Filed under: Arizona, Art, Phoenix | Tags: Arizona, Art, Downtown Phoenix, Global Community, Greater Good, Murals, Phoenix
Calle 16 (on 16th Street and Thomas in central Phoenix) is a huge, collaborative project that is still in progress. It was only started last fall and already, the buildings and alleys in that area are full of vibrant color and content.
Because there is so much to see and because I took so many photos, I’ve combined them into a few collages that you can enlarge if you want to see more detail.
This first mural is at the end of a row of buildings that houses, among other things, the excellent Barrio Cafe. It is the Barrio Cafe’s owner, Silvana Salcido Esparza, who started Calle 16 after Arizona gained (once again) negative national attention with SB1070. “The eyes of the world and the nation are on us because of the mess caused by SB1070, and we don’t have our shit together,” says Esparza. “With Calle 16, I’m not looking to make a little Mexico. I want a center of pride and culture that reflects who we are as Mexicans living in Arizona. And that’s going to start with a few murals.”
Esparza was influenced as a child by seeing many of the famous Mexican muralists’ works in Mexico City, including Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, and David Siqueiros. You can read about Calle 16′s start here.
Down the alley behind this plaza, you come upon many more brilliant murals.
Calle 16 has its own website. Be sure to check out the fun video about the project at the bottom of this page under the list of muralistas (if it doesn’t make you happy, nothing will). In fact, several of the muralistas listed are ones whose other murals I have photographed and written about here, including the late Rose Johnson (whose large mural is just across the street and was the mural that started my interest in photographing all of them), Joerael Elliott, Pablo Luna, and Randy Kinkel, in addition to several more.
With my hiatus from photographing murals due to the holidays and then getting a little off-track, Calle 16 could not have been a better project to renew my interest (“building community, one wall at a time”) and I can’t wait to see more but this will be hard to beat.
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Your photos are great! What a bright assortment. The Mission Statement of Calle 16 is excellent and the list of muralistas is interesting and informative. That’s a very positive movement for Phoenix and the whole valley! Terrific post!
Comment by montucky January 17, 2011 @ 9:03 pmLove.
Comment by slrayner January 17, 2011 @ 10:14 pmA fine post of murals that are so impressive for their sheer size and brilliance. I liked having the ability to enlarge the detail of the mural.
Comment by don January 18, 2011 @ 9:00 amI would like to visit Calle 16! I applaud the owner’s attitude and direction he’s taking his business.
so very interesting to see such bright moving pieces ..murals are really such very special works of art..have you ever been able to phto one in progress?
Comment by elk January 18, 2011 @ 2:47 pmLove this!!! I need to show your blog to the next narrow-minded person who swears that Phoenix has no “art scene”.
Comment by Kara January 18, 2011 @ 8:51 pmGorgeous saturated color- love the murals.
Comment by camilla January 20, 2011 @ 7:06 pmGreat photos… and interesting commentary too.
Comment by Earnest January 23, 2011 @ 11:30 am[...] wrote about the huge mural project, Calle 16 last January. The other day after spending time in downtown Phoenix, I pulled into the alley full [...]
Pingback by Calle 16 Revisited « Glenrosa Journeys October 10, 2011 @ 8:01 pm[...] next one I wrote about in a post almost exactly a year ago. It was not quite completed at the time but now it [...]
Pingback by Mural Catch-Up « Glenrosa Journeys January 19, 2012 @ 7:24 pm