It has been nearly a year and a half since Yuba Sutter Arts began its “Cover It!” Utility Box Mini-Murals Project. The seed money came from a joint fundraiser with the Rotary Club of Yuba City and from there the program caught on like wildfire. Yuba Sutter Arts introduced “Cover It!” as part of its arts everywhere initiative designed to support art in public places and to enhance neighborhoods through the creation of mini-murals on existing infrastructure.
“No other project or program we’ve undertaken these past few years has drawn the kind of positive feedback we have received as a result of painting utility boxes in Yuba City and Marysville,” said David Read, Executive Director of Yuba Sutter Arts. “The mini-murals have been a great way to help beautify our community and they just make people smile,” he added.
Earlier this year, the City of Yuba City approached Yuba Sutter Arts and agreed to fund seven additional utility box art projects. A call to artists was posted and finalists were selected from over 30 submissions.
The following is a complete listing of all the completed mini-murals to date:
Yuba City
- Live Oak Boulevard at Queens Avenue: “Egrets” by Yvonne Roque
- B Street at Clark Avenue: “Honkers” by Madelyne Templeton
- Franklin Road at Clark Avenue: “Chicken Band” by Teresa King under the direction of Pam Nowak
- Shanghai Bend Road at Garden Highway: “Cows” by Karen Fulk
- Franklin Road at Walton Road: “Calla Lilies” by Karen Fulk
- Lincoln Road at Walton: “Tractors” by Karen Fulk
- Garden Hwy. at Percy: “Bees” by Madelyne Templeton
- Butte House Road & Stabler: “Happy Cow” by Karen Fulk
- Franklin & 99 at the entrance to Winco: “Roosters” by Karen Fulk
Marysville
- 5th and H Street: “Poppies for Remembrance” by Rebecca Wallace
- 10th and Ramirez: “Bike in the Buttes with Poppies” by Madelyne Templeton
Also, two new utility box projects are about to get underway; one in Yuba City funded by the Rotary Club of Yuba City and one in Marysville sponsored by a private donor.
The“Cover It!” Utility Box Mural Project continues to enhance the aesthetics of Yuba-Sutter, promote civic pride, increase pedestrian traffic and extend public art to new areas in unexpected places while creating an attractive environment and allowing art to be introduced to the public in a creative and inventive way.
For additional information about this or any of its many other programs, contact Yuba Sutter Arts at 530-742-ARTS or email david@yubasutterarts.org.
