windows to the past, gateway to the future • dedicated may 1, 1999 • tucson, arizona
artist: stephen farley • tilography™ by richard young and tom galloway
this is a view of the largest of the four walls comprising artist steve farley's monument to everyday people at the eastern gateway to downtown tucson.
street photographs taken of individuals walking in downtown tucson from the 1930s to the 1960s were collected from the general public all over Tucson, edited down to 14 images, then converted to glazed ceramic tile using tilography, a process invented specifically for this project, but applicable to many other uses in the future.
tom beal, special projects editor at the arizona daily star, declared, "this is the most exciting public artwork I have ever seen in tucson or anywhere else."
people all over tucson have accepted the work as one of their own, a work which, thanks to the virtually indestructible and graffiti-proof nature of tilography, will last for as long as the interchange it graces.
the westernmost four panels on wall 1 feature tucson residents walking along congress street: henry lee in 1942, sylvia & mort tuller in 1955, dolores de leon in 1954, and goyo escalante & lalo guerrero in 1938
this 1916 tucson street scene is wall 2 of the project
this 1969 bus emerging from the old broadway underpass is wall 3 of the project
this view shows wall 4 at right depicting george roskruge, an early tucson city surveyor in 1920