Thirteen artists were chosen to paint on utility boxes spread out over downtown San Luis Obispo.
Deborah Cash, head of the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association, was present during the downtown festival that highlighted the artists in action as they painted 16 utility boxes on Saturday, Sept. 25.
“The BoxArt Festival was a huge hit as people really enjoyed walking to the different boxes and watching the artists in action as well,” Cash said. “Kids had a lot of fun painting their own (cardboard) boxes on Garden Street.”
In 2009, members of the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association attended a conference in Ventura, where the program is supported. They all said downtown San Luis Obispo would benefit by having more local artist work downtown, in order to help the beautification process of the city.
In January 2010, the beautification process of downtown began.
“It’s a joint project between the Downtown Association and the city of SLO,” Cash said.
The jury and the public art coordinator made the decisions on where artworks would be featured in the city, based on the artists they selected.
The artists selected underwent an interview procedure with a jury through the public art process.
The selection process was very extensive and competitive.
“Submitting an application for the BoxArt program was also tough — they needed lots of paperwork: examples of past work in a power point presentation, references, bio, resume, etc. They were very specific,” said Colleen Gnos, one of the chosen local artists. “Plus we had to design a rendering without knowing if we would be picked to paint a box. We could submit three renderings, but I only had time to create one.”
Gnos ended up painting something that paid a tribute to the 15-foot octopus her grandfather killed in 1946 as a deep sea diver. She said she had to pick something that she would be able to paint quickly.
Gnos said having only eight days to paint was a big challenge, especially when the weather was not cooperating.
“Two of the days it was 114 degrees — it was tough to keep my paint from drying on the brushes, ” Gnos said.
Despite the challenges, Gnos said it was a great experience to paint downtown.
“People were honking and yelling nice things at me about my art while I worked. It was good exposure,” Gnos said. “All day long I gave directions to lost Cal Poly students, fed homeless people and listened to their stories while I painted.”
The community members seem to be reacting well to the new art.
“The boxes are a really interesting aspect to downtown,” said journalism senior Katie Ferber. “It’s a great way to get the community involved while making it prettier.”
Other community members took pictures with camera phones in passing.
The Downtown Association said they chose to paint utility boxes since they were so plain before. The project also deters graffiti by eliminating blank areas.
“This project most likely set a record for the short time frame in which it was accomplished and that the city was very supportive in including this project in one of its major city goals of downtown beautification,” Cash said.