Summer reporter Aimee Arellano wanted to do a series on some of her favorites from the Art Signals utility box painting program she regularly comes across.
According to the City of Reno website, these signal boxes “serve as canvases for original art pieces painted by local artists, residents, students and community members of all ages.”
The program started in 2008 and has grown to about 50 painted signal boxes, from downtown Reno to the North and South Valleys.
Artists, who are paid $750 after completion, apply each Spring, with designs approved by the Public Art Committee and Reno Arts and Culture Commission before they are painted.
Here’s what Aimee wrote: “Something I love about Reno is all the little details of the city that add more color to life. It’s fun to be able to be sitting in your car, waiting at a red light and turning your head to see an amazing painting. Looking at every detail of each painting only shows how much thought and work goes into it. A true round of applause to each artist that continues to add some beauty to our city.
I have three favorites of the ones I’ve seen, I love how picture perfect the wolf by the artist Vaka is. The up close face makes you feel like it is looking right at you, and it is a great homage to our Wolf Pack mascot. I love how the Reno one by Mike Moreno is graffitied and the colors that were incorporated in it, as well as the “West Coast Living” written on the side to add more character. Another favorite is the one with the heart in the center by Cathy Ashworth with all the different pieces of designs meeting in the middle. Each one of them is a representation of our city in their own way and are beautifully done.”
Others in photos include work by Megan Jewett, Traci L Turner and Rodney Herrera.