Traffic Box at the intersection of Broadway and VanBuren – by Nelson Kenter.
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The City of Missoula’s Public Art Committee has chosen four Missoula artists for the next installations in the wildly popular Traffic Signal Box Project. The project commissions area artists to paint or install vinyl art on the formerly drab-gray electronic boxes installed on streets and sidewalks around the city. The artists are installing their work now, and they will be honored at a reception at the Dana Gallery on Friday, Nov. 2, at 6 p.m.
The artists and their projects are:
• Laura Blaker, “The Little Green Rabbit” at Brooks Street and Mount Avenue
• Meaghan Gately, “The Garden City” at Higgins Avenue and Brooks Street
• Melissa Madsen, “Swinging on the Tree of Life” at Brooks Street and Miller Creek Road
• M. Scott Miller, “Sunflowers and Dragonflies” at Brooks Street and Beckwith Avenue.
Missoula’s Traffic Signal Box Project is in its fourth year. It has attracted statewide and national attention, and the committee has helped numerous communities establish similar programs. A selection committee made up of representatives of local and state agencies, neighborhoods and members of the Public Art Committee choose artists in a competitive process. The commission for each chosen artist is $1,000. This round of the project is funded by private donations, Neighborhood Project Funds, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency and the Downtown Business Improvement District of Missoula. Art in the series can be viewed on the Public Art Committee pages on the City’s website.
Artists are available for interviews this week. Contact
Joan Jonkel, Public Art Committee Chair, at 728-0345, jonkel@bigsky.net
Kathi Olson, Project Chair, 544-7359, kameomt@yahoo.com