Since Friday afternoon, for a few hours at a time, Jennifer Garrard has been at the intersection of Fifth and College streets with a set of paints and a job to do that she hopes will be the first of many.
The local artist, who owns Columbus pottery business Whimsi Woo Pottery, is decorating the utility box at the intersection with 49 of her signature “whimsi” flowers — large five-petal flowers in bright purple, orange, green and other colors — in what she and Columbus Main Street leaders hope will be the first part of a beautification project decorating utility boxes downtown. Garrard said she expects to finish the box today.
“One girl came by (Tuesday morning while Garrard was painting), and she was so excited,” Garrard said. “She said, ‘This is like projects I’ve seen in other cities, and I’m so excited it’s going to be here.'”
Main Street Director Barbara Bigelow and project coordinator Amber Brislin said they came up with the idea to have local artists paint the utility boxes after seeing the results in other cities that have sponsored similar projects. Brislin plans to recruit more local artists around the community who have worked with Main Street or Columbus Arts Council to come up with more designs and paint the boxes around downtown.
“We’re always trying to come up with new things that can enhance our downtown and make people want to come and just have a look,” Bigelow said.
Bigelow said she and Brislin received permission from the city of Columbus and Columbus Light and Water, and the pair went before the Historic Preservation Commission last month. The commission approved the project, with a few caveats — namely, that artists had to submit designs to Main Street Columbus for approval before painting to ensure artists wouldn’t paint something political, obscene or otherwise inappropriate.
Garrard is the first artist to tackle the project, and she said she’s already receiving positive feedback from people in the community — from drivers calling out their windows, “It looks great” as they pass, to pedestrians stopping to talk while she paints.
“They’re actually excited,” Garrard said. “They’ve asked about, ‘when are the others going to be painted?’ One lady (Monday) said, ‘Oh, that’s going to be great in the winter when it’s gray and cold.’ She said, ‘That’s going to be happiness on the corner.’
“I said, ‘If I’ve made you smile, I’ve done my job,'” she added.
While Brislin doesn’t have a particular theme in mind for further designs — she and Bigelow said they don’t want to limit artists with different styles — she said she likes the idea of artists using area businesses and organizations as inspiration. For example, she said, in other towns utility boxes in front of post offices have been painted to look like packages, and boxes in front of libraries have been painted to look like bookshelves.
Brislin also hopes downtown businesses and property owners — who have to approve the painting of any boxes physically attached to their buildings — will sponsor artists, helping buy paint and other supplies and coming up with design ideas themselves. In the meantime, Bigelow said, Main Street will likely start recruiting artists to paint the boxes not attached to businesses.
“We’re really excited about getting this project rolling,” Brislin said.
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