Tucson Murals
by Jane St. Clair

Tucson murals are all over town. I just love graffiti —but oh those murals!

Big, brassy, colorful — and they take you by surprise. You walk by a restaurant with a cute little courtyard, and WHAM! there’s this image of this couple right next to it. A couple with an Aztec serpent.

No one expects Tucson murals just to pop up at you as you’re strolling along town but that’s what they do. How about whales in the desert?

Or the agave woman who adorns a warehouse — of all things.

Turtles riding bicycles with a cowboy and a beautiful senorita? Why not!

Tucson murals make ordinary things become extraordinary. This beautiful one is at El Rio Community Center.

The Farmer John mural is old and fading. It’s painted on what was once a slaughterhouse, probably to remind us that these cows were content before they ended up at this place.

You can’t help but picture the artists who made these murals, and how they climbed up on ladders and painted their visions all over walls so much bigger than a regular canvas in a museum. It must be a lot of work, but aren’t we glad they did it?

I like the lady with the big heart near the NoTel Motel on Miracle Mile. She looks as if you could tell her any secret whatsoever, and she no-tell.

This big beautiful girl is flirting between a street and a garage, and really! Doesn’t she bring a smile to your face?

What I really like is when a work of art grabs you when you least expect it. Here’s the agave lady as seen from a downtown parking lot.

Marilyn Monroe’s acting coach once said, “Sometimes life crushes you down and beats down your soul, but art reminds you that you have one.” Thank you, beautiful artists of Tucson, for the lovely reminders.

To find the Tucson murals here with nifty essays about them, go here.