Joe Pagac paints his old neighborhood (Murals being made, part 65)

Joe Pagac grew up in the neighborhood right across the street from Himmel Park. So he was excited to paint a mural on the swimming pool there. He finished it earlier this summer. I took that photo of the finished mural on July 26th. (As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view.)

Thanks to BG Boyd Photo for these photos of the mural taking shape:

Here are the other photos I took on July 26th, from the left (north) end to the right (south):

Muralists on Murals: Alfonso Chavez

Arizona Illustrated, from AZPM (Arizona Public Media), published this video on YouTube February 7, 2021: “Muralist and community organizer Alfonso Chavez shares his three favorite murals in Tucson. They come from different eras and have different styles but all tell stories that challenge the dominant cultural narrative.”



If you can't see the video above or would like a link, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edxte71QBWw

Benjamin Franklin

North wall of Frey Financial by David Aber. Look closely as there are many subtle details.

By Ignacio Garcia

I visited the mural on February 25th and took several photos — including these two close-ups:

Click on any photo for larger and sharper images.

Posts updated to include aerial photos

In the last month or two, there've been a number of posts with photos — mostly aerial — from BG Boyd Photo, a specialist in drone photography. I've also updated posts that already were on the blog which didn't have aerial photos. Below is a list of those updated posts. Click on the title to see that post. After you've looked at a post, you can use your "back" arrow to come back here. (And thanks to Max Pixel for the drone photo.)

• Way out west (or east?) (November 13, 2014)
• (Downtown) Murals being made, part 32: Issac Caruso (June 16, 2016)
• (Downtown) Murals being made, part 35: Ignacio Garcia (June 27, 2016)
• Roller Rink (September 7, 2018)
• Sonoran Brunch Co. (October 29, 2019)
• Tanked (October 7, 2020)
• Roses & More is no more (March 4, 2021)
• Murals being made, part 62: More animals on bicycles (May 7, 2021)
• Murals being made, part 60: "Now Hiring" (June 4, 2021)
• Murals being made, part 63: Connections (June 25, 2021)
• Goodbye, Corbett Elementary (June 29, 2021)

Thanks once more to BG for all of these great photos!

La Esquina

The mural on the north wall of Taqueria La Esquina is based on the Mexican holiday "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead).

Artistry by Wagon Burner Arts

 

 

Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Public art from TABY coming to South 12th

TABY — Transportation Art by Youth — is a summer project along South 12th Avenue. Youth artists have created public art that you'll see between Irvington and Drexel Roads.

Although these aren't strictly “murals,” I thought you'd enjoy them anyway. :) (If you haven't spent much time in South Tucson: There's a lot of art — murals and more — to be seen.) Here's an introduction to each of the artists and their work: https://artsfoundtucson.org/meet-the-2021-taby-youth-artists/

Another painted intersection: 8th Avenue & 25th Street

A week ago, we showed a painted intersection in South Tucson: 8th Ave. & 36th St. There's another one 11 blocks north, at 25th Street, on the northwest corner of Ochoa Elementary. Here's the view from the south and a couple of close-ups:

Only two of the four corners are painted. This is the northeast corner:

Next, the southwest corner — with the school in the background. There's also a close-up of the footprints that lead to (I'm guessing) the school mascot:

I stopped by on July 23rd.

Update (August 18, 2021): KGUN9 TV aired a story about muralist Mel Melo Dominguez:

Here's a link to the story in its own window: South Tucson muralist paints the pride of his community.

Rock "Cyfi" Martinez in Minneapolis

Cyfi is in the Twin Cities these days. He posted this mural from uptown Minneapolis to Instagram on Thursday the 12th. It's 15 x 15 feet, a portrait of "mi amor @brandikoleart", part of the Lyn Lake Street Art Series Annual Mural Festival @lynlakestreetartseries.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by CYFI (@cyfione)

Metamorphosis

In addition to its meaning as a marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function, Metamorphosis is the name of the CBD, Vape and Smoke Shop where this mural was found.

Artist not known.

Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

8th Avenue & 36th Street from above

BG Boyd Photo specializes in aerial photos taken from a drone. This painted intersection by Mel Melo Dominguez, near Mission View Elementary in South Tucson, is a perfect candidate:

The fourth corner is covered by a tree. Here's a shot I took from ground level on July 23rd:

City of Gastronomy

Tucson was the first city in the US named as a World City of Gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

This mural was found on the east wall of Zio Peppe, a restaurant serving pizza and pasta.

