimated 1300 bodies from a downtown cemetery that was in use from 1862 to 1875.  Nearly 1200 of those remains were re-interred at the All Faiths Cemetery.  Four tile memorial murals were created using photographs from the 1860s and 1870s.  Apparently, the photos had deteriorated with age.

The first photo below is a sign at the entrance to the Memorial that gives more of an explanation than you see in the preceding paragraph.  Hopefully you will be able to read the sign once you click on it for a larger image.  If not, you may have to use your browser for further enlarging.

The sign at lower right reads "E J Smith Undertaker"

The photos are from Aug. 2, 2017 and you may click on any one for a slide show of larger images.

Doggies On The Wall

The original mural at the Transformation Pet Center appeared in The Tucson Murals Project on Sept. 15, 2008. See Meow Mural with Mutt Motif. The mural has since been re-done and there's no longer a meow. This photo is from Aug. 2, 2017:

 Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Update (February 25, 2021): Here are two closeups that Jerry Peek took today:

Monty “Ses” Esposito painted the dog on the left and Rickey “Sketch” Bush painted the dog on the right.

Update (May 29, 2023): Sketch brought Jerry to see this long-time Tucson mural… still here after 20 years or so:

Years after the mural was painted, Sketch and Monty stopped by the business. The owner had been trying to find them to update the mural… she didn't want anyone else to do it. They painted the side and front of the building teal and added the black paw prints running along it.

Sketch told me the names in the signature at the left side, but I didn't write them down… I'll need to ask him again. Here's a closeup from his print, followed by a photo today with higher contrast to help the letters stand out:

2009 Bookmans mural of a dragonslayer

This mural is on the Throwback Thursday page of the Tucson Daily Photo blog:

Dragon was slain!

I haven't gotten permission yet to show the photo. If I do, I'll add it here. Otherwise, just click on that link to see the blog page with the photo.

"Carmelin Castro Ítom Usím Children's Park" (revisited)

The park is in the City of South Tucson along the Julian Wash beginning at S. 10th Ave. & W. 40th St.  It extends from S. 10th Ave. to S. 12th Ave.  It's a great place to take the kids.  It has a nice playground and plenty of places for the family to have a picnic or just sit and relax.

Images from the park were originally posted to the Tucson Murals Project on 12/02/2011.  There's so much more to add that I've decided to start over and show all of the murals in the park. Here are the photos I took on July 20, 2017:

Welcome

South wall of small structure.

North wall

West wall

East wall

Stand alone mosaic.

Stand alone mosaic.

Stand alone mosaic.

Stand alone mosaic.

Stand alone mosaic.

Stand alone mosaic.

Marker along the bike path.

Marker along the bike path

Marker along the bike path

Click on any photo for a slide show of larger and sharper images.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the names of any of the artists.

I also tried to find a translation of Ítom Usím.  I couldn't find any matches in Yaqui, Pima or O'odham.  It might be a proper name.