Drawing Dreams in the Desert: The Free Spirit Within Desert Pen Macias

✨ Meet the Desert Pen
Learn how Pen Macias turned a quarantine mural into a booming public art career and how her free-spirited upbringing shaped her bold, colorful style.

🌵 Falling in Love with Tucson
Hear how a short stopover at age 19 turned into a 20-year love affair with Tucson, beginning with one life-changing drive down Fourth Avenue.

🎨 Murals with Meaning
Discover how Pen uses Tucson’s public spaces, from utility boxes to historic buildings, to tell stories rooted in community, humor, and place.

🕶️ Tech-Forward Artistry
Find out how Pen incorporates virtual reality tools like the Oculus into her mural planning process, bringing a high-tech twist to street art.

💃 Celebrating Women in Tucson’s History
Explore the inspiration behind Pen’s Tucson 250+ mural, which honors the women who helped shape the city’s culture, leadership, and artistic legacy.

🖼️ A Mural Within a Mural
Learn how Pen paid homage to fellow artist Joe Pagac by including his iconic Desert Colossus inside her own mural, a rare and heartfelt gesture of artistic respect.

🧿 Big Earrings, Bigger Energy
Discover the personal ritual behind Pen’s signature statement earrings and how they help her show up with confidence in new creative spaces.

From backyard walls to downtown landmarks, Pen Macias—aka the Desert Pen—is leaving a colorful mark on Tucson’s cultural canvas. In this episode of Life Along the Streetcar, we sit down with this rising muralist to explore how her free-spirited beginnings blossomed into a full-fledged creative career. Her story is about identity, place, and the power of public expression in shaping a city’s soul.

Join us as we journey through her transformation from hobbyist to professional artist, her deep ties to Tucson’s art scene, and the innovation she’s bringing to public spaces in Southern Arizona.

🎨 From Doodles to Downtown: A Muralist’s Early Inspiration

For Pen Macias, creativity has always been second nature. Raised in Alabama by “really chill hippie” parents, she was given the freedom to turn walls into canvases from a young age. Her artistic instincts were nurtured at an arts magnet school, where she developed foundational skills, but the real training ground was her own home, where no wall was safe from a splash of color.

At just 15 years old, Pen painted her first mural. What began as a fun form of self-expression quickly became a passion. Still, she never imagined it would be anything more than a beloved hobby. Life moved on, careers shifted, and art remained in the background, until everything changed in 2020.

When the pandemic hit, Pen found herself stuck at home like the rest of us. Instead of boredom, she found inspiration. She painted a massive mural inside her house and posted it on Instagram. The post exploded. Friends reached out for custom pieces. Then friends of friends. Before long, strangers were commissioning her work. The hobby had transformed, and so had her life.

🖌️ Tucson Street Art & Public Murals: A Love Story in Color

Though born in the South, Pen’s heart found its true home in the Southwest. When she arrived in Tucson at 19, she intended to stay only briefly. But one trip down Fourth Avenue changed everything.

“I remember rolling into Fourth Avenue just days after I arrived, and it was so colorful and artistic and creative, I felt like I was at home,” she recalls. That feeling never faded. Two decades later, she’s deeply embedded in the community, both as a resident and as a visual storyteller for the city’s streets.

Her murals can now be found throughout Downtown Tucson, from electric box wraps to collaborative projects with the Historic Fourth Avenue Coalition, Pop Cycle, and the Arts Foundation. Pen Macias tells stories. Her work is filled with humor, warmth, and local symbolism, like packrats in sidecars or a hotel full of saguaro cacti.

And she’s not afraid to push boundaries. One of her favorite tools? Virtual reality. With the help of an Oculus headset, she can project her designs onto walls before ever picking up a paintbrush. It’s just one way she’s blending creativity and technology to reshape the landscape of Tucson public art.

🌵 Honoring Tucson Women Through Art: The 250+ Celebration Mural

When Pen was invited to be one of four muralists for Tucson’s 250+ celebration, she felt a deep sense of honor and responsibility. Her mural, located at Congress and Church on the side of Street Taco, celebrates Tucson’s rich history through a distinctly female lens.

The centerpiece is a cowgirl leaping off the wall, surrounded by iconic Tucson landmarks like Hotel Congress, the Fox Theatre, and a vintage 1930s car. But look closer, and you’ll see something extraordinary: Pen includes a mural within her mural, a tribute to fellow artist Joe Pagac’s Desert Colossus. It’s a nod to the public art pioneers who paved the way for artists like her.

