By Camas Frank~
SLO City will be expanding their downtown art box program to new venues and they say they want to fill, ”the remaining blank city-owned traffic signal utility boxes.” Adding, that they also, want the community’s help selecting the next box locations to be painted.
There is a “public engagement opportunity” online now through Aug. 18 to fill the 31 remaining locations that the City workers have identified as eligible. Essentially they’re looking for non-binding votes online at the address: arcg.is/29vH6i2.
The projections are that the available locations will be filled up over the next 3-8 years with the, very limited, input window presented, dictating priority.
On July 29, the SLO City Council approved change to the Utility Box Art program, which was originally envisioned to discourage graffiti at high visibility intersections throughput the “downtown core.”
Last year the plans of the City’s Parks and Recreation Department to paint over some of the existing “Art Boxes” were called into question by artists and art lovers who protested the perceived indignity of having their work destroyed while blank canvas remained untouched across town.
Never the less, staff defended their decision to eradicate existing installations with the program, in a report to Council on July 19.
“As beloved as these pieces are they were never intended to last forever,” wrote Melissa Mudgett from Parks and Rec. “ While it is true that some of these art pieces have held up remarkably well, given the high quality paints and protective UV coating used, the art will eventually succumb to the outdoor elements or maintenance and repairs that require repainting.”
Artists, specifically Coleen Gnos who painted the under water scene at the corner of Santa Rosa and Palm vehemently disagree.
She started a campaign against repainting a the first hint of the program restructuring last year, pointing out that she’d used the “highest quality materials,” and that the artists were never under the impression their work would be considered temporary.
– Photos by Erin O’Donnell
