Tucson's Public Art
Giant A

Giant A Detail

Title: UASpire #1 by Santa Theresa Tile Works

Location: U of A Campus, just South of the parking garage at Mountain Ave. and 2nd Street.

Details: Giant decorative iron A with tile mosaic, solar cells (we think it lights up at night), and a mirrored crescent moon at the top.

Giant A Detail

She Said:

This is a very cool piece; it was fun to walk around it and discover all the different animals, insects, plants, and other designs incorporated into the A.  I'm sure that if I go back to look at it again, I'll see things I didn't notice the first time.  I particularly liked the frogs (not shown here) that cavort in a blue tile river next to the javelinas pictured above, and the various hummingbirds that are included in the design.

He Said:

Like the City of Tucson, the University of Arizona believes that Public Art is a basic public service and requires that a fraction of the amount spent for new construction be spent on artwork.

This particular piece is a real treasure, filled with intricate details showing life in the desert that merge into the giant A representing the university. Here, in a short time you can find tile hummingbirds, javelinas (for those outside Tucson, javelinas resemble pigs, but are really peccaries, and not related), saguaros, frogs, dragonflies, and on and on. It's a veritable mosaic jam-packed with life, just like the Sonoran Desert that surrounds Tucson.


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Copyright © 2004 S. Halversen. All rights reserved.