The mural also honors Tucson’s historic women, figures like fashionista and cultural influencer Cele Peterson, and our city’s modern female leadership. “So much of Tucson’s culture and creativity has been shaped by women,” Pen says. “I wanted my mural to celebrate that legacy.”

This is identity. It’s community. It’s a living love letter to the city Pen calls home.

💫 Celebrate the Spirit of Tucson with Desert Pen

Pen Macias is painting Tucson’s personality into every corner of the city. Her art is bold, fun, thoughtful, and deeply rooted in place. She represents the best of what public art can be: accessible, inspiring, and totally Tucson.

🎧 Want to hear more?
Listen to the full interview now on SoundCloud or explore past episodes at lifealongthestreetcar.org.

📲 Get inspired by her work:
Follow Pen on Instagram at @the.desert.pen for murals, process shots, and a healthy dose of oversized earrings.

📍See her murals in person:
Visit her Tucson 250+ mural on Church & Congress, or find her whimsical utility boxes around Downtown Tucson and beyond.

💬 Love this story?
Share it on Facebook, tag a mural-loving friend, and let us know your favorite public art piece in Tucson!

Tom Heath
another first here for the lifelong. The streetcar we get to add to our muralist, our muralist, library of of archives here because we have the pen. Marcy is joining us today. I’m so excited.

Pen Macias
Hi. So excited to be here.

Tom Heath
Well, your name has popped up a lot recently because of the the involvement with the 250 plus celebration in your beautiful mural on on the, the side of the street Taco. But you’ve been doing this for a while.

Pen Macias
Yeah.

Pen Macias
Yeah.

Pen Macias
During. Well, I actually first started creating murals when I was 15. I went to arts magnet school, so that’s where I got, like, my skill set. And then my parents were, like, really chill hippies, and they just let me create murals everywhere around their house. And now my kids are like, can we paint a mural? And I’m like, no, no.

Pen Macias
Anyway, but then I really started doing it, like commercially, during Covid. I created a mural in my house. And then it, like, was pretty popular on, like, I just posted it on my personal account. And then I had friends that were like, come for us. And then, suddenly, like, people I didn’t know where commissioning me.

Pen Macias
And then I was like, made a business account. And then suddenly I was getting.

Pen Macias
Like, business.

Pen Macias
You know, and it was like maybe a couple of years in, I suddenly was like, do I do this? This isn’t my hobby anymore.

Pen Macias
Like, who should I do now? So it was.

Pen Macias
Never like my intention to be a, business owner. But I guess when it’s just like your passion and your, you know, calling in, like, just kind of, like, unfolds like that.

Tom Heath
So you were murals just the thing always. Or did you do you do portrait, do you do other things or what. Yeah. What led into the murals. Because that’s like a big step from I’m not going to do anything like let’s just paint big wall.

Pen Macias
Well, I had been doing I had that’s always sort of been like my favorite way to express myself because it’s so, yeah, I guess like the giant ness of a mural, like, it’s really invigorating. I like, love the challenge of, like, taking a humongous space and then creating a humongous piece of artwork. But yeah, I pursue literally any avenue of creativity.

Pen Macias
If there’s room to be creative, I’ll do it. Okay. But yeah, I guess creating murals just sort of, like, turned into the, the main squeeze.

Tom Heath
And then when you’re doing these. I know I’ve talked to different muralists and the method is always a little bit different, but what’s, what’s your thought process from like how do you get it to that scale to you to draw it out and then just freehand it. How do you like how do you figure out how to get from what’s in your head to the wall, or does it just.

Tom Heath
Yeah, you just know how to do it.

Pen Macias
I have to start with taking a picture of the space and then and I also like to sit in the space and sort of get a feel for like the energy and the vibe. And then I’ll literally draw the design onto the picture. So it kind of like it’s a then it’s really like a 1 to 1, like, you know, the exact proportions of this wall is what I’ve used as my canvas.

Pen Macias
And then, yeah, exactly. Like every muralist has ever said, the act of getting it from the paper onto the wall is going to really depend on the space. Sometimes it’s like creating a doodle grid or regular grid or counting bricks or using, projector. But the newest thing is using an oculus.

Tom Heath
No.

Pen Macias
Way, I love it.

Pen Macias
No way.

Tom Heath
We thought about.

Pen Macias
That. It’s so rad to use, virtual reality to, like you. Like, pin it on the wall in the Oculus, and then you just see your design on this wall, and you just.

