{"id":758224,"date":"2026-04-28T05:07:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T05:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/758224\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T05:07:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T05:07:19","slug":"first-look-public-artist-joe-pagac-unveils-new-phoenix-mural-in-oro-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/758224\/","title":{"rendered":"First Look: 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: <\/b>Tucson muralist Joe Pagac dances, defies gravity and paints hope at local medical center<\/b><\/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<\/b><\/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":3,"featured_media":758225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,311744,1033,171,311745,30766,311746,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-758224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-desert-drifter-coffee","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-joe-pagac","tag-oro-valley","tag-phoenix-mural","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116480602688582454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}