As part of its “Beauty of Life” campaign, the city of Sugar Land Civic Arts Division is organizing its first hand-painted traffic boxes series, officials announced in a May 1 news release.
Sha Davis, Sugar Land’s civic arts manager, said that although the city has done other traffic box art projects in the past, those were all vinyl wrapped, and these are the first ones to be hand-painted.
The overview
A selection committee chose four artists and the “high-pedestrian traffic” locations where their boxes will be showcased, with:
- Micah Salinas at Eldridge Park
- John Alva at Eldridge Road at West Airport Boulevard
- Brynee Henry at Brooks and Gunther streets
- Maya Imani Watson at Gillingham Lane and Jess Pirtle Boulevard
Each of the artists was given a good amount of freedom by the city on what to paint, with their prompt being whatever makes life beautiful to them, Davis said.
How we got here
In 2021, Davis said the SLCAD released murals across Sugar Land in collaboration with the city’s economic development department and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to help spread the word on mental health awareness.
After the project was completed, the SLCAD teamed up with the foundation again to discover different ways to promote mental health, which is how the “Beauty of Life” campaign began to take shape.
“We want to focus on the beauty of life and the positive things that you get just by being alive and continuously kind of persevering and getting outside, getting fresh air, getting into community, participating in art,” Davis said.
On the horizon
The artists will film themselves while hand-painting their own traffic box out in public starting May 8, before their work is completed May 17, Davis said.
Additionally, the “Beauty of Life” campaign will introduce more exhibitions for the rest of the year to go along with its arts and wellness movement. Everything is leading up to a “culmination piece,” which Davis said the SLCAD is currently working on.
