The bright and vibrant colors catch the eyes of pedestrians and drivers alike in Old Town Greenwood.
What were once plain black traffic signal boxes have been transformed into explosions of color. One intersection’s box features colorful intersecting shapes of various sizes. Three boxes at another intersection feature sunflowers and bees.
The effort is new not only to downtown Greenwood but to the city government itself.
City officials officially launched a Traffic Signal Box Art program earlier this month, a new public art initiative aimed at transforming everyday infrastructure into vibrant works of art. The four boxes painted so far — three at Main Street and Madison Avenue and one at Main and Meridian streets — are part of a pilot program, one that has grown to be successful so far.
The pilot program began with a call for artists in March, which city officials said was a “direct response to strong public interest” in expanding arts and beautification efforts outlined in the city’s new comprehensive plan.
“Throughout the planning process, we listened closely to our residents, who expressed a desire for more public art and place-based experiences. Their feedback inspired this creative project,” said Alyssa Liebman, Greenwood city planner.
Greenwood officials received an “impressive number” of original, high-quality designs through the first call for artists. Because of this, along with selecting three traffic boxes at the southwest corner of Main Street and Madison Avenue, officials also chose another design for a box at the corner of Main and Meridian streets, they said.
The Greenwood Redevelopment Commission has awarded $10,000 for the art program so far, including funding for three more boxes. One box costs about $1,215, which includes a $500 artist stipend, Liebman said.
The artwork for the boxes is digital, which was scaled and printed at a high resolution before being wrapped around the boxes. These signal box wraps, like other public art, add color, spark conversation and foster a stronger sense of place, helping transform familiar corners into landmarks that reflect a community’s unique identity, city officials said.
The three boxes at the southwest corner of Main Street and Madison Avenue, at the edge of the public parking lot by the Greenwood City Center, feature sunflowers and bees. Dubbed “Pollinator Power,” this work was done by Boston-based artist Lisa Link, who said she loves public art on utility boxes and the potential to highlight nature through art. She wanted the sunflowers to reflect the energy of electricity, she said.
Link has done public art on utility boxes before, but only around Boston. Past work includes boxes in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts, along with other art installations in the greater Boston area. All of Link’s work has revolved around nature.
She learned about the opportunity in Greenwood from a friend who saw it listed online. The Greenwood opportunity stood out to her because officials were working from something that featured the natural world, she said.
“I was like, this is what I love to make — big and bold,” Link said. “Taking these natural things in the natural world, like plants that grow indigenously in the region, and making them big and using kind of a very graphic style.”
The photographs used as the basis of the artwork are originals taken by Link around her home in Boston. She spent hours drawing and fine-tuning all the details with a digital pen. Link particularly emphasized not using artificial intelligence to make the artwork.
The goal of the work was to create something positive, especially in challenging times where people are constantly bombarded with negative news on social media or through other outlets, Link said.
“In my full-time job, I’m a web designer at a university. So I see the impact of social media, especially on young people,” she said. “So having something positive about the natural world, finding a little bit of joy as you’re walking through your day, and maybe, hopefully, people might pause and think, ‘Oh, there is beauty in the world. It’s not all so bad.’”
The artwork on the box at Main and Meridian streets was done by Andréa Grasso, who is originally from Pittsburgh but describes himself as a “traveler type” whose lived in many places. The work is a remix of a piece Grasso previously did called “Reset” in Philadelphia, with the Greenwood work being dubbed “Reset (remix),” he said.
Grasso learned of the opportunity through an online public art portal for opportunities. This is the first time Grasso has done artwork on traffic boxes, but he has been working in public art and muralism for over a decade. He has done work in Philadelphia and Lisbon, Portugal.
Grasso said it was nice to be able to bring some of his “colorful energy” to new places like Greenwood.
“Having lived in bigger cities my whole life, I understand that suburban areas and smaller towns often miss out on a lot of public art,” Grasso said. “And it’s nice to be able to be a part of bringing some of my colorful energy to new places and hopefully being appreciated by the people living there.”
When asked what he would want people who drive by the box to think about the work, Grasso said he thinks of his work as “portals to dream” or “gateways to an alternate reality.”
“By recreating architectural features as abstract geometric, energetic, rainbow designs, it is the opposite of what it was before. And it is supposed to be a metaphor for our lives and what can be possible,” Grasso said.
Link is overjoyed that her work is in such a highly visible place in Greenwood. Someone sent her a photo of a mom and daughter taking a photo in front of the boxes and it made her week, she said.
While Link hasn’t seen the work in person, she can’t wait to make it out to Indiana to see it in person and learn more about Greenwood, she said.
Due to the success of the pilot round, city officials say they plan to issue another call for artists later this summer to commission artwork for additional traffic signal boxes in Old Town — with the next three being boxes located near Old City Park and The Madison. Artists are encouraged to stay tuned for submission guidelines and deadlines, which will be shared through local and national art networks, officials said.
While the next set of proposals isn’t finished yet, the city will be looking for professional artists with experience in projects of a similar type and scale. Officials will want to see the work they’ve done previously and want artists to tell them about the design they would propose for Greenwood. This work will need to be digital art that can be scaled and printed at a high resolution, Liebman said.
Artists interested in taking part in the program can email [email protected] for more information.
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