By Ashley White

 Click on the photo for a larger and sharper image.

Both sides of this mural magnet on Toole

The building that spans the addresses 191-197 E. Toole in downtown Tucson has had many different murals over the years… you can see a number of them by clicking the links in our page “Layers of murals: histories of a few walls.”: Northwest side of 191 East Toole and East side of 197 East Toole. BG Boyd took photos of both ends — 191 and 197 — at the end of May, 2021. Here are his photos of 191, then 197:

The second photo is a panorama, stitched together from several shots. (As always, you can click on a photo for a larger view.) We'll see more of his photos one week from today.

Typical Teenager

Found on the north wall of the former Charlie's Comic Books, this mural is in the same spot but with a new store behind: Time Warp Gifts & Novelties.

By Vic Hollins

See it while you can

BG Boyd is a Part 107 certified drone photographer based in Tucson. He's shared a number of his photos of Tucson murals (from his website BG Boyd Photo) with all of us on this blog. This post is the first of a series of his photos from land, aerial photos and videos. I'll also be updating some earlier posts on this blog with his aerial photos; after I'm done with that, I'll post a list of the ones I updated. In the meantime, check his website (link above) for a number of aerial mural videos and other photos… he's also on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

This Arizona Arts Live mural by Robb Harris is on a building that's about to be demolished. It's lost some paint since BG took this photo:

Hidden away at El Torero

Most of Danny Martin's murals are in black and white. This one is different because it has a pink background:

Here's a closeup:

The mural is on El Torero Restaurant, but it's on the east side — which you can't see from the front of the building on 26th Street. You can see it across the street from the building at 1537 S. 4th Avenue. It's on the far side of a lot behind a fence along 4th Avenue. I took the photos with a zoom lens on June 30th.

La Nalgona in Arizona

Mike Rios (@mykerios on Instagram) painted that mural across the street from American Eat Co. and Market, which is at 1439 South 4th Avenue. Here's the right edge with his signature:

I snapped the photos on June 30th.

Update (December 3, 2021): There are two new murals to the right (north) side of this one:

You can see closeups in today's post La Nalgona has neighbors.

Murals being made, part 64: Sahara Apartments

The mural is in a narrow space between buildings at the Sahara Apartments. David Aber took multiple photos on June 13, 2021, and stitched them together into the spectacular result above. It's on his Flickr account at https://www.flickr.com/photos/26438012@N08/51250402031/in/album-72157655537201051/. I've split it into the three clips below:

Joe Pagac wrote on Facebook November 15, 2020: "Katherine Joyce Lester and I just finished up this mural at Sahara Apartments on Stone just south of Speedway! A little African Peyote Oasis. Dung/Scarab beetle bringing up the rear courtesy of my nephew." I caught them painting on November 12:

On Facebook, you can find Katherine at katherine.lester.14019 and Joe at joepagac.

Email subscribers, **please read now** - New way to follow this blog by email

If you've signed up to get email notifications of each new post (entry) in this blog, please read this.

Google (actually, Feedburner) is discontinuing the "Follow by email" box that's at the right edge of every page. It's in the first red box below:

If you've filled in that box before, and you'd like to continue getting email notices, please use the "Contact Us" form shown in the second red box above. Tell us that you'd like to keep getting email. I'll collect your names and email addresses, then contact you soon. (I've set up a list on Mailchimp to send you notices.) Your name is optional.

If you haven't subscribed but want to, please watch the blog for an announcement of how to do that. Or, here are two other ways to follow the blog:

• If you're on Twitter, you can follow @TucsonArt for a tweet about each new blog post. There are also tweets about Tucson art events and artists.
• On Facebook, The New Tucson Murals Project Page has one post each month with a link to the previous month's murals. (This may not continue to work after the end of 2021.)

Thanks for reading this blog!

Sahuarita murals from BG Boyd Photo

Photographer BG Boyd has a lot of Tucson murals on his website! You'll be seeing some of them here a bit later this year.

This blog usually doesn't show murals outside of Tucson. But, when BG emailed yesterday to say that he has a new Sahuarita page on his website, I realized that I could publish a link here to let you see them if you'd like. Many are by Tucson artists:

bgboydphoto.com/murals/sahuarita

15th anniversary of The Tucson Murals Project!

