Volume 126, No. 17
SPORTS
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Showdown
CU experienced, CSU inexperienced PAGE 8
From Pianos to Storm Drains: Art around Fort Collins
Alison Dickson, local Fort Collins artist, paints a mural on a transfrmer box. Dickson’s mural features a field of cacti and is inspired by things she saw at an art conference in Arizona. PHOTO BY MICHELLE FREDRICKSON. COLLEGIAN
By Michelle Fredrickson @mfredrickson42
In Fort Collins, pianos, transformer boxes, blank walls, pavement and storm drains all have one thing in common – they are all canvases for local and national artists through the Art in Public Places program. “It’s our art. It’s public art,” said Jill Kreutzer, chair of the board for Art in Public Places. Art in Public Places, celebrating its 20th birthday this month, is the organization responsible for the painted pianos in Old Town and the painted transformer boxes all over the city. It also works with other branches of the local government to install art in new buildings and coordinates art in city-owned spaces. “How can you create an identity and a unique look for your city?” said Ellen Martin, director of Art in Public Places. “We have a diversity of projects and themes.” Art programs around town is a common trend nationally, Martin said. However, Fort Collins is distinguished as the pioneer of painting transformer boxes. Martin has spoken with many towns across the country,
giving advice on implementing such a project. “Artists are now painting boxes all across the country,” she said. The transformer box projects began ten years ago as a graffiti abatement program. Fort Collins Utilities identified boxes often tagged with graffiti and reached out to Martin and the Art in Public Places program to work out a way to stop the defacement. They decided to hire local artists to create murals on the boxes that were being tagged to deter graffiti vandalism. The art is designed to be busy, without any dead space, to deter likely places for graffiti. “The artwork doesn’t get tagged,” Kreutzer said. “Taggers respect the art.” There are now more than two hundred transformer boxes painted around the city, with more than a dozen added every year. The first cabinet has not been tagged in ten years. The program saves money for the city, since removing graffiti from the boxes is expensive, and provides exposure for local artists. Transformer boxes are only painted by local artists who are
based in Fort Collins, Martin said. One such artist is Alison Dickson, a muralist working on a transformer box near Horsetooth and Shields. Dickson, a professional artist, has lived in Fort Collins for 35 years and said it is the most art-friendly place she has ever lived. “Once they select the artist, the artist comes up with three themes,” she said. “And the Board on the Art in Public Places chooses which theme they would like in front of this location.” Dickson is painting a mural of cacti inspired by scenes in nature she saw in Tuscan, Arizona, at an art convention. It is her third transformer mural in town. She began working in Art in Public Places by designing a storm drain marker and has also painted two pianos. To paint or design art for Art in Public Places, artists can subscribe to a specific newsletter for artist opportunities. Students can apply to paint murals as well, Martin said. It beautifies the city and gives artists good exposure in a permanent way, she said. Erika Osborne, associate professor in the art and art history department at CSU, said she
has had several students paint pianos as part of the program. “That has given them a venue for expression,” she said. “In addition, being in a community that values the arts can substantiate their choice of pursuing a career in the arts, which isn’t always easy.” Dickson said it takes her about 40 hours to paint a transformer box, and because all the painting happens outside, she works in the mornings and evenings to avoid the heat of the day causing clumps in the paint. In case of sudden rainstorms, she uses fast-drying paint and keeps a weather eye on the forecast. If clouds begin to look like rain, she said, she leaves and comes back when it is dry. In more sensitive pieces of art, such as the painted pianos downtown, employees will cover them with tarps in the rain to stop damage to the pianos from occurring or paint underneath a standing tent. One artist, Drake Arnold, is painting a piano downtown. His work is abstract, titled “Music as a Portal,” symbolic of using music as a portal to a deeper space. see ART on page 15 >>
NEWS
Aggie Village
Parking issues PAGE 6
THE
STRIP Other things that have been unjustly discontinued:
Twinkies. For six months in 2012-13, before public outcry brought them back #Twinkiepocalypse #TheyHaveFewer CaloriesNow The TV show Firefly … also all of Joss Whedon’s other shows. The Rocky Mountain Showdown, after 2020