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Painters banish banality, one signal box at a time

Companies jazz up the West Shore district by painting signal boxes at intersections. "It's giving it a little bit of pizzazz," said one painter-businessman.

By JANET ZINK
Published June 24, 2005

Cindy Pons dabs some pink paint on a drab gray traffic signal box to form a picture of a flamingo.

The cars whiz by on West Shore Boulevard, and the summer sun is heating up.

But it sure beats being in the office.

Pons is assistant vice president at First Housing Development Corp., a mortgage company for multifamily units. Her company is one of 14 participating in a public art project organized by the Westshore Alliance to convert city signal boxes into canvasses for public art.

"I never noticed the boxes before our president signed us up for this project," Pons said.

Her artistic skills - she paints murals in her spare time - came in handy. She designed First Housing's box at West Shore Boulevard and Laurel Street.

Birds, green grass, blue skies and likenesses of nearby buildings now adorn the metal box, which holds manual controls that can be used to run the intersection's signal in case of an accident or power outage.

"People have found through this process there's hidden talent in their companies," said Ann Kulig, director of marketing for the Westshore Alliance.

The Westshore Alliance launched the program in April after forming a public art committee to come up with ways to spruce up the West Shore district. Painting continues through the end of this month.

"This is our kickoff project," Kulig said. "It takes a mundane city structure that's already there and beautifies it."

Participating businesses paid the Alliance $250 for paint and other materials. The remainder of the money will go into a fund to maintain the boxes.

Doug McCree, president of First Housing, helped paint a moon on his company's box.

"It's giving it a little bit of pizzazz," he said. "A little bit of color."

That pizazz will turn the signal boxes into icons for the West Shore district, said Robin Nigh, the city's administrator for public art.

"You take something that's really benign, that's city property, and make it more of an asset," she said. "One of the things we have a tendency to do is accept visual banality."

The Westshore Alliance is considering other public art projects, including an installation of creative banners on light poles.

- Janet Zink can be reached at 226-3401 or jzink@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 23, 2005, 08:09:06]