Round Robin: Saints, Missionaries and Statues That Remember Them

For Round Robin Challenge: Statues, I asked folks to "photograph a statue of some sort. It can be as large as the Sphinx in Egypt, or as small as a bowling trophy." When I first proposed the topic two years ago, I had already photographed a number of statues, some for a "Public Art" Challenge, others for other reasons and purposes. This time out, though, I want to focus on the confluence of statues, religion and history. After all, I live in Tucson, where religion played a pretty large role in local history. When people want to commemorate historical figures, they often do the same thing as people who want to commemorate saints. They make statues!



Let's start at good old St. Michael and All Angels Church, established in 1953. The place has more than a few items of donated religious art, including a number of statues, more properly called icons. Some of them are in better shape than others. My absolute favorite is one that's tucked away in a cardboard box, under a table used to prepare bags of food for the needy. It seems serenely unconcerned about its headless condition as it blesses the work that sometimes goes on above it.



And here is St. Michael himself, looking a bit cherubic as he guards the west side of the memorial garden.



Here is a statue I've wanted to photograph for about twenty years, but didn't until today. The man on the horse is Eusebio Francisco Kino S.J. (1654-1711), best known to Tucsonans as simply "Father Kino." It amuses and frustrates me that the hat the man wore to keep the sun off his face performs the same function on his statue. The artist, by the way, is Julian Martinez of Mexico. The statue is dated 1988, two years after we moved out here.



A Jesuit missionary, Padre Kino traveled around the Southwest on both sides of the modern border between Mexico and the U.S., bringing Christianity and farming techniques to the indigenous peoples he found there. Unlike the Spanish Conquistadors, he opposed the exploitation of the tribes as a source of forced labor. Father Kino's travels led to the development of roads in the region, and the eventual establishment of Tucson as a non-native settlement.

From Mission San Xavier del Bac

One of the Missions started by Father Kino was Mission San Xavier del Bac, nine miles south of Tucson. The present church was built by natives nearly a century later, in the late 1700s, under the direction of Franciscan priests. Little is known about the designers and artisans behind the many ornate details, including the four statues you can see in the photo above, in the reddish central section of the front of the mission. Today the church serves the Tohono O'odham Nation, descendants of the original local population Father Kino served back in 1699.


Like the Saint Under the Table, one of the statues in the alcoves in front of the mission has lost its head.



Inside are many religious icons, statues and frescoes, most in better condition than the headless saint.

I was only at Mission San Xavier del Bac for about ten minutes today, but I got a few more decent shots you may care to check out. One of these days I'll make a proper visit and do a full gallery of images from this historic treasure.



And lest you think only Catholics are significant to the history of the Southwest, here's a closeup of the Mormon Battalion Monument in El Presidio Park, behind the old courthouse.

Now let's go see what statues the other Robins found!

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And in case you're interested, here are more photos of Tucson statues:

RRPC: Public Art, Privately Provided, Part One

RRPC: Public Art, Privately Provided, Part Two

A Reid Park Ramble, continued

Two from Tombstone

Karen

A Reid Park Ramble, continued

Let's wrap up my series of photos from Gene C Reid Park (for now!) with a closer look at three park landmarks that the dogs and I explored on Friday: the duck pond, the "doorway" sculpture and Cancer Survivors Plaza.

From the Picasa album A Reid Park Ramble

I'm afraid I have not yet been able to find out the title or artist of this large sculpture near the corner of S Lakeshore Lane and E Landmark Place. It looks like a doorway, with the door slightly ajar. Next time I'll get close enough to touch it and find out what it's made of, and check more carefully for a plaque. I think it's etched metal of some sort.

From the Picasa album Dogs and Ducks

This blog is getting uncomfortably photo-heavy, but I want to work in one more of the duck pond shots. The Tucson Parks and Rec site calls the two duck ponds in Reid Park "urban lakes." A web site reviewing the place claims that the goose don;t bite and that nobody will mind if your dog jumps into the water - as long as you don't make a habit of it! Tucson does have leash laws, so for that and other reasons, I'd rather not put this claim to the test!

Here is the approach to Cancer Survivors Plaza. As a fan of bright colors, I feel I ought to like the orange pillars much more than I do. The short ones are a series of plaques about cancer and cancer treatment and the sculpture itself.

The first of the informational plaques.

If we can just get through this maze representing cancer treatment, we can go to McDonald's! Woo-hoo!

Here's the top of the figure Pepper was sniffing in my Round Robin entry.

Cayenne hangs out with the supportive grandparent figures.

According to a plaque, the entire sculpture (all the bronze bits) is titled "Cancer...There's Hope." It was the last work of artist Victor Salmones. The five figures at the back - a dad and his Picachu-toting little girl, the grandparents and a young woman - represent cancer patients and their supporters as the patients enter the maze of treatment with fear and determination.

