Electric Art
The first thing I always notice when we arrive in Vancouver are the flowers. Then : the green.
But as we drove around for weeks I started to notice a different kind of beauty. It didn’t have to do with the mountains but it could have.
It didn’t have to do with the nearby ocean but sometimes it was near that ocean.
And it didn’t have to do with the people but there were plenty of people involved.
The City of Vancouver put out a call for artists to decorate utility boxes. The resulting turnout must have been favourable because it seemed like every time I turned my head I thought I saw a beautiful ‘sculpture’ .
These usually ‘army green’ boxes are found in every city and they are purely functional ….certainly not attractive.
But the talented artists in Vancouver gave each of their assigned boxes a unique look and the results were just wonderful!
Terry was very patient with me when we rode around the block one more time to try and catch a photo of a utility box while on our journey.
There were probably 100 more in and around the city but the ones I photographed were near us during one of our drives or walks.
When we used to live in Calgary I remember a similar idea except that they brought the ‘cow canvases’ into the city.
“ Made from molded fiberglass, the bovine statues were four-and-a-half feet tall and seven feet long, and weighed almost 100 pounds.
They were originally produced in plain white, then sold to businesses and individuals for $5,000 per cow who personalized the cows, working with artists to paint them with unique designs and vibrant colors.
For a time, there were 125 of these artful cows displayed around the city center, almost one on every corner.
Later, the quirky statues were sold at auction where they raised more than $1.2 million for Canadian and U.S. charities.
And while most of the colorful cows are owned by private buyers today, 17 of them—with names like “Chew-Choo” and “Midnight Cowgirl”—can be seen at the Udderly Art Legacy Pasture near the Centennial Parkade.”
Do you have any utility art in your city?
