Outside of the box

Source: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.迷你倉新蒲崗Aug. 30--Long ignored, the lowly traffic control signal box is getting some attention in Eugene.Artists hired by the city have painted 15 of the boxes, converting them from drab, easily overlooked steel cabinets to colorful, whimsical street art.The final box in the series, at Franklin Boulevard and Onyx Street near the University of Oregon, could be painted next week.People passing by the artists as they painted some of the boxes in recent weeks would strike up conversations."The first question people would ask is, 'Do you have a permit to do this?'" artist Wendy Huhn said. That was followed by "Are you getting paid?"Altogether, the city will have paid four artists a total of $5,400 for their work, said Isaac Marquez, the city's public art manager. The artists received $300 per small box and $500 for each large one.The response to their work has been overwhelmingly positive, the artists said, though some passers-by grumbled about the city paying them with public funds."As I was painting, people would yell (compliments) from cars and tourists would stop and they would want their pictures taken (with the boxes)," Huhn said. "Some tourists said 'My city or county would never let me do that.'"The painted boxes are the latest step in a continuing effort to bring public art downtown -- even while municipal government faces a serious budget problem.Last year, the city paid student artists to put up creations in and around the city center. Those pieces included discarded flat screen TVs with anti-TV messages, foam monkeys hanging on light poles and inscriptions drawn on some of the same traffic signal control boxes that were recently painted.This summer, Huhn, Bryan Putnam and Alex Southworth were selected from 12 applicants for the traffic signal box makeover effort called "Art the Box."Mike Olsen, who works downtown, said the fanciful boxes are "Eugenish."But the new art is an improvement over last year, he said, when the student artists painted "poetic fragments" on many of the same traffic control boxes."It looked like graffiti," Olsen said. "This is art."One of Olsen's favorites was painted by Huhn at the northeast corner of 13th Avenue and Willamette Street, near a FedEx office."It's an eye catcher," Olsen said.The box has seven bicycles silhouetted in white on a bright yellow backdrop dominated by three dimensional, multi-colored circles. The bikes are a tribute to bicyclist David Minor, 27, who was struck and killed by a motorist five years ago as he tried to make a left turn at the busy intersection.Huhn's piece is within a few feet of a memorial to Minor, a white-painted bicycle near the corner that has a laminated photograph of Minor and a sign that reads "Start Seeing Everyone."Huhn said she wanted the five boxes that she painted to be cheerful and bright, and to put people into a good mood."Most people look at these and say 'They make me happy,' " she said.Olsen said he's OK with the city paying for the art as long as the money doesn't come from city taxpayers."This is not an essential service," he said. "What my eyes look at is not something that the taxpayers should be paying for."The artists were paid from the city's cultural services sub fund, which receives most of its $4 million annual allotment from the city's share of the hotel room tax and revenues generated by the Hult Center for Performing Arts and Cuthbert Amphitheater.The artists were not paid from the city's mainly property tax supported general fund, which earlier this year had a $5 million gap because the steadily rising cost of employee wages, health care and retirement are outpacing the growth in property taxes.The gap, which threatened library, recreation, parks and other programs, led to the ill-fated city services fee, which voters overw迷你倉出租elmingly rejected in May.In June, the City Council temporarily plugged the gap and balanced the budget with one-time funds, leaving the council and the budget committee to come up with a long-term solution.Budget committee member Mark Rust said it makes sense to use money from the hotel tax, which is paid by visitors, to beautify downtown, instead of from the stressed general fund."I would have some concern about how often we are doing these kinds of programs and how much the artists are being paid," he said. "But I also trust the management of the departments, that they are looking for ways to make an impression without a huge expenditure. This is a way that fits that bill."Rust earlier this summer saw painted traffic control boxes in Boise, Idaho."As a tourist in Boise, I thought it was attractive and could help Eugene tourism," he said.Putnam, one of the three artists, said he can understand why some people might think paying artists to paint traffic control boxes is a frivolous use of public money.However, he said, the response from passersby while he was working on the boxes shows that many people think the money was well spent."Most people were glad we were being paid by the city because they appreciated what (the art) does for everyone who moves around downtown," Putnam said. "It help to revitalize the area, and it gives downtown more life, more color, more culture."A committee selected the three artists from among 12 who had submitted images of their proposed work.Putnam, 26, who is working on a master's degree in art at the UO, said his paintings were inspired by nature.The box at East Eighth Avenue and Oak Street includes thistle-topped vines and yellow mustard plant flowers on a tan, wood-like background.His other pieces feature depictions of forest life, including tree branches, moss, water, animals and the Northern Lights."The project for me was offering little pieces of the wilderness in the center of Eugene," he said.Artist Bayne Gardner, who had unsuccessfully applied to paint five boxes, won a people's choice contest on Facebook, so the city hired him to paint the large box at 10th Avenue and Willamette Street, next to the Downtown Athletic Club.Gardner said painting in public was enjoyable because of the conversations he had with people."I came back and painted a lot more than I expected because it was so much fun to interact with people," Gardner said. "It was a different type of experience than painting a picture by yourself."Putnam estimated that by the time he completes the box at Franklin and Onyx, he will have spent more than 70 hours painting, not including the time he spent working on the concepts in the studio or preparing his application.As part of the commission, the artists must maintain their paintings for two years.If someone mars their works with graffiti, for example, the artists must remove it.The artists applied a clear, protective coating to their work, to make it easier to remove graffiti.But standing next to his piece at Sixth Avenue and Willamette Street, Putnam noticed that someone had used a sharp object to scrape small vertical lines on the surface of his painting."It's not so bad," Putnam said. "I will probably come back and fill it in."As she walked by the painted box at Eighth Avenue and Willamette Street, resident Ellen Chamberlain said she likes most of the boxes she has seen."It's just a way to mask the ugliness of the boxes," she said.Visitors to Eugene are noticing the boxes, too.Out-of-town relatives had recently visited Chamberlain, and whenever they would pass a painted box, they would exclaim, " 'Look there's another one,' " she said.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.) Visit The Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.) at .registerguard.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