City seeks artists to spruce up utility boxes

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Frank Casazza of Eyeformation Studios paints an electrical box near the Museum Place Mall in Salem as part of last year's ArtBox. Staff file photo Frank Casazza of Eyeformation Studios paints an electrical box near the Museum Place Mall in Salem as part of last year's ArtBox.

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February 13, 2013

City seeks artists to spruce up utility boxes

Anonymous The Salem News The Salem News Wed Feb 13, 2013, 11:29 AM EST

SALEM — The city is looking for people to transform six downtown utility boxes into works of art.

Proposals for the second year of Salem’s ArtBox program are due April 8. Selected artists will receive $500 to paint one of the downtown boxes this summer.

Local artists, both professional and amateur, can submit designs for the large, metal boxes that house controls for traffic signals, lights, irrigation or telephone systems. All six boxes are owned by the city and located in downtown areas frequented by pedestrians.

Winners will be chosen by a jury of art professionals, including Ellen Hardy, Salem Arts Association’s interim executive director; Sandy Heaphy, owner of Kensington-Stobart Gallery; Trevor Smith, curator of contemporary art at the Peabody Essex Museum; and Lucas Spivey, artist and exhibitions manager at Montserrat College of Art.

One box will be painted weekly starting in June.

Last year’s winners were Frank Casazza, Lucas Custer, Caleb Neelon, Leah O’Ryan, Denny Tentindo and Jesa Townsend. The artists came from Salem, Cambridge and Lowell, as well as Scottsdale, Ariz.

Visit www.salem.com/pages/artbox to download the submission requirements and details.

— Bethany Bray