• Cathalena E. Burch, Arizona Daily Star

Joe Pagac’s “Desert Colossus” saguaro cactus mural climbs 153 feet up the Transamerica Building in downtown Tucson.

Hundreds of Tucsonans gathered Friday evening for the unveiling of four new murals throughout the downtown area celebrating the founding of the Spanish presidio here 250 years ago, which is considered the birth of modern Tucson.

The public art project for this 250th birthday also honors over two millennia of local cultural history. Every mural displays each of the four artists’ interpretations of the area's history, from the early Hohokam people before the year 1000 to modern-day Tucson.

Danny Estrada, one of the shuttle tour guides, grabs some cell phone images of Ignacio Garcia’s new work in Arizona Alley at Congress Street before the official unveiling of four new murals Friday evening, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Tucson presidio’s founding. More than 400 turned out for the tours and a chance to meet the artists of the four pieces.

The artists — Pen Macias, Ignacio Garcia, Joe Pagac and Camila Ibarra — were given almost complete creative freedom to paint whatever 250 years means to them, said Rio Nuevo board member Jannie Cox, who was in charge of the project.

Walking tour guide Sherman Bonder calls attention to a few of the details in Pen Macias’s piece covering a wall at the corner of Congress Street and Church Avenue during the official unveiling of four new murals marking the 250th anniversary of Tucson’s presidio.

The only requirements were that they incorporate the mayor’s 250 logo and the linguistic history of the city’s name: S-cuk Son, Tucsón and Tucson.  

David Anderson gets photos of Kip Montgomery posing with Camila Ibarra’s mural adorning a wall at Scott Avenue and Pennington Street during a walking tour celebrating the official unveiling of the four new murals downtown.

"The name Tucson originates from the local Tohono O’odham word S-cuk Sǫn (pronounced Skuk-shone), meaning 'spring at the base of the black mountain,'" the Visit Tucson website explains. "The mountain they were referring to was what we know today as Tumamoc Hill."

The birthday logo says: "S-cuk Son, inhabited for millennia, est. 1775." 

A pair of tourists check out the details of Joe Pagac’s new mural along Ochoa Street between Stone and Church avenues after its official unveiling Friday evening.

The Rio Nuevo District collaborated with the Mayor’s Office, Visit Tucson, Downtown Tucson Partnership and the Presidio Museum to commission the murals in a $108,000 project.  

Artist Camila Ibarra gets blessed by Tohono O’odham member Samuel Fayaunt during ceremonies for the official unveiling of four new murals downtown Friday evening.  

"They're really magnificent," said Cox.

The unveiling featured walking and trolley tours and opportunities to meet the artists.

Macias’s piece features a trio of vignettes that focus on three periods of Tucson’s history. The first focuses on the Hohokam settlement before Tucson was developed, the second on the Spanish creation of the Presidio San Augustín del Tucson in August 1775, and the third on the city's more modern downtown development over the last century.

Artist Ignacio Garcia chats with some of the tourists looking at his new mural at Arizona Alley and Congress Street at ceremonies Friday evening.  

Garcia’s mural focuses more on Tucson’s Indigenous people, featuring members of the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui tribes.

"Ignacio's is my favorite," said Lali Nicole Young, co-founder of Temple Arts Collective. "It had a little Chupacabra with King Kong and a UFO, so I like it being a little weird."

Young said she and her friend, Leslie Hall, are artists who are also creating pieces in celebration of Tucson's 250th birthday.

Artist Pen Macias gives an interview during ceremonies officially unveiling her mural, one of four new works downtown commissioned for the 250th anniversary of modern Tucson.  

"We wanted to come out and show our support," Yong said.

Hall said she was impressed by Pagac's piece.

"I really love the one Joe did," Hall said. "He's so great."

Pagac’s piece covers the 10-foot-high south-facing wall of La Placita Garage spanning 240 feet wide. The mural illustrates a Gila monster with a birthday hat and a candle in a cupcake, along with historical symbols of Native American pots, a Mexican blanket, a spur with a cowboy hat and the mountain ranges that surround the city.

Artists Joe Pagac and his wife Lenka Vašíčková watch the ceremonies celebrating the official unveiling of his mural, one of four marking the 250th anniversary of modern Tucson. 

Ibarra stuck with a theme of honoring the past while moving into a more modern Tucson, featuring a Tohono O’odham woman weaving a basket, the San Xavier Mission, the Presidio, Father Kino on horseback, and the arrival of the railroad.

Holly McAmally, an event attendee and native Tucsonan, said she's loved watching the evolution of the city's art scene and hopes to see more.

"I think we need more real, on-the-ground murals and just people out creating things," McAmally said. "There's so much inspiration, it's amazing to tap into local art."

Dorothy Yanez, a volunteer tour guide for the event, has conducted tours of more than 100 downtown murals for about four years. Having written multiple books on Tucson's cultural and artistic history, Yanez said she's been honored to get to know the artists who worked on the new pieces.

"I can barely draw stick figures, so I am just in awe of somebody who can get their thoughts onto a canvass," Yanez said. She said picking a favorite "would be like picking which of my brothers and sisters I like best, I think they're all really, really good."

The murals are located at: West Ochoa Street between Church and Stone; North Scott, just north of Pennington Street; North Church, just north of Congress Street; and Arizona Avenue, just south of Congress Street. 

The Presidio Museum, 196 N. Court Ave., will host a 250th birthday celebration on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 6 to 10 p.m. The event, free to attend, will feature live music, frybread, Eegees and more, according to the Presidio website.

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