The three figures at the front - two parents and a boy - have joyfully emerged from the maze of treatment with a successful outcome.

Karen

I've marked up a Google Map to show you points of interest in Reid Park. The marker on the left is the dog park. You can see the two "urban lakes," and the Cancer Survivors Plaza is at the bottom (south) edge of the map. The Animal Fair on Saturday stretched from near the dog park to just northwest of the Doorway sculpture.


View Larger Map

It's the Arts

Tonight I was at the Tucson Artists for Obama Exhibit & Reception. My buttons were the least of the exhibits, with a possible exception of a painted pumpkin. Just about the only indication I had all night that anyone looked at them for more than a second or two was the fact that someone stole the "THIS ONE IS FOR 'THAT ONE'" button. But that's not particularly important. I'm willing to put that down to someone not understanding that they were for display only. The point, such as it is, of this photo essay I'm about to rush through is that I encountered numerous forms of art today.


It started at the Pima County Democratic Headquarters, where I photographed some homemade Obama signs. It's actually rather rare to see the official ones around here. They're hard to get, and they get stolen. And in case you're wondering, McCain-Palin signs are no more common than Obama ones.

I was unable to get a good selection of buttons for the display, and had to settle for dupes as well as some from my personal supply. Barb, the volunteers and I have made at least 3,000 buttons in the last several weeks, about half of them from my designs. Barb is out of parts again, and there probably aren't more than about 50 buttons in stock right now, total.

Homecoming Creature

When I left there I headed downtown to Rep. Grijalva's headquarters on Stone Ave. On the way I discovered that it's homecoming weekend. I knew this because I found myself driving behind this float!

And how is this for art: a vintage Spanish Colonial(?) style fountain, whimsically decorated with bath toys. This was in front of Grijalva HQ, a large converted house in the barrio.

A few of those pictures made out of smaller pictures.

I dropped off the buttons, want home, made the daily dog park run and returned downtown for the art show. Here are three of the exhibits, all up for silent auction. The buttons in the middle are small Obama buttons from Canada, of all places.

My favorite exhibit

My favorite piece of art was made of two painted wooden panels, about four feet by nine feet each. Basically someone painted colorful slogans, grafitti style, all over the panels, and then painted in a blue background, so that everything not covered in dark blue spelled out one of Barack Obama's best-known quotes. (It's at the top of his website.)

Two girls in Obama shirts

There were custom T-shirts being made, too, by an artist who donated the paints and stencils and most of the labor. And there was music, by a guitarist-singer who evidently likes the Beatles a lot. This, of vourse, won me over right away! He also played La Bamba, restyled Obama, and even had an original song, You Rock My Boat, Obama. Or was it You Rock My Vote?

Karen

The Monsoon Returns (Cough-Cough)

The subdivided sky: Saturday 8/23/08, approx. 4 PM

The time has come to admit that I'm a little concerned about this cough.

Back in late June, I had a cold. As usually happens with me, especially in recent years, the cough has hung on long after the cold itself was gone - not constantly and horribly, but a nagging cough set off by little things like lying down, or trying to take a deep breath. As I say, this has happened before, a number of times. I've even been to my doctor on past occasions of it. As I recall, she listened to my chest, heard very little, wrote down the word "bronchitis" and gave me a prescription for an albuterol inhaler. Which didn't help.

Two things are different this time:

1. The cough is getting worse. I drive John crazy, coughing in the car, coughing into my pillow, coughing pretty much anywhere. I'm not going to try your patience with gross details, but I feel an asthmatic tightness in my chest pretty much all the time now. A good cough helps a little, briefly, but it's clearly not going away on its own. I'm coughing more and more, not less and less.

2. I have no health insurance. I'm a temp. If I temp for long enough on a continual basis, I'll have health insurance through the temp agency. I should check the envelopes they keep sending me, to see whether I've reached that point - but I doubt it.

I have a history of asthma, going all the way back to infancy; but normally as an adult it's only hit me when I was around certain allergens (e.g. cats), attempting aerobic exercise, or exerting myself in the summer heat (100+ degrees). But now I'm having problems just sitting in an air conditioned room, typing. I've been taking the common expectorant Guaifenesin, which is found in basically all cough medicine. So far it doesn't seem to help me clear things out much. John thinks I should be taking fish oil capsules at mealtimes, and maybe he's right.

Our old friend, the ribbon of clouds on the Catalinas

I think the return of the monsoon, much as I love it, is exacerbating things slightly. Even John can smell the mold as we approach the river on the way to work. But I do love this time of year. That photo at the top of this entry comes from late Saturday afternoon, as I drove back from photographing Glenn Stone and the wine bottle. The sky was dark with rain or impending rain to the northeast and southeast. But dead east, there was a patch of brightness and fluffy white clouds. As I arrived at El Taco Tote on Wilmot, it started to rain.

