What should happen to public art on utility boxes in downtown SLO?

Over the years, the bright splashes of color transforming what used to be drab utility boxes have enlivened downtown San Luis Obispo and become an intrinsic part of the neighborhood’s streetscape.

At the corner of Higuera and Osos streets, Monarch butterflies flutter against a blue sky, while a koi fish glides near the Ah Louis Store at Chorro and Palm streets, and contortionists show off their skills to passersby at Santa Rosa and Mill streets.

There also are scenes of Fremont Theatre, a bear hula-hooping, fish and birds, and abstract designs that capture the eye.

All of these boxes were painted in 2010 as part of a temporary art program designed to enhance ugly utility boxes and deter graffiti. All 17 of the original boxes, plus four others painted in 2012 were due to be repainted later this year with new art. To date, a total of 32 boxes have been painted in two phases in 2010 and 2012.

But recent calls from residents, business owners and artists to retain the original artwork has prompted the city to put any repainting on hold for now, until the San Luis Obispo City Council can revisit the program in April. At that time, the council could consider retaining the artwork, expanding the program, putting the utility boxes on a different repainting schedule, or some other option.

“The current policy does not address preservation of the boxes or expansion of the process,” said Melissa Mudgett, the city’s recreation and public art manager. “It’s a good problem to have. We didn’t anticipate the love of these boxes to be so amazing.”

While the box art program wasn’t intended to include permanent pieces of public art, the definition of “temporary” wasn’t set until last year when the City Council determined as part of an update to its public art program that temporary artwork would be on display for about five years.

That meant the boxes were due for repainting — which came as unwelcome news to some in town.

“We like the boxes the way they are and we don’t support replacing that art with new art,” Dominic Tartaglia, executive director of the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association, told the City Council last week.

The organization’s nine-member Design Committee discussed the program, he said, and decided it wanted to see the program expanded to other areas of the city while preserving the existing artwork.

The city also received more than 30 emails from people urging the council to reconsider the plan to repaint the boxes, with many suggesting the program should be expanded to other utility boxes around town. A few thought, incorrectly, that the city intended to return the utility boxes to their original green-gray color.

A few artists whose work graces one or more of the boxes said they didn’t recall the program being described as temporary when they signed agreements with the city (though they acknowledged the completed work became the property of the city, which could remove it if necessary).

Shell Beach artist and muralist Colleen Gnos, whose painting of an octopus and treasure chest can be found at Palm and Santa Rosa streets, said the high-quality materials the city encouraged the artists to use and the city’s work to prime and seal the finished work seemed to indicate the art would remain for some time.

“It just seems wasteful,” she said. “The sealer is very strong. If they (the city) kept them up — cleaned them and put varnish on every three years — they could last decades and decades.”

“I’ve grown very attached to a lot of the boxes,” Gnos added, noting that she would not paint over another artist’s work.

Plus, she said, the art serves as a public gallery for local artists, some of whom are already well known or have seen their careers on the rise.

“Whatever I do, I play for keeps,” said San Luis Obispo muralist Marcie Hawthorne, who painted three boxes that were scheduled to be repainted, including the koi fish near the Ah Louis building. “I’m a huge proponent of public art, so it was really discouraging to think that they would blanketly redo all of the ones in Phase 1.”

Some wear and tear can be seen on some of the utility boxes, and some vandalism has occurred, like a deep gouge in the blue paint of the box Hawthorne brightened with steelhead trout in Mission Plaza. She said she believes that damage could be easily repaired.

Someone else added googly eyes to a few of the fish — a bit of vandalism that amused Hawthorne when she saw it Friday morning. “I thought, ‘That’s not graffiti — this truly is community art.’”

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 7:02 PM with the headline "What should happen to public art on utility boxes in downtown SLO?."