An artist hired by a business to produce a 400-foot-long mural on a 6-foot-tall east-facing wall of a new apartment complex is going back to the drawing board after an Apache Junction commission suggested revisions.
The Apache Junction Public Arts Commission discussed the mural at a meeting March 11 and voted unanimously to continue it to another meeting. The new concept for the public art mural costing $100,000 at The Residences at Apache Trail will be discussed at 6 p.m. April 3 at the City Council Chambers, 300 E. Superstition Blvd.
The Apache Junction City Council, in 2019, established the all-volunteer arts commission. Fees are required for development to fund public art, including up to $100,000 for each new commercial or multifamily project.
The Residences at Apache Trail is on the southwest corner of Broadway and Tomahawk, with the wall along Tomahawk behind a drainage wash, Tim Daugherty, landscape architect with Studio DPA, told the commission March 11.
“It’s set back about 80 feet off Tomahawk and approximately 60 (feet) of it will be that drainage structure,” he said. “(I)t’s a 6-foot (concrete masonry unit) wall.”
Paige Reesor, the artist hired by 29th Street Capital to do the art for the wall, told the commission March 11 that she designed a desert scene with plants and animals.
The concept did not pass muster by the five-member commission.
“This kind of first theme here I was just trying to do a bunch of closeups so you can see really from the distance vegetation with cactus, blooms and then having kind of a desert scene in the background. That’s like the main focus with the animals — I’m thinking of hummingbirds, eventually you’ll see some javelina, Gila monsters,” Reesor told the commission.
“Just trying to have something that when you think of Arizona you’re thinking of all of those animals with it. And each of those closeups, eventually it will kind of fade out to be a little bit more minimal with the work and then going back to another visual image with that,” she said.
What the proposed mural is lacking are images of the surrounding mountains and landmarks near Apache Junction, commission members said.
“I know one of the biggest things that is going to come up is ‘Where’s our mountains?’ Because that is the reason why probably 60% of us moved here is for that mountain out there and I think it would be nice if we — and I don’t mean the whole thing with the Superstitions in the background — but if we could put an identifiable Superstition (landmark such as)... Weaver’s Needle... or the Flatiron, something that people would go ‘Wow. That is the Supers.’ I think that would go a long way to public acceptance of it,” Commission Chair Jeffrey F. Danford told the artist.
Four Peaks or one of the lakes could be added, other commission members said.
“That can be an easy fix for me, doing a background change,” Reesor said.
“(W)hen you are doing a mural here that is designed for this community, I think we need to look at Superstitions, maybe Four Peaks. Those two are really readily recognizable — everybody knows what those are,” Danford said.
Reesor said she agreed and could do a new design.
“If we can do another design mockup, I am happy to do that. Because I actually think that would be much better,” she said.
Vice Chair Gretchen Klett thanked Reesor for designs she presented to the commission.
“I think you’ve done a good job with your mockups and thinking about our area. It’s a great idea the way you’ve got the details in some parts and then the more graphic. It almost gives your eye a rest to see something to look at that’s busy and because it’s such a long space, you don’t want it so busy. It just gets lost,” she said.
Mural project
The $100,000 budget for the mural, according to a document given to the city of Apache Junction by 29th Street Capital, includes:
$74,065.20 to the artist;
$23,600 for masonry wall and primer; and
$5,000 for architecture, engineering and administrative costs.
Spray paint, brushes, stencils — and rollers to apply an anti-graffiti sealant — are some of the items listed as equipment for the construction of the mural.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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