Tom Heath
While you’re wearing the Oculus.

Pen Macias
Shabad. It’s so it’s so fun.

Tom Heath
I want to do murals, not just for that. There should be an entire like, oh my, my head spinning about this whole mural experience now that people can have.

Pen Macias
Yeah.

Pen Macias
It’s like it’s like the latest thing in in public art is.

Tom Heath
Like that breaking news here on on life along the streetcar. We are trendsetters. You’re talking about the latest things. I’m sorry. I mean, to cut you off, but we don’t have a lot of breaking news. It’s exciting.

Pen Macias
It’s huge.

Tom Heath
Oh my gosh. The then I guess when when I was doing a little bit of research, for this interview, which I don’t do a lot. But I did some. And I saw you with a photo from. I think it was 20, 20 or 21. And I remember the piece when it came out but didn’t realize it was yours.

Tom Heath
It was like the cover of the like the Rider guide. Yeah. For Sun Tran and I, I remember seeing that when it came out. I thought, oh my gosh, this is fabulous because it had the bus and like all this iconic, Tucson around it. And I was like, that’s like like a framed art piece right there. And it’s on the cover of the bus guide.

Tom Heath
I had it for a while, but I don’t I don’t have it anymore. Wow. So with that goes back to like, Covid days. Yeah.

Pen Macias
And yeah. And that was what was really nice during Covid was all the extra time I had because we were just stuck at home. And so, the sun chan had put out like they wanted a piece of art for the cover of their ride guide. And I had so much time, so I really, like, just let my creative, you know, energy.

Pen Macias
Just like I just went, like, just had fun creating it. And then they reached out and they were like, we like your art. And they put it on the guide. And then they every like couple of years they do a run of stickers of it.

Tom Heath
Oh, fantastic.

Pen Macias
Yeah, that was a really fun projects. And your son chan did.

Tom Heath
And that’s a it’s probably visible somewhere on your Instagram or something. I hope people check it out, because it really is like a really good representation of Tucson, with obviously the bus as being a central piece of it, but the rest of the piece is really iconic. Tucson.

Pen Macias
I think that’s really cool. You really dug into the art archives.

Pen Macias
That with that project, it.

Tom Heath
Just it just popped up and was like, I know that piece.

Pen Macias
There.

Tom Heath
And so then are are you from Tucson, as did you grow up here?

Pen Macias
So I actually when I was 19, I grew up in Alabama. When I was 19, I like came to Tucson to sort of just like go figure out what I want to do with my life. I had a friend here. I was going to stop here for a little while and then go do something else. And then I just loved our city.

Pen Macias
Like, I think I remember rolling into Fourth Avenue like days after I got to town, and it’s so colorful and artistic and creative. And I was, I like, like I literally was like, I’m at home. And so I just love Tucson. It’s a top tier city. It’s like it’s like so diverse. There’s so much cool culture. It’s so artistic.

Pen Macias
People are like enthusiastic for art here. And then, you know, look, that’s been 20 years and I’m still here.

Tom Heath
It’s a short stop. It’s I could relate. I came out for a couple years in 93.

Pen Macias
So really?

Tom Heath
Yeah. We see what happens. Interesting. Yeah. Fourth Avenue I can see you said earlier you grew up with, the free spirit family. Fourth Avenue seems to be like, oh, I’m home.

Pen Macias
Exactly, exactly. It felt like I was at home. It was. I just, like, I can visually like I can picture the day I rolled into Fourth Avenue and, like, was like, oh, this is where I meant to be.

Tom Heath
Yeah. And they, they needed work for them too. If I remember you did the, I think I sent it to you.

Pen Macias
Yeah I yeah. And that was like such a cool like full circle moment when their historic Fourth of Coalition reached out to me. I’ve done a few projects for them. And then in Pop Cycle, I, do a lot of work for them. They’re just amazing humans there. And so it was a full circle moment that I was like, I literally live here in this community because of this street.

Pen Macias
And now my art is, you know, part of it.

Tom Heath
That is fantastic. That’s fantastic. And your art pops up in interesting places, too. Like I’ve seen it on, on some of the, like the electric boxes in downtown, like, it’s like it’s not really painted on. It’s a wrap. Yeah, but you design the wrap. Yeah.

Pen Macias
That, that’s, I think like a new trend in public art is.

Tom Heath
Another new trend.

Pen Macias
You can look.

Tom Heath
At this.

