A 30-foot neon Saguaro sculpture, one of the finishing touches of the Oracle/Main/Drachman intersection improvement project, was installed Tuesday.
Artist Dirk Arnold was selected by the Tucson Pima Arts Council to design the sculpture, which fulfills the public art component of the intersection improvement.
"I call it the Gateway Saguaro," says Arnold. "It's a two-way gateway. It says 'Miracle Mile' as you are driving northbound into the historic Miracle Mile area, and as you are driving south towards Downtown, it says 'Tucson.'
"The Saguaro of course is the iconic symbol of the greater Tucson area, and we did it in neon so that it would be evocative of the historic car culture of Miracle Mile during the 30s through 60s."
Arnold, who has been an advocate of saving and restoring old Tucson signs, runs the website EndangeredArchitecture.com and specializes in recreating yesterday's signs by doing laser-cut miniature refrigerator magnets.
The new Saguaro gateway is expected to be fully lit and operational in a few weeks. The sculpture was fabricated and installed by Cook & Company SignMakers.
