photo courtesy City of Eureka
The summer of 2018 saw dozens of artists wielding paintbrushes on street corners throughout Eureka. The “canvases” they worked on were 54 utility boxes belonging to the City of Eureka and to Caltrans: the Utility Art Box Program.
Part of the City of Eureka’s Strategic Arts Plan, these colorful works of art complement the city’s many murals and sculptures, and are a foretaste of more public art in the works.
The idea of sprucing up urban areas with art executed on utility boxes has become somewhat of an international phenomenon since the start of the new millennium, with electrical panel and traffic control box art popping up from Germany to New Zealand, as well as all over the U.S.
Eureka’s utility box art, although facilitated and coordinated by the city, is paid for primarily by local businesses and individuals, each of whom pay $500 to sponsor a box. The tens of thousands of dollars thus spent are a testament to this community’s love for the arts, and its willingness to support them.
Where: Throughout Eureka
Next Up: #67 – Eureka’s Murals
