Utility Boxes from the San Diego Urban Art Trail

It all began in 1997 in the East Village of downtown San Diego. Downtown San Diego was still considered a scary place. Local drug dealers were using electrical boxes found on virtually every corner as makeshift offices. These urban eyesores were often covered with tagging by rival gang members. There were some urban pioneers and many of them gravitated together. A local publisher named Rex Edhlund created a paper called D-Town, the Downtown Paper to collect the thoughts of these like minded individuals. One of the metopolitan activists that contributed to this paper was Candace Lopez. In her monthly column, Nurture the Neighborhood, she launched the Urban Art Trail.

A local graphic design professor at San Diego City College, Candace had the idea to cover the metal obstructions with colorful graphics and enlisted the help of her students at San Diego City College and the American Institute of Graphic Arts San Diego. Securing permission from the Centre City Development Corporation and utility companies over on hundred volunteers initially transformed the blight with powerful artwork.

The Urban Art Trail flowered into a massive community beautification project that included utility boxes, murals, sidewalk poetry, mosaics, birdhouses, and benches. The utility box art has spread to other San Diego neighborhoods led by creative redevelopment districts including Hillcrest/Uptown, NorthPark and Ocean Beach with dynamic results. Neighborhood artists and children have become involved in the process of making art creating a sense of pride and ownership in local communities. Happily, the idea has been embraced by other cities in the United States and Canada.

A great way to sell your community on this idea is to create a before/after photo using photoshop to place the graphics on a box in your area via the computer. You can also use images in this website to demonstrate the transformation. Utility boxes were identified in neighborhoods and cleaned thoroughly with water and simple green cleanser. Important utility company decals are masked off carefully using paper and tape. Newspapers are taped all around the box to protect the sidewalk. We use one-shot sign painters paint [oil base] that repels the elements, is easily cleaned and maintained with bright colors that last for years.

Now it has been over 10 years. It's time for Urban Art Trail 2.0

We intend to renew the initial trail with world-class design, painted by a professional with experience in the outdoor medium. The project will then include volunteers and students to flow over into other sections of San Diego. Hopefully we can again garner enough media support to take it around the country again. Maybe even around the world. (Are these utility boxes in other parts of the world?)

We can't think of a better project for the Art Project Foundation to take on. We hope you join us.