Former KOLD-TV news anchor Randy Garsee founded this blog July 12, 2006. A 2008 Arizona Daily Star article quoted Randy:

“The initial idea behind the Tucson Murals Project was to complement Tucson's Downtown redevelopment. It seemed to me that the city was leaving out a great idea for Tucson tourism: a map for tourists to drive and find Tucson's beautiful wall-size pieces of art.”

He passed away in 2013. (I hope we're doing you proud, Randy.) There's lots of info about him — though with many links out of date — in the post Farewell, Randy....

In today's 15th-anniversary edition, I'll take you through the 15 most popular posts from the past 10 years. (Blogger's statistics don't cover 15 years.) If a post has more than one photo, I'll choose one; you can click on the link underneath each photo to see all of the photos in the post — actually, all of the post.

Let's start with an exact copy of the first post — July 12, 2006. Note that, in this screenshot, the links don't work.

(If you'd like to see the 10th anniversary post mentioned above, click here: Ten years of Tucson murals.)

Now, the most-viewed posts, starting with the most popular. After each photo is a link to the actual post. After you click on that link, use the "back" button or arrow on your browser or phone to come back here.

#1: Tucson Murals Project's 50th Posting!

This is the north side of the famous Hippie Gypsy store on 4th Avenue:

July 21, 2008: Tucson Murals Project's 50th Posting!

#2: Early mural by Luis Gustavo Mena

Luis Mena has been painting (and sculpting and …) for decades in Tucson. This mural of Benito Juarez is dated August 18, 1981:

November 22, 2012: Early mural by Luis Gustavo Mena

#3: 6,000 Tucsonans in the 4th Avenue underpass

The Tucson Portrait Project took the photos of 6,000 Tucsonans. The plan was to make them into a series of murals lining the underpass, but the project ran out of money:

December 13, 2009: 6,000 Tucsonans in the 4th Avenue underpass

#4: Ford Elementary

The mural is/was on a stand-alone wall on a (mostly) unused lot in the back of the school:

August 11, 2016: Ford Elementary

#5: Storage Shed at Smitty's

There are/were two murals on a storage shed at Smitty's Car Wash. Here's one:

UFT (Unidentified Flying Taco)

November 9, 2016: Storage Shed at Smitty's

#6: Little Germany Foreign Car Repair

The front of the store has/had a full-width mural:

December 3, 2011: Little Germany Foreign Car Repair

#7: Feldman's Neighborhood

Feldman's is a National Historic District:

January 02, 2017: Feldman's Neighborhood

#8: Victor's Upholstering

The mural is behind a fence, but David Aber was able to get in:

April 17, 2017: Victor's Upholstering

#9: Beep Beep

At the end of the driveway of a private home, Wile E. Coyote and the (beep beep, or maybe meep meep) Road Runner:

October 19, 2016: Beep Beep

#10: Rincon High

Of all the schools David Aber had visited by this point, Rincon High had the largest mural by far:

The original post has a series of close-ups:
February 15, 2017: Rincon High

#11: !*?%&#= TAGGERS!!

A tagger trashed Joe Pagac's name on the huge Epic Rides mural that took three months of work:

July 02, 2017: !*?%&#= TAGGERS!!

#12: Ben Maestas

Joy Maestas sent photos of murals by her son Ben Maestas in their back yard. All four murals are completely different — and very good. Here's the first section of wall:

October 14, 2016: Ben Maestas

#13: Joe Pagac's Borderlands Brewing mural

One of Tucson's biggest murals, it's filled with Western vistas and humans in animals' bodies. Click on the link for the blog post to see lots of close-ups.

April 10, 2015: Joe Pagac's Borderlands Brewing mural

#14: Electrifying art ("artifying" electricity?)

A number of electric substations around Tucson have murals. Here's one:

May 22, 2009: Electrifying art ("artifying" electricity?)

#15: Jos wraps (up) Good Ole Tom's: murals being made, part 18

This is part of a long series showing Jos Villabrile wrapping the building in murals:

April 26, 2013: Jos wraps (up) Good Ole Tom's: murals being made, part 18

There are more than a thousand other murals on the blog. If you're new here, have a look around! There's an introduction, tips for getting around, and some history too, in the page About this blog.

I'm aware that this blog isn't easy to see on mobile phones. I'm hoping to fix that in the next year or so.

Stay tuned for the next fifteen years!