LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — A historic Southern Nevada small town is beautifying its Main Street ahead of America’s 250th birthday by transforming utility boxes into public art displays.
Dozens of local artists submitted their designs, and now two dozen will have their art on permanent public display. The painting is currently underway along Boulder City’s Main Street.
FOX5 watched Monday morning as Lily Flowers, a professional tattoo artist who lives in Boulder City, painted a moon in a pink desert sky on one of the boxes.
“My objective was to kind of capture the essence of the desert under different times of the day,” Flowers said. “It has a whole new palette depending on the sun, sunsets, sunrise, lake view, etc.”
Flowers said the project has been a labor of love, with some challenging conditions.
“There are a few days that I think I honestly had a little bit of heat stroke,” she said.
City leaders saw the utility box painting project in other towns and wanted to bring the concept to Boulder City.
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“We started a conversation with the city of Boulder City Public Works Department. They were on board. We selected 15 utility boxes, and we went from there,” said Michelle Caven, director of Main Street Boulder City, an initiative out of the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce.
The city only had a small budget for paint, so they put out the call for volunteer artists from the community.
“To our pleasant, very pleasant surprise, we had 51 artists submit their applications wanting to take part in this project,” Caven said. “We wanted a little bit of everything. Our youngest is 11 years old.”
Liz Baird is capturing life in the desert, including a roadrunner now at home, and a reimagined utility box.
“I had my first kid seven years ago, and I stopped painting after that,” Baird said. “I’m very, very surprised at how good it’s turning out, especially since I’m not used to painting with acrylics, I’m more of a painter with oils.”
Baird said the community response has been positive.
“Probably the best part is all the positive feedback we’ve been getting. Every day, people drive by, and they say how happy they are that we’re doing this,” she said. “It makes me feel good that other people appreciate art as much as I do.”
After the painting is finished, the boxes will get a clear seal to withstand the heat and weather.
Because the artists volunteered their time, Main Street Boulder City plans to continue highlighting their work by sharing their completed boxes, artist stories, social media pages, and websites through plaques on the boxes, their website, and social media platforms.
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