Cactus Monday - Downtown

Our recent trip to Downtown Tucson made me realize how little I know about the city's center. I'm learning that "The Old Pueblo," as Tucson is nicknamed, has many facets that are worth exploring. We did stumble upon some cactus and other plant forms on our quick trip, but we barely scratched the surface.

This is one of two matching metal basket towers on Scott Avenue at Broadway. It appears the bottom of the obelisk has information about the architecture of the area. Something to check out on on another visit.
The top looks like a Hohokam basket filled with prickly pears and some other plants.
A saguaro harvest is taking place on the lower portion of this wall treatment.
Notice the similar shapes of the basket tower and the Native American figure on the tiles.
A saguaro cactus echos the shapes of the archways in the superior court building.
A purple saguaro bus stop shelter:
This was my favorite bus stop:
At first I thought the big flower was a cactus blossom, but the trailing vines and leaves look like they belong to the rose family.
The flower's filaments are twisted steel rebar. I liked their shadows.
Another giant metal flowering plant sprouts out from the ground beside a sidewalk:
More plant forms on walls of buildings:
The artwork below is hard to see because of the busy reflection. The window has a wrought iron saguaro cactus with a bird and a human figure. It's across the street from the Chicago Store on Congress Street.
I'm kind of curious how the muscle man relates to the cactus here. Looks like they might be saying, "cheers!"

Happy Cactus Monday!

For more cactus posts, visit Teri at Teri's Painted Daisies.

Craycroft Road Art

Here is some of the public art on Craycroft Road between River Road and Sunrise Drive. The wall treatments tie in with the agave themed art along Sunrise Drive featured on my Sabino Canyon blog.
After Craycroft Road was widened, mosaics were created to adorn the retaining walls. The artwork is colorful, yet subtle.

The material looks like ceramic tile or stone.

Green metal agaves decorate fences at regular intervals.

Beside wall treatments, I found that two free-standing sculptures had sprung up. This one is by the River Road Library. I think it resembles an agave and the base echos the shapes on the wall mosaics.
And up the road, this rusted metal sculpture blends in surprisingly well. It doesn't have pointy shapes like the piece above. Rather than agave leaves, perhaps cactus blossoms or prickly pear pads come to mind.

To complete the road improvements, the unsightly cell tower was camouflaged. Yes, the tall cactus pictured below is fake. It's a saguaro cell tower like the ones on Sunrise Drive.
I'm pleased that Pima County and the City of Tucson support public art. The installations I've shown along Sunrise Drive and Craycroft Road are site-specific. In future posts I hope to share some of the rich diversity of artwork to be found around Tucson.