DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun Historic District is the artistic manifestation and architecture constructed by Ettore DeGrazia. The property is a series of buildings scattered throughout a natural desert setting. Built in Tucson near the intersection of Swan Road and Skyline the property is now a museum open to the public. Construction began in 1951 with the open air Mission in the Sun followed by a series of other expressionistic adobe buildings. The gallery/museum was constructed in 1965 with details including cactus flooring, exposed wood beams, rafters and unique artistic finishes.
The gallery replaced the first DeGrazia Building constructed in 1944 on the corner of Prince and Campbell Road. Artists and friends who spent time at the new gallery included Thomas Hart Benton, Olaf Wieghorst, Jack Van Ryder, Pete Martinez and Ross Santee. In 2006, the 10-acre (40,000 m2) property, now a museum of DeGrazia's work, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The first building on the site, The Mission in the Sun was dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe and to the memory of Padre Eusebio Kino. DeGrazia hand painted every wall with murals and included a large painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the brick altar. Visitors have used the Mission as their own spiritual site often leaving photos, candles and other mementos. The Mission has also hosted many weddings throughout the years. On May 30, 2017 a fire heavily damaged the Mission. At the time of the fire there were no hanging pictures by DeGrazia inside the chapel, but walls, murals and the roof were damaged. Conservators began work to salvage and restore some of the artifacts. [1] [2] The walls were plastered over to secure what remained of the original murals, 80% of which were destroyed. One of the conservators is an artist personally mentored by DeGrazia. The restored chapel reopened to the public in the fall of 2019. Some of the fire damage was intentionally retained. [3]
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, and is home to the University of Arizona. It is the second largest city in Arizona, with a population of 542,629 in the 2020 United States Census, while the population of the entire Tucson metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is 1,043,433. The Tucson MSA forms part of the larger Tucson-Nogales combined statistical area (CSA). Tucson is the second most-populated city in Arizona behind Phoenix, both of which anchor the Arizona Sun Corridor. The city is 108 miles (174 km) southeast of Phoenix and 60 mi (97 km) north of the U.S.–Mexico border. Tucson is the 33rd largest city and the 58th largest metropolitan area in the United States (2014).
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Eusebio Francisco Kino, often referred to as Father Kino, was a Tyrolean Jesuit, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer and astronomer born in the Territory of the Bishopric of Trent, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. For the last 24 years of his life he worked in the region then known as the Pimería Alta, modern-day Sonora in Mexico and southern Arizona in the United States. He explored the region and worked with the indigenous Native American population, including primarily the Tohono O'Odham, Sobaipuri and other Upper Piman groups. He proved that the Baja California Peninsula is not an island by leading an overland expedition there. By the time of his death he had established 24 missions and visitas.
Ettore "Ted" DeGrazia was an American impressionist, painter, sculptor, composer, actor, director, designer, architect, jeweler, and lithographer. Described as "the world's most reproduced artist", DeGrazia is known for his colorful images of Native American children of the American Southwest and other Western scenes. DeGrazia also painted several series of exhibitions like the Papago Legends, Padre Kino, Cabeza de Vaca.
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Pima County Courthouse is the former main county courthouse building in downtown Tucson, Arizona. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by Roy Place in 1928 in Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture.
Edith Ann Hamlin (1902–1992) was an American landscape and portrait painter, and muralist. She is known for her social realism murals created while working with the Public Works of Art Project, Federal Art Project and the Section of Painting and Sculpture during the Great Depression era in the United States and for her decorative style paintings of the American desert.
The Plaza Theater was the crowning jewel of 1920s development on West Congress Street in Tucson and the only indoor Spanish language theater in Southern Arizona. The theater was designed by renowned local Tucson architect Roy Place in 1930 for A. Kaufman a local commercial developer and pioneer merchant and leased to Los Angeles theater operator Joe Gross. Kaufman declared the night before opening that he;
"regarded the Plaza as Tucson's own theater, since all local employes [sic] had been hired for the construction of the building with equipment and contracting coming from Tucson sources whenever possible."
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Joe Pagac is an Arizona-based performance artist, muralist and fine artist. He is well known for his large scale and rotating murals, which are often created live during public events. A graduate of the University of Arizona's art program, Joe Pagac traveled extensively worldwide honing his craft before becoming a fixture to the downtown Tucson arts scene. Almost as well known for his philanthropy as well as his artistic talents, Joe Pagac also is involved with many local organizations, including the Tucson Stray Canine Saviors and the Arizona Homeless Project - Breaking the Cycle.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Tucson, Arizona, USA.
David Tineo is an American artist of Mexican descent whose works focus on cultural and identity issues particular to Mexican Americans who live in the U.S. Though internationally known, most of Tineo's life and career has been spent in Tucson, Arizona. He was diagnosed in 2004 with a macular degeneration that left him legally blind, but continues to paint and sculpt.
Pete Martinez (1894–1970) was an American cowboy artist who specialized in drawing, printmaking, and watercolor. He is best known for his illustration and prints of Arizona desert landscapes and images of cowboy life.
Leionne Salter (1892–1972) was a key figure in Tucson, Arizona's early 20th century revival movement that provided the region with a distinct and unique romantic style that blended of influences from Mexico, the Sonoran desert, and California. Salter credited her design inspiration from desert flora, fauna and from the art of “old Mexico.”
Media related to The DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun Historic District at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 32°19′20″N110°53′30″W / 32.32222°N 110.89167°W