As a longtime resident of SaddleBrooke, President of the SaddleBrooke Fine Arts Guild and an artist/photographer, I’ve enjoy many years of collaboration with other creatives in our community and have come to know we have a lot of extremely talented people living here. So, when Mario Coelho, former SaddleBrooke One’s common area manager, approached Delys Nast (also a board member in the Fine Arts Guild and member of several other creative clubs in SaddleBrooke) to gather various creative people from our community to discuss a beautification project, we were thrilled to get the word out. With representation from many of our creative clubs (photography, glass, pottery, wood carvers, fine arts…) we brainstormed about what we might do to collaborate on murals that would be placed along Ridgeview Boulevard to start.
We all agreed that this project needed to do more than just place pictures on the walls. We wanted the visual imagery to include the landscaping in the foreground to create a more inclusive experience for people passing by. With a bit of research, we discovered that today’s advanced printing technology gives us the ability to print images on tiles that are then fired and can be installed anywhere tiles can be laid, both indoors and outside. This has lots of advantages including a very long life in our extreme conditions here in the desert southwest.
The photography and fine arts group called for members to submit work with a southwest focus and we received several amazing images to choose our first two images. A smaller group from the original team reviewed and winnowed down entries to select the final images for our initial installations—one from the photography club and one from the Fine Arts Guild. A great deal of thought and consideration went into the selection process with special attention to what would have the greatest appeal to our residents and what would support our community by boosting appeal and even home values. Ellen Victor’s photography and the fine art of Delys Nast created the first two images selected for this year’s installation.
These two images are just the first of what we hope to be several creative installations of murals along Ridgeview and on other walls along key streets in SaddleBrooke to showcase the many talented artists in our community. An extension of this project that we already enjoy includes the Pottery group’s Lizzy the Lizard and other works in the Roadrunner Grill with more to come. Also in the works, is an art installation from our Glass club and plans for more art displays in our new Creative Arts and Wellness center planned for SaddleBrooke One.
These first two images will be placed on the concrete walls along Ridgeview Boulevard in the first part of July along with landscaping to enhance the experience. So, keep your eyes open for more beauty in the ‘Brooke!
Tucson's having a big fast-food reshuffle
