This week on Arizona Illustrated… artist Ignacio Garcia is making downtown Tucson beautiful one colorful mural at a time; art museums turned the pandemic into a opportunity to reach new audiences; the benefits of the aromatic beebrush and a look at Tucson’s vibrant vintage scene.
Ignacio Garcia – Murals for Tucson
Ignacio Garcia is one of Tucson’s beloved and cherished muralists with over 40 murals around town. With a mission of making Tucson an ‘outdoor gallery’, he uses walls as his canvas as he tells the story of the community.
COVID AND Museums
The American Alliance of Museums conducted a nationwide survey to assess the impact of COVID-19 on museums across the United States. The findings revealed the profound and far-reaching damage the pandemic inflicted on these cultural institutions, casting a long shadow over their recovery. Motivated by these sobering results, we set out to understand how our local museums in Arizona weathered the storm. Both the Tucson Museum of Art and the University of Arizona Museum of Art responded to our call, sharing powerful stories of resilience, adaptation, and how they navigated the crisis to embrace a new paradigm.
Desert Plants - Beebrush
The Sonoran Desert is home to thousands of native plants and Beebrush, Aloysia gratissima, is a fantastic option. The drought-tolerant shrub producers flowers for pollinators, has a sensational scent, doesn’t stab you with thorns, and can be easy to grow.
Tucson Thrift Culture
Younger generations have started to get into hobbies requiring craft and sustainability. Thrifting happens to be one of them. Tucson is known for its big art scene especially with all the markets and street fairs, a big population of the crowd is the resellers and thrifts of the city, that look for clothing and have a deep understanding for the fashion scene and what’s in trend. Thrifting not only is a trendy hobby, but it overall benefits the planet and environment which is a bigger issue currently, with climate change, these thrifters want to make a difference with their business.
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