Odd thing about El Taco Tote, a regional chain of Mexican restaurants: that location closed months ago. It was replaced by a restaurant with a rather strange menu, Hawaiian plate meals I think they were called. This was basically Polynesian barbecue plus macaroni salad. Apparently this polyglot cuisine is common in Hawaii, but I'd never heard of it. It was okay, but I could have told them it wouldn't go over well in Tucson. And now El Taco Tote is back, in the same location they left early this year. So why did they shut down, and what brought them back? Not that I'm complaining! They're rather good.


One last shot before I go back to bed. John spotted this on Speedway Blvd tonight, and turned around so I could take a picture to go with the ones from the weekend. What can I say? The man loves me.

Karen

RRPC: Public Art, Privately Provided, Part Two

As I was compiling my Round Robin entry last night, I found myself getting bogged down with what one might call the kitschy, Roadside America end of the public art spectrum. I spent at least an hour searching for my photos of dinosaurs and giant lumberjacks, and although I didn't find everything I wanted, I still ended up with far too much material for a single entry. So here we go: Public Art, Part Two: Prehistoric Pitchmen and Other Outdated Artifacts of Advertising Art Americana. Or something like that!

First stop on our tour of Tucson's roadside art: the Dinosaur McDonald's at Grant and Tanque Verde:

There he is! the T. Rex McSaurus!

(Thanks for Sara for the nickname suggestion.)

The world's friendliest T. Rex? Maybe.

Look at the evidence. He waves an American flag on the Fourth of July, and at Christmas he wears antlers and pulls a sleigh. Nice lizard! On the other hand...

Red means stop! Violators will be eaten!

Not content with the cameras that record red light runners at key intersections, the city has hired our friend to take more drastic measures as needed.

The other dinosaur checks her reflection.

Around back is another dinosaur with her babies. She's a Maiasaura (meaning "good mother lizard").

Don't cry, baby dinosaur!

And here are her babies. I don't why the mother and baby both get the eye discharge. Maybe it's genetic. Or maybe they're both just upset about something.

What? No Shamrock Shakes? But...but...!

Next stop: El Toro, the Brave Black Bull. He and his matador have been hanging out in the Casa Molina Restaurant parking lot (on Speedway near Wilmot) since the late 1940s.

"We've both seen better days, old friend."

He currently needs a new coat of paint, and I wish people would stop giving him star spangled...um...well, see for yourself.

Does this mean I'm marching in a parade?

Nearby is another large herbivore, the Winged Bison of Copper Country.

Not many winged bisons like to ride in boats.

I previously showed you the bizarre bison when he was in a silver space suit, standing next to a flying saucer, in honor of the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory's Mars Lander. This week he's thanking our nation's military by standing on a red, white and blue boat.

Does this color look good on me?

He's not one to pick a look and go with it, our winged bison friend. The first time I saw him, he was hot pink!

I made a number of other stops today, including Fort Lowell to see a somewhat more traditional statue, and OK Feed and Grain, where a painted pony stands on the roof. They don't quite fit my criteria for this entry, so those shots will have to wait for another time. And the full complement of critters and mythological figures is still at Magic Carpet Golf, months and months after the place closed. You can see a bunch of shots, some of them from past RRPCs, by following my Magic Carpet Golf tag. And of course there's also the Kon Tiki, the classic tiki lounge that I've photographed at least twice before, including an outdoor tiki head. But no tour of Tucson's roadside Americana-style public art would be complete without a pilgrimage to two more local landmarks:

No, he's not Paul Bunyan, or a Muffler Man.*

He's Glenn Stone, the axe murderer!

*See Roadside America for the story of the muffler men.

Okay, I take it back. He is both a Paul Bunyan and a muffler man, and he's never hurt anyone as far as I know. I've told his story before. His name, Glenn Stone, comes from the fact that he stands at the corner of Glenn and Stone. At the moment, his shirt needs cleaning (birds, you know), and his face needs a touch up. Also, his right arm looks as though he's undergone Tommy John surgery. Or something.

The last one I had trouble finding. I couldn't remember which street it was on, anywhere from Oracle to Campbell, from Grant to Roger. It eventually turned up on First near Grant. Behold: the giant concrete wine bottle!


I could swear it used to look much more interesting.

Karen


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RRPC: Public Art, Privately Provided, Part One

I commute past these statues daily.

Our friend Carly has been showing us an amazing variety of outdoor art on her blog for years. Ever since she suggested Public Art as a Round Robin Photo Challenge, I've been looking forward to seeing what art can be found in public spaces outside the Bay Area, and on the lookout for examples here in Tucson. Now that the time has come to show them off, I'm going to limit myself to examples with rather specific criteria.

