Santa Theresa Tile Works has been producing art for public spaces for a dozen years, creating award-winning public art in Tucson and across the country. Each piece is unique and specific to its site. We often incorporate the natural and social history of an area in our designs. Sometimes we use quotes from literature or folklore to engage passersby.

UAspire #1 (2002)
University of Arizona, Tucson
Created for the new Memorial Student Union and Bookstore, this A-shaped spire is 26 feet tall. The base is clad in handmade tile, the top in plasma-cut steel panels with "wings" of steel tube and mesh and 18 solar panels to light it up at night.

Mi Tierra / My Land (1999)
DeConcini Environment & Natural 
Resources Building, Tucson
This 25' x 25' atrium floor sculpture focuses on the richness, variety, and mystery of the earth beneath us through its materials: stone, rock, steel, glass and handmade tile. We incorporated quotations about the earth and its sciences, that were contributed by the facility's users. At night, the illumination pattern shows through glass blocks and tiles of plasma-cut steel.

Una Ventana los Vuelos Fantasticos / 
A Window on Fantastic Flights (2000)
Goldwater Terminal, 
Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix
In the center panel, the "window" of this 10'x14' mosaic wall mural, you see desert denizens rockin' with marracas under a starry sky pierced by planes, a rocket ship, a satellite. On either side, narrative panels note milestones in aviation, from the first "flight" of living beings in a tethered hot air balloon to the first untethered walk in space.

Plaza Arches (1992)
Santa Cruz River Park, Tucson
Santa Theresa Tile Works contributed to three areas of the River Park: we did the entrance sign on St. Mary's Road, a border along the wall that shows the river linking the neighborhood's barrios, and the four soaring arches in the central plaza. The text on the Plaza Arches traces the history of the area in Spanish, Yaqui (a Native American language), and English. In an extraordinary labor-intensive process, the passages were spelled out letter by letter on individual tiles, like setting type on a page. Community residents participated actively in the project. The dominant symbol for this neighborhood park - Santa Theresa's radiant red heart with a river running through it - has been called one of Tucson's favorite icons.