Pen Macias
In, in like I’ve done them in, like Chandler and Phoenix. So there’s a lot of that’s kind of a new thing. Flagstaff is doing it right now. I’m not part of that project, but, they take what would be like, bland, boring utility boxes. And then, artists create like, digital art that they print on vinyl and install it, and it, like, holds up for a couple of years.

Pen Macias
But what I love about utility boxes is the, like, unique shape of it. Like, you can create something that’s like, interactive or it’s something different than a wall. So, one of the, the one I did by the bus stop over here, it’s like a hella monster and a packrat because it was like this weird little, like, hub box until I was like, it’s like a sidecar.

Pen Macias
So they’re like, riding on, Not a motorcycle, like, with.

Tom Heath
Like, a tandem bike or.

Pen Macias
The, like a ju like a.

Tom Heath
A douche bag. A for I, I’m, I’m picturing. I’m picturing them. I’m picturing the box, but I don’t remember the vehicle that they’re in.

Pen Macias
Yeah. It’s like a, And. Oh my gosh.

Tom Heath
And then, and then he’s in, like, the sidecar. Yeah. Yeah, he’s in the sidecar.

Pen Macias
Yeah. And so it’s like from, it’s like a 360 view. If you look on the side, you see the side of the hella monster. If you look on the back you see the back of it. Okay. And so it’s like a cool dynamic that you’d never get with painting on a wall. Like you can see 360, like you can see every side of it.

Pen Macias
So I thought it’d be cool for it to, you know, interact where it’s almost like you, a 3D, you know.

Tom Heath
And then that’s that that was was going to get to is that it’s not just a piece of artwork that’s been put on a vinyl. It’s custom designed and fits the space. And there’s a few others the other other artists have done as well, and it’s really creative how they use all the little nooks and crannies and make that as part of their out of their vision.

Tom Heath
It’s really interesting how that works.

Pen Macias
Yeah, yeah.

Tom Heath
You creatives, that’s it.

Pen Macias
Yeah.

Pen Macias
That was a really, really cool project. I think the Arts Foundation spearheaded that was downtown Tucson, and they just reached out to like, I don’t know, 5 or 6 artists to create.

Tom Heath
Well, they’re fun, and that one’s right in the corner of, it’s easy to see. It’s on the corner of Congress and Six, then right in front of the Ronstadt bus station. So it’s right there. And if you get stopped for the light, just look to the right and you’ll see it.

Pen Macias
Yeah. And they actually had asked me to like, write a bio about the artwork. And so I made, like, a Doctor Seuss style poem about the these two friends that are like stuck in traffic on or like they’re like, they’re like commuting through downtown and they’re like, stuck at the that light. It’s almost like that. The idea is that they’re.

Tom Heath
They’re, they’re.

Pen Macias
Part of the.

Tom Heath
Community. Yeah. They’re traveling through and just hanging out. So it’s been a long night for them. Well, where do we find the poem?

Pen Macias
That is such a good question.

Tom Heath
All right, well.

Pen Macias
We’ll track it down. Okay. Let’s define them.

Tom Heath
We’ll put it on Facebook I find it.

Pen Macias
I think if you’re at the utility box, there’s a QR code you can scan that will take you to it. Okay. And then I did another, utility box in that same project. I think, that’s over by Elkhart. The steakhouse Bell Charro has. Okay. And it’s a, it’s a Saguaro hotel.

Tom Heath
Yeah.

Pen Macias
That has, like, little.

Tom Heath
You know, I didn’t realize that was yours. I’ve seen that. It’s that’s another fun one. It’s a little taller. Yeah. So the Sahara fits perfectly there.

Pen Macias
Yeah. Exactly. Like in that was the same process I like sat with the utility box and like figured out what is the utility box. Interested in being.

Tom Heath
Fantastic. And then well, you’ve got a new one. Now that you know we as we’re recording this it’s just before. But when this this airs, it’ll be just after the unveiling of the 450 plus murals. We had Janae on talking about it, and we’ve had Ignacio talk a little bit about it, but how cool is it that you are one of the four muralist that was selected to represent this huge milestone, and in our history.

Pen Macias
I can’t express how honored I felt when Janae called me, about that project. And Ignacio is my good friend. He’s almost a mentor to me. I love Ignacio, and so he had connected Janae to, to me on that project, and that was like the honor of a lifetime. What an honor. You know, I, you know, I love this city so much.