Most places have government-sponsored public art - a statue of a general on a horse, a mural of some historic moment, a sculpture outside a library or courthouse, that sort of thing. But what about when the public art is on private land, displayed by a business for commercial purposes? That's what I'm interested in showing off - specifically, statues one can see from the street. Tonight I'll be focusing on the commercially available pieces seen at two particular locations I pass every day on the way to work, both of which have art galleries. Tomorrow I'll take you for a swing around Tucson for some kitschy roadside Americana.

One end of the Plaza Colonial, near the bronze monuments

The current bust in the housing market has hit Tucson hard (you may recall that the mortgage company I worked for suddenly went belly-up a year ago this month), but new buildings continue to go up in the Catalina Foothills. There are several recently-built shopping centers along the Sunrise/Skyline corridor, with ornate domes and high-end businesses inside. The corner of Campbell and Skyline is home to Plaza Colonial, site of at least two art galleries, with more across the street.

Cowboy and Indian, coexisting as High Art

I've been intrigued all summer by the upscale shopping centers, especially the one with the three statues at street level. Riding past them with John driving, I couldn't really tell what they were meant to be, and my initial researches online were fruitless. So on Thursday we stopped to inspect them up close and take pictures. (Actually, John waited in the car while I climbed up to the little plaza with my camera.) Today I did more online research and even made a phone call - and finally got some info for you. Let's meet these three figures of upscale Western art!

Addih-Hiddisch, Hidatsa Chief -
looking out over the Santa Catalinas

Addih-Hiddisch, Hidatsa Chief - front view

This first one is by John Coleman, depicting a chief that historian-painters Karl Bodmer and George Catlin met a quarter century after Lewis and Clark. Nine of them were cast in this size (it's 7'3" tall), and it won the 2004 Cowboy Artists of America Gold Medal, Artist Choice, and Kieckhefer awards. There's something about it that doesn't quite work for me, but it's an excellent piece of art. It's very detailed, a careful and respectful rendering of an historical person. It has dignity and gravitas and beauty. I think my problem with it is that it's not as accessible at the other pieces here, and Addih-Hiddisch probably never visited the Santa Catalina Mountains in real life. That's a very silly reason not to appreciate the piece as much as I undoubtedly should.

Jack Knife Moumental Bronze
by Ed Mell

This is the modern entry among the pieces here. I like modern art, but the setting at Campbell and Skyline doesn't quite set this piece off to its best advantage. It looks very much the odd-figure out among the two realistic statues on the plaza, and from the street you can't really tell what it is because of the distance and angle. The gallery website shows two of its brothers against different backdrops, and it really helps.

Fabric of Life "Ganado Red"
by Star Liana York

Rear view, looking north toward Navajo country

Another angle, showing the intersection

This one is my favorite by far, and it took a bit more digging to identify it. It's part of a series called Fabric of Life, depicting native people (mostly this specific character, it looks like) doing something textile-related. This Navajo woman seems very strong and matter-of-fact to me as she shakes out her Ganado Red-style rug, the sort that used to be sold at the legendary Hubbell Trading Post. The Navajo are from northern Arizona and neighboring states, so it's less of a stretch to see her here in Tucson. I also like the way the artist has used the medium of bronze to give the woman and her clothing fairly lifelike colors.

How many restaurants have something like this out front?

Now we leave the Mark Sublette gallery artists behind and head downhill, south and east to Plaza Palomino on Swan Road at Ft. Lowell. There was a restaurant at the corner there called Firecracker, with spicy Chinese food. That was replaced a while ago by something else, and that's gone now, too. This fall it's scheduled to reopen at Luna Bella, but that's not important right now. The point is that it's another place I go past every day that has statues on display, a few steps from the street. Some of them are fountains, some not. All are female figures, from a variety of cultures, with urns or baskets on their heads. I have no idea why they all have this particular detail.

It turns out they are from a gallery at Plaza Palomino called Enchanted Earthworks. They sell a wide variety of arts and crafts, from western jewelry to feminine fountains. Unfortunately, their website did not identify the artist or artists who made these figures. Tonight I walked around and photographed a number of them for you:

one of the fountains (detail)

The Japanese woman ignores the commerce
behind her, and enjoys the greenery instead.

The yellow woman is a fountain...

...but her friend with the purse is not.

A couple of the figures are encrusted with
stones. I think these are lapis lazuli.

There's no denying that the figures wandering outside Plaza Palomino are not in the same class as the three bronzes at Campbell and Skyline. But I bet they don't cost $75,000 each, either!

Now let's go see what public art everyone else found:

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Carly - Posted!
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Em Dy - Posted!
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And don't forget to stop back here later this weekend for the matador, the dinosaur McDonald's and other delights!

Karen