Placita de la Luna, nestled on Castro Avenue near Grant and Stone Avenues, thrums with the quiet history of old Tucson and buzzes with new creative energy among the hustle and bustle of the congested streets it corners.
Located at 2409 N. Castro Ave., its thick adobe walls and sweeping archways are a testament to the architecture of a simpler time when families dwelled together for generations. The site is a catacomb of rooms and large living spaces surrounding a common-area courtyard. It has been newly renovated to facilitate the Tucson Artist Colony, an enclave for Tucson artists.
Originally, the structure was built as a family home by Pasqui Yaqui Indians in 1934.The tribe dug up the adobe mud on-site and hand-formed the structure, adding to the home as the family's needs grew.
In 2006, when its owners decided to sell, Susan and Greg Alexander bought the complex. Their tattoo shop, Maggie Mays Tucson Tattoo Studio, has been at the location since 1998.
Inspired by fine art and the history of Tucson, the couple took on the project of renovating each room one-by-one as money and time permitted. Their idea was to turn the once shabby and dilapidated complex into a place for fine art students to learn their craft in a nurturing environment.
"It took us about two years to clean it up," Susan Alexander explained about having to turn around the reputation of the building.
The original living structures had been converted into apartments which apparently housed drug dealers, prostitutes and junkies. With a lot of patience and earnest hard work, the couple was able to rid Placita de la Luna of its seedy clientele.
Presently, those same rooms have been renovated into art studios for a collection of prominent southwestern artists: Brenda Semanick, Phil Starke, Chauncey Homer, Sarah J. Webber and Robert Goldman. The walls are now adorned with paintings inspired by the rugged landscape of Tucson and its colorful culture.
The Tucson Artist Colony artists teach fine arts classes on most painting mediums in the on-site classroom on a weekly basis. On December 10-12 from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Webber will be hosting a 3-day holiday workshop focusing on painting smaller portraits of animals to give away as gifts. The price for the workshop is $300 for the full workshop and a $50 deposit is required to reserve a space.
The Alexanders are still in process of renovating the strip mall portion of the complex, which was added sometime in the '50s. Through the years, the storefronts have housed a TV repair school, a leather store and Don's Barber shop which opened in 1976 and is still there today.
The couple's plans are to use the old storefronts to incorporate a larger classroom, a space for iron work and pottery including an in-house kiln.
"Phil [Starke] and I are going to build an old-fashioned kick wheel," Susan Alexander said.
Some of the storefronts will be available to interested artists and art-inspired businesses by Jan 15.
For more info, visit www.PlacitadelaLuna.com, email PlacitaDeLaLuna@live.com or call 270-6351.
