Crystal Utility Boxes Become Canvas for Art
When it comes to managing traffic, function is not always fun. That is, unless you’re near one of 10 traffic signal cabinets in Crystal.
Traffic signal cabinets manage the flow of traffic on the streets within the city. A project put on by the city’s Economic Development Authority made the typically bland boxes a space for artwork.
“There are not a lot of opportunities for public art in Crystal because much of our infrastructure is old, from the 60s and 70s,” said John Sutter, Crystal’s community development director. “The traffic signal cabinets are one of those opportunities to take something that’s just bland and utilitarian and make it beautiful.”
“The submissions, I would say they exceeded our expectations. We don’t know how many we got, how good they would be… and they were fantastic,” Sutter said.
One of the display boxes located on West Broadway by the Crystal Shopping Center.
Art submissions ranged in styles from a design of mimes to abstract designs in Becker Park.
The placements of each art piece were, in part, decided thanks to feedback on Crystal’s Facebook page.
Creativity on Display
Each piece incorporated elements of Crystal. Some the flag, another a crystal ball. Adrianna Robertson was one of the artists– and she crafted a cartoon-style collage. That was placed at 55th and W. Broadway
“I kind of wanted to take a fun approach to this one, and just kind of do cute things around Crystal. So I took some landmarks and just took some of the shops they had here and made them into cute little characters,” Robertson said.
She said she’s never created a piece of digital art or something for a traffic cabinet, but the experience was fun and unique.
Adrianna Robertson’s design focused on cartoon characters.
“That’s a cool way to make a city prettier, you know? They’re just big boxes, and it’s a cool way to do this. I’d never heard of anything like this before,” Robertson said.
More beauty is exactly the goal of this project. Sutter said there are more wraps to come, particularly four in residential areas. That’s just one more opportunity to brighten up Crystal.
“Just making people feel good about being here, living here, working here and doing business here. That’s positive for the community in all many different ways,” Robertson said.
