South Mountain Community Center Gets New Mexican Mural
May 1, 2002
A public art project with ancient Mexican symbolism and styling will debut
just in time for Cinco de Mayo. A special dedication ceremony will be held
at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the South Mountain Community Center's Cholla
room, 212 E. Alta Vista Road (south of Southern Avenue). The public is welcome
to attend the ceremony to view the installation, meet the artists -- husband-and-wife
team Marcus Zilliox and Tlisza Jaurique -- and enjoy refreshments.
"The Tree of Life" project consists of a 9.5-foot-high by 24.5-foot-wide mural in vibrant hues that depicts a thought-provoking arrangement of Aztec symbols and decorative elements. Zilliox and Jaurique enlisted the help of young people who participate in the community center's programs to complete the mural.
The left half of the mural portrays daytime with a stylized sun and blue sky, and the right half of the mural portrays nighttime with the moon, stars and other symbols of the night sky. The central element -- the "tree of life" -- takes the form of a cholla cactus growing from the jaws of two flaming snake figures that border the mural. The cactus represents the life that grows in the desert and serves as a symbol of the community center as the core of the neighborhood. The snakes represent the heat of the Sonoran desert. Horizontal bands forming the edges of the mural symbolize the life-giving water of the Salt River and the thorny earth.
Zilliox, an Arizona artist of Mexican and Gila River Pima descent, has had more than three dozen exhibitions in museums, galleries and other art spaces, including several public art commissions and collaborations with his wife and fellow artist Jaurique.
Jaurique is a Phoenix native of Xicana/Yaqui/Basque descent whose works have been displayed in numerous solo and group exhibitions as well as public art installations. She also has lectured extensively and worked in video, film and performance art.
"The Tree of Life" project is a collaboration of the Phoenix Arts Commission and Parks and Recreation Department, made possible in part by Parks and Recreation Percent for Art funds.
For more information, call 602-262-4637/voice or 602-534-5500/TTY or visit
http://phoenix.gov/ARTS/artprogr.html
on the Internet.
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