Pen Macias
And so it was just so wonderful to get to be a voice in that project. And, the mural, has it has like, a cowgirl, like, riding off the wall and, as I like, really researched Tucson. There’s actually like, like a really cool, footprint of, like, women who kind of created our culture here. There’s, so a lot of the street names, are named after women.

Pen Macias
There was like, this fashionista I want to say her last name was Porter. And she kind of, like, created a creative scene downtown.

Tom Heath
Seal. Peterson. Is that or is it? Yes.

Pen Macias
And that. Porter. Can we cut? Look.

Pen Macias
Wow. You have a sharp history.

Pen Macias
Yes. Yeah. So she created, like, kind of a art scene downtown in, what, the 20s, I think.

Tom Heath
Yeah, she she was for several decades, but she’s just a huge influence in Tucson.

Pen Macias
Yeah, exactly. In, like, the culture, like, we were, like, kind of a hub for fashion here because of her. And, you know, we have a female mayor. And so, I kind of wanted my piece to sort of celebrate, like women in, in Tucson, like, we, you know, there’s a lot of the diversity and the culture and, art we have here is because, like, you know, women really like, shape that.

Tom Heath
So one of the things I found most interesting about it and people can find this, it’s on, what is it? Is it on Church Street? What street is it on?

Pen Macias
It’s church in.

Tom Heath
Congress. Yeah. So. And it’s just on the west side of the wall where the street taco is, and you got to check it out. If you didn’t go to the unveiling. But my I was going by, and, you know, we do a tour we and this is part of and we drive by. So we were so I saw you working on it a few times, and then I’m watching you get finished and you’ve got like a 1930s style car that’s sort of representing that John Dillinger days.

Tom Heath
You got Hotel Congress, Fox Theater like this, cars driving off. And I look and in the distance at the very end of this mural, you have a mural inside of your mirror and you’re paying, paying respect to Joe Padgett because you have his desert colossus, the big Zorro, stuck in there. And I’m like, oh my gosh, this might be the first mural I’ve seen that’s actually incorporating another mural.

Pen Macias
So yeah.

Pen Macias
That was actually really funny. So I originally had that last chunk of this design just placed in the 30s. And then I like in my research, I ended up putting landmarks from that actually never would be seen. At the same time, you’ll see, like the Fox Theater that blade is from, I want to say the 50s or the 60s, like all of these landmarks are from different times.

Pen Macias
And then I like, had this idea that, like, we should have something that kind of nods to our modern skyline. And I actually was with Joe and his wife Lenka at the time, and I was like, would you be okay with me putting your mural in the mural? And, you know, Joe is the chillest funnest human. And he was like, that’s hilarious.

Pen Macias
I love it.

Pen Macias
So so.

Pen Macias
I just, yeah, I just put his his mural in my mural, and I feel like it’s sort of like honors the public art we have here. You know, he absolutely. Joe did a lot to, like, create, culture of public art. And that’s given a lot of opportunities to other artists. So I, I feel like it’s fitting for a mural he created to, sort of be represented in, in, a mural that celebrates Tucson.

Tom Heath
How do we find more about you? What are your what are your handles on the social media? In the in the Facebook, in the in the websites? How do we get Ahold of you?

Pen Macias
I best be seen on Instagram at the Desert Pen.

Tom Heath
Okay. That’s the best place to find you.

Pen Macias
Yes. All right.

Tom Heath
We’re going to have to have you back because we just barely scraped the surface. This is. You have so much positive energy. This is so fun. And I don’t even get to talk about what my surprise question was going to be, which is because I’ve seen a few different interviews from you, and apparently you have a thing for earrings.

Pen Macias
Oh my gosh, how did you know that?

Tom Heath
Because you’ve got you’ve got different interviews and you always have your earrings are always just so present. And then you get if you get to see the video because you come with these beautiful turquoise earrings and like, I have to ask that question, we got a time.

Pen Macias
Oh, we don’t have time. I am screaming that you picked.

Pen Macias
Up on that.

Pen Macias
Because.

Pen Macias
That’s so intentional. When I’m in a setting where I’m like a little intimidated or like, like I don’t know what to expect. I wear humongous earrings as a distraction.

Pen Macias
Okay.

Tom Heath
But you did great. I appreciate your time. Just excited to see. I think this is, like, a springboard, like you’re coming into the public consciousness, and I’m sure you’re going to see a lot more work from you.

Pen Macias
Wow. Cool. That’s such a honor. Thank you.

Tom Heath
Thanks, bro. Good job guys.

Pen Macias
Oh.