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TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) \u2014 A huge complex under construction to be a showcase for sports and entertainment will be a showcase for local art too.<\/p>\n
Mosaic Quarter near I-10 and Kino\/Campbell is really coming along as a sort of large regional, sports and entertainment complex and as it comes together you can see all wallspace and think, \u201cYou know, you could really do something with that, it\u2019s kind of an artists canvas,\u201d so that\u2019s how they\u2019re going to treat it, like an artist\u2019s canvas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mosaic Quarter will include an iceplex for ice hockey and other skating sports, a field house for court sports, and venues for entertainment. It\u2019s designed to attract people from all over the region, but bring home the feel of Southern Arizona.<\/p>\n
Mosaic Quarter Vice President Lindsay Knott says, \u201cWe started talking about how we can implement that with an opportunity to make the buildings be a part of the community. And we had a conversation about that, and that ended up being, is there an opportunity for us to look at community art? And that led to us having a conversation about implementing murals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murals bring extra life to the heart of the city, especially downtown.<\/p>\n
Mosaic Quarter will have plenty of room for its own murals. It will have at least ten. Drivers will be able to see many of them as they roll down I-10.<\/p>\n
There will be unique murals painted by a dream team of six local artists.<\/p>\n
Ignacio Garcia is one of the most active mural artists in town.<\/p>\n
He helped Mosaic Quarter assemble the team of artists.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was quite honored for them to pick me and to create something this massive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each artist will bring a unique vision of local color and culture to the walls of the complex.<\/p>\n
Garcia says, \u201cI think it all leads down to that these murals are a reflection of Tucson and how much people feel so connected, and they’re so proud of that identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The artists will have a lot of freedom to pick what they paint. There\u2019s no requirement to have a sports theme, just the drive to create beautiful art on a big scale.<\/p>\n
The Iceplex will be the first part of the Quarter to open. That should be Spring of next year\u2014but the walls will be ready for paint\u2014and imagination\u2014well before that.<\/p>\n
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Craig Smith<\/i><\/b> is <\/i>a reporter for KGUN 9<\/i><\/a>. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing <\/i>craig.smith@kgun9.com<\/i><\/b> or by connecting on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a> and <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n