Ben's Bells Box

I'm guessing that someone from the Barrio Centro neighborhood brightened it up by painting this utility box with a Ben's Bell and more cheery art:

I rolled by on November 23, 2021.

Mural tours by Presidio San Agustin del Tucson Museum

This February 14 story from KGUN 9 TV news describes two mural tours and shows photos of the big mural at Presidio San Agustin del Tucson Museum:

New downtown tour reveals Tucson's iconic murals and hidden masterpieces

Rest at Robison

The main entrance of Robison Elementary school, at the corner of Treat and 18th, has a Ben's Bells mural, two artsy benches and a mosaic panel:

I almost stopped for a snooze during winter vacation: December 26, 2021.

(PS: I just noticed that today is 2/22/22. Here's a look back at our 1/11/11 mural, El Mezon del Cobre.)

News about Ben's Bells murals, 20th anniversary

Remember that “I am Tucson” mural? We showed it in the September 12, 2012 post I am Tucson (Kindness, part 4). That was ten years ago. In the meantime, the mural was removed during downtown construction. (Pssst: They're planning to re-create it at the Tucson Convention Center.)

Now Ben's Bells is celebrating their 20th anniversary. They have 200 murals in Tucson and aren't done yet, as this February 17 story from KGUN 9 TV explains:

New project in the works for Ben's Bells as nonprofit enters 20th year in Old Pueblo / Welcomes locals to take part in newest project

Desert (was) Rising

When I saw these football murals on Arizona Stadium Christmas Day, all the game dates shown had already passed. But they were great murals anyway! Here they are from left to right:

The last murals we photographed here were on November 14, 2020 in our post Wildcats Mask Together.

TUCSON is fading...

Back on September 28, 2014, the mural at the northeast corner of Stone and Speedway looked like this:

There are close-ups of each letter in our January 1, 2015 post TUCSON.

Fast-forward to November 10, 2021. I saw this ghostly artwork from Rappel Studio (click there to visit) on Facebook. Rappel Studio is Doug Rappel, who also paints watercolor:

Commenters were lamenting that the mural had been covered by the new Popeye's fried chicken restaurant — blocked completely, I thought they meant. I mentioned that to David Aber, my co-editor on this blog. He drove by and said that the mural was still there. So I stopped by on December 14th and snapped these photos:

We know of several TUCSON and ARIZONA murals, each different. We have photos of four (after you click, you can use your browser's "back" button or arrow to come back here):

• “"Living" TUCSON AZ mural” on 329 E. 7th St. (near Antigone Books) (October 12, 2021)
• “Greetings” on 5809 E. 22nd St. (October 8, 2021)
• “Greetings” on 406 North 6th Avenue (April 26, 2017)
• “TUCSON” on Speedway & Stone (January 1, 2015)
• “New @ 1st & Arcadia” (October 05, 2013)

If you've seen other TUCSON murals, please let us know! You can leave a comment below — anonymously, if you'd like — or there's a contact box at the right edge of this page.

Harvest

Found at the John E. Wright Elementary School located at 4311 E. Linden St.  However, the mural is viewed from N. Columbus Blvd.

Artist is not known.

Click for a larger image.

"Greetings from Tucson" mural trashed by taggers

Back on April 26, 2017, we showed the iconic mural on the back wall of Miller's Surplus painted by New York City artist Victor Ving and his photographer girlfriend, Lisa Beggs, along with local muralists:

Yesterday, KGUN 9 TV reported that the mural was vandalized:

Iconic 'Greetings From Tucson' mural vandalized over weekend

KVOA News4Tucson has interviews with the building owner and employees:

Business owner speaks out about Tucson mural being vandalized

Restoration should start this Friday the 11th and take about a week. You can see more murals from Victor Ving and others on the Greetings Tour at www.greetingstour.com.

Update (February 11, 2022): BG Boyd Photography sent a photo, taken today, showing the tags being removed. You can see the outline of the E at the right edge:

Thanks for this really interesting photo, BG!

Faces

This is at least the third mural that has appeared on this wall.  Here are the first two: Murals being made, part 11: King Commemoration and Slovly('s) mural updated .

The wall is located on the east side of a residence at 4260 E. Cooper St.  It is viewed from S. Columbus Blvd. 

By Sabrina L. Vincent, aka SLOV

Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger images.

Wings for Women is flying...

The former Giving Tree Compassion Hope Center (click there to see a photo from March 19, 2010) has been open as Wings for Women Tucson. Their Facebook page shows that they've moved to a new building, 5320 East Speedway. A U-Haul truck was parked in front of their mural for much of November, 2021, but I finally was able to get photos on November 22. This was the southwest corner of Swan Rd. & Eastland St. on November 22nd:

Next, the three sides — along Swan, at the corner, and along Eastland:

Each section, from left (at the south end, along Swan) to right (the west end, along Eastland):

Once I hear of their new location, I'll look for murals and let you know. (If you hear before I do, please leave a comment below. You can be anonymous.)

Desert Scene

I found this mural as I was driving on E. Sierra St.  It's on the north wall of a residence at 972 N. Gadsden Pl.

By Katherine Joyce

Click on the photo for a larger image.

Welcome to Douglas, Arizona

From time to time we show murals outside Tucson. I walked from Agua Prieta, Sonora, into the US on November 13, 2021. Just after leaving the US Customs pedestrian crossing and entering Douglas are a series of person-shaped tile murals like the ones in these two photos:

(The woman in the second photo isn't paying attention to the "Do Not Enter" warning. :)

Here they are, one by one, from south to north. The photos are a bit rough because I haven't edited them:

By the way, although the people murals are facing both directions, everyone here walks from right (south) to left (north) as they enter the US.

A bit of color can't replace La Placita

Until 2018, the southwest corner of Broadway & Church had the colorful La Placita retail and office buildings:

Copyright © 2012, 2021 Jerry Peek, JerryPeek.com

Now The Flin apartments are on that corner. (There's more history and photos in the Arizona Daily Star Tucson Time Machine email newsletter… I'm a subscriber; I hope you'll also be able to see the newsletter by clicking there.) At least there's some color in this mural along Broadway, which I found on November 11th:

Here it is, starting at the left (east) end:

Luckily, the plaza that gave La Placita its name is an historic site. I'm guessing that's why the builder didn't tear it down too:

A December 18 Arizona Daily Star article (readable by subscribers only), With rents up to $3K per month, new luxury Tucson apartments are leasing up, says that the apartments are “named after the Flin family, the original operators of El Charro Café that operated there from 1935 to 1968.” The article also says that one building from La Placita wasn't torn down. It has been split between a resident clubhouse and an upcoming location of Savaya Coffee Marketr. And the article quoted Omar Mireles, the president of developer HSL Properties, that they placed metal luminaries next to la Plaza de la Mesilla with cutout names of hundreds of residents and businesses who had to move when La Placita Village [and, I believe, the nearby convention center and more] was built in the early 1970s.

Have an art-ful 2022!