From A to ... Yuma

The English alphabet is the foundation for our written and spoken language, but Teri Ingram also is using it as the basis for a work of art that showcases prominent places around Yuma.

The longtime Yuma artist has created “A to Yuma,” a collage consisting of photographs of 25 letters of the alphabet, each of which appears in the building facade or outdoor sign belonging to a Yuma landmark.

The photos, lined up in rows in a black mat frame, begins with the A that starts off the word “Art” on the sign for the Yuma Art Center.

Z is the only letter that's left out in the collage, which concludes with the Y in “Yuma,” seen on the train stop located near the Armed Forces Park in the downtown.

“I tried to do iconic things in Yuma,” said Ingram, who besides being an artist frames photographs and paintings professionally as owner of Teri Did It.

“The long short story of if it is that I did (a similar collage) 18 years ago for a niece, with letters (from the names of attractions) at Disneyland,” she recalled. “(A letter collage) is a different way of looking at things.”

Ingram tooks all of the photos in one day about a year and a half ago and then combined them into the original collage measuring 30 inches by 30 inches.

Ingram ended up donating it for auction at the Yuma Visitor Bureau's Harvest Dinner event, with proceeds going into a scholarship fund for deserving area youth. She has since made and sold reproductions measuring 20 inches by 20 inches, a size she admits is more suitable for display in the home.

“Most of the people who buy it have been here awhile and remember these places,” Ingram said.

The collage also represents something of a trip down Memory Lane for Ingram. The daughter of Marine officer, Ingram was born in California but spent much of her youth in Yuma and went to high school here.

That's why she included in the collage the “V” in the Village Inn Pizza Parlor at 41 E. 16th St. When she was in high school, it was a popular hangout for students at the end of Friday night football games.

“We called it the VI on 16th Street.”

Having completed high school, Ingram left Yuma. At some point after she returned to the area in 1996 the idea of creating the Yuma landmark collage began to take shape in her mind. Then about a year and a half ago, she enlisted her husbands to help her in her project.

“We did it in a day. He carried the notebook and I carried the camera.”

The B in the collage is a photo of the Brownie's Cafe sign, while the C is taken from a photo of the Chretin's sign at the restaurant's former location at 4th Street and 15th Avenue.

The D is taken from Da Boyz Pizza & Pasta. Although the popular eatery is relatively knew, it occupies a historic place, the Kress building in downtown Yuma.

The collage takes its other letters from signs or facades at these other prominent places around town:

• E from the sign at El Charro Cafe

• F from La Fonda restaurant and tortilla factory

• G from La Casa Gutierrez

• H from Hotel del Sol

• I from the Lyric Theatre

• J from Jimmie Dee's bar

• K from the Kress building

• L from Lutes Casino

• M from the Marine Corps Air Station

• N from the former Yuma National Bank building, which today houses Yuma County's administrative offices.

• O from the Ocean to Ocean Bridge

• P from the Yuma Territorial Prison

• Q from the Quechan Indian Museum

• R from Red's Birdcage bar

• S from the San Carlos Hotel

• T from Twigs gift store on the downtown mall

• U from the United Building, which today houses the Artist Coop on the downtown mall

• V from Village Inn Pizza Parlor

• W for West Wetlands Park

• Y from the Yuma on the railroad sign.

So why didn't Ingram find a Z. Because, she said, Y in the Yuma is the best end-all for the collage.

Ingram is selling the 20-inch-by-20-inch collage with black mat frame for $120. For more information, call her at 928-726-5351 or 928-446-2053.