Banners on street poles and wrapping utility boxes with vinyl were some of the ideas discussed recently by the Apache Junction Public Art Commission to get more artwork in the community.
The advisory group met for a special meeting Sunday, April 23, at the council chambers to in part discuss possible temporary artwork projects such as:
Vinyl wraps for signal cabinets;
Banners for government buildings (interior and exterior);
Banners for light poles at North Apache Trail, North Plaza Drive and South Phelps Drive; and
Crosswalk and sidewalk art.
Low-cost vinyl banners or murals could be placed on city buildings, Diane Cripe, an art consultant, said to the commission.
“This is a fairly low-cost-budget project. The artist basically — using a computer-assisted design — creates the design and then it goes to the vinyl manufacturer. It can be a banner or it actually can be applied to a surface,” she said.
Cities have also used vinyl art in windows, Cripe said.
“A lot of cities did this back in early ‘70s and ‘80s as a way to fight the broken-window concept because they found that if you paint something on the windows, rocks won’t find their way through the windows very easily,” Vice Chair Jeffrey F. Danford said. “They would less-likely be vandalized if there was something in there.”
Street-pole banners could be used to announce events or to display art, Cripe said.
“You see these a lot in downtown areas, you see them a lot on campuses. Sometimes their whole function is announcing an event but you can also have street-pole banners that are just works of art in themselves,” she said.
The use of temporary vinyl utility-box art was also discussed.
“So a lot of times we have basically gray cabinets. They can be for utilities that are not part of a city project but the city often has these traffic cabinets or signal boxes. And if you want to beautify a corner or one part of a street ... you hire an artist to create the design, they put it in a correct format with the correct measurements and then it goes to a vinyl manufacturer who creates this and actually installs it,” Cripe said. “They do last awhile; they can probably last a year and then you can start the cycle again maybe with another artist.”
Having art on utility boxes may deter vandals, Commissioner Jarred T. Hamm said.
“Just like with the idea of putting the art in window panes, this is a deterrent for tagging. Because people are less likely to want to tag something that already has art on it,” he said.
“I’ve also seen these used as a great way to incorporate the community like kids and stuff,” Commissioner Gretchen Klett said. “I’ve seen it before where they go paint them but if you do it with the vinyl, then they can do it all from school and it just gets in. You don’t have to worry about kids out on streets painting.”
The commission promotes and encourages diverse citizen participation in public art. They assist corporations, commercial developments and other private and governmental entities to incorporate public art and recommend the operating and capital improvement program budgets for the public art program.
They make recommendations regarding the operating and capital improvement program budgets for the public arts program. The commission also conducts the request-for-qualifications process for all public art installations and reviews gifts of art offered to the city for artistic and cultural purposes.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Richard Dyer Managing Editor | East Valley @RHDyer
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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