{"id":610562,"date":"2026-04-28T04:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/610562\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T04:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:15:19","slug":"public-artist-joe-pagac-unveils-new-phoenix-mural-in-oro-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/610562\/","title":{"rendered":"Public artist Joe Pagac unveils new phoenix mural in Oro Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (KGUN) \u2014 Local muralist Joe Pagac has completed a new mural for Desert Drifter Coffee at 10335 North La Ca\u00f1ada Drive, featuring a dramatic phoenix rising from the ashes that deliberately incorporates the caf\u00e9\u2019s existing brick elements and honors cowboy spirit and the golden blooms of the region\u2019s palo verdes.<\/p>\n

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Pagac, who shared with me the exclusive details, said he worked closely with the Desert Drifter team, who \u201creally liked the idea of the focal point being a phoenix.\u201d He added, \u201cThey let me get weird with it, and it’s much more what I want to be painting… many times, I’ll pitch surreal stuff to other clients and get turned down, so I really appreciate Desert Drifter \u2014 they let me do my thing. I can keep having fun with it… I like to do work that’s sometimes a little out there, more surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Also See: Tucson muralist Joe Pagac dances, defies gravity and paints hope at local medical center<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Pagac spent time in Buckeye, AZ, completing a community-driven mural at Verrado and Van Buren. He said the piece celebrates local desert life \u2014 blooming prickly pear and saguaro, a big Buckeye over the Gila River, a horseback rider splashing through water with dogs at golden hour, agricultural themes with an old\u2011fashioned plow, evening storms turned orange by sunset, a Gila monster and California poppies \u2014 and was shaped by community input. See it in the video below:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Asked what\u2019s next, Pagac laughed and teased a playful downtown project: \u201cThe mural I designed for Grant and Swan that I’ll start in a week is so me, my design features a cowboy on a floatie, doing fun stuff, with fun animals, and more… we’ll leave it at that for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Desert Drifter mural is open for public viewing; Pagac encouraged passersby to stop and take photos.<\/p>\n

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STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (KGUN) \u2014 Local muralist Joe Pagac has completed a new mural for Desert Drifter Coffee…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,265213,229,88,265214,20333,265215],"class_list":["post-610562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-desert-drifter-coffee","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-joe-pagac","tag-oro-valley","tag-phoenix-mural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}