TUCSON: CELEBRATE ART

 

December, 2018

We dedicated an entire blog to the wonderful murals and street art in Austin.   Turns out that while spending time at the Tucson Visitors Center we were delighted to find that Tucson has paid tribute to sculpture as well as spray paint and brushwork on the sides of buildings, and that the Visitors Center provides a “Celebrate Art!” bike map that would serve as our guide.  We took a day on our bikes to discover the many murals and a few sculptures in and around downtown Tucson.

We parked our car in the community college parking lot near Santa Cruz River Park and unloaded our bikes.  Santa Cruz River Park is a stop along the Tucson Loop,  a 130-mile, multi-use paved path that circumnavigates the perimeter of the city.  Bikes, skateboards, walkers, and even horses are welcome on these beautifully-maintained paths.

As newbies to the city of Tucson, we were unfamiliar with the streets and avenues, and we discovered that some murals were a challenge to find.  Mural 4, for example, was not at 310 West Alameda as advertised but rather behind the Tucson Water Building at 300 West Paseo Redondo.  We pedaled on, and we were successful in finding quite a few murals fairly easily.  The logic of the self-guided biking/walking tour began to make sense!  However, just when we were feeling confident, we’d feel lost again.  But persevere we did, and we were able to complete the bike tour.

Check it out!

 

 

 

We found our targets all over the city, but we will remember the one tucked away in the alley behind Miller’s Army Surplus Store.  We want to give the owners a shout-out “thank you” for having a secured and clean port-a-potty!

As with any adventure there are added bonuses.  We also found several pieces of street art that ought to become part of the “Celebrate Art!” mural tour: one at 412 6th Avenue; two at 7th Street and 6th Avenues, three colorful murals at West 6th Avenue and Toole just before you drive under the overpass near the rail station; four small, very well-crafted murals behind The Independent Distillery on Scott Street.  And we found a mural that gently reminds everyone to “Be Kind”.

The “Celebrate Art” tour takes the visitor past murals and street art in the general downtown area.  Throughout the larger Tucson metroplex there are murals and street art just waiting to be seen.

Comparisons between the art we found in Austin and Tucson is inevitable.  Brian would describe the murals of Austin as driven by the artist’s culture, full of emotion and gonzo in design.  Mural art in Tucson is a bit more on the serious side, can be whimsical and representative of the community.  Indeed different, and we strongly recommend not missing either.

It took us three hours to complete our tour on a beautiful bright sunshiny December day in Tucson, and it was well worth the effort.

Tucson is one of the bike-friendliest cities we’ve experience.  There are bike lanes literally everywhere.  While the biking experience in Tucson may not be as thrilling or challenging as say a bike tour through Bryce Canyon, seeing Tucson on two wheels is  highly recommended.