Utility boxes are typically big, green and ugly, but without them the city’s electric grid would not function. For decades, cities and residents accepted them as a necessary blight on the urban landscape. However, a few decades back, communities began turning the boxes into objects of public art. This year, Coronado is poised to join them, pending a vote by the City Council on Tuesday, June 16.
The proposal being considers would allow some of Coronado’s utility boxes to be wrapped in vinyl with digitized images of wheels, wings and water, commemorating modes of transportation that have existed here since the city was born. Twenty boxes have been selected (see list below). There are plans to include one or two boxes in the Cays as well. The Cultural Arts Commission (CAC) is organizing the project as part of this year’s 125th Coronado anniversary celebration, known as Celebrate Coronado 125 (CC125).
If the plan is approved, the boxes will be wrapped in two phases. Between August 11 and December 11, the city’s actual birthday, five boxes designed by adult artist will be installed. On December 13 the city will begin installing the student designs on 15 boxes. Designs can be fashioned using any type of media: photography, painting, collage or digital imagery. Each wrap is expected to last five to seven years when the city can decide to continue the project by creating new designs or end the project and return the boxes to their original state, according to Kelly Purvis, the city’s contract arts administrator.
All artists must submit drawings of their proposed designs. A panel, selected by the CAC, will jury the submissions.
Just as it is with the installations, the CAC has decided the submission processes into two phases. Adult designs will be sought first with a call to artists on June 17. The student submissions will be due in October. In many respects, these student submission are the most important to the project, as from its inception, the CAC has made arts education a primary objective and has made a major effort to reach out to local schools both public and private.
“Students are at the heart of the project,” Purvis said. “We wanted to include something tangible and show that public art can be made by students.” The CAC is preparing a curriculum for schools and will provide art teachers to classes who participate. Once the designs are selected, each student will have an adult utility box artist to mentor them through the process.
For some local students this won’t be the first time they have made drawings about transportation. This spring, the CAC, in collaboration with Emerald C Gallery, held a juried exhibition of student artists as a prequel of sorts for the big event this fall. A curriculum was developed, artists went into the classrooms to teach students how to develop and express their ideas. A panel juried the paintings and best work was exhibited at Emerald C Gallery over the Memorial Day weekend.
The main difference in the utility box project will be the number of schools participating. The first time out there were only handful of schools and classes involved – fourth graders from Village and Strand Elementary, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh graders from Sacred Heart and seventh and eighth graders from Coronado Middle School.
Those who did participate found it an exhilarating experience. “All the kids were so excited about the project. I’m really glad I did this,” said Kathy Shady, fourth grade teacher at Village Elementary.
Many of the students whose work was selected plan to compete again, this time for the honor of having their work on display for more than a few days.”I’m definitely go to do it, ” said Olivia Strong a 7th grader at Sacred Heart. “It’s going to be up for seven years.”
Others who participated in the last art event loved the experience but were not quite ready to commit to going though the process again. They had other priorities. “This took a really long time, and I love to ride horses,” said Camellia Tzadok, a fourth grader at Village Elementary (shown below with her painting of a young girl riding a horse).
The CAC’s utility box project is based on Sacramento’s Capitol Box Art project that launched last year, but it follows a long trend in utility box beautification that took off in the last century. East Village in San Diego was the first local community to paint their boxes. It wanted not only to speed gentrification but to discourage graffiti and gang “tagging.”
Soon other neighborhoods in San Diego, including North Park, Hillcrest and Ocean Beach, followed. The trend has continued across the state. Cities as culturally and politically diverse as Berkeley, Glendale, Santa Ana and Los Angles have enlisted students and artists to transform an eye sore into public art.
Artists interested in participating or individuals wishing to contribute should contact Purvis at [email protected] or 619-522-2633. Utility box photo courtsey of Kelly Purvis.
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Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
