Look! Public Art!

 The downtown mural I have been watching for is finally in progress in the Queen's Courtyard, a passage from Municipal Parking Lot 6 to East Front Street. This alley is a favorite target of taggers, as one can see by the blocks of cover-up paint behind the mural, but I hope this art work will be appreciated and not marred.

Here is a detail. The theme seems to be different downtown activities, with some emphasis on one of my favorite Plainfield attributes, walkability.

Heading to the stores at Park & Seventh, I was thrilled to see this signal box all covered with flower images. I had some of these flowers in my own garden this summer.

 
 The artwork is part of a Union County initiative called "Art Outside the Box."
Click the link to read more and also click the "Traffic Control Boxes" link and scroll down to see other locations of decorated signal boxes in Plainfield.


I think these images are very uplifting and I hope they will also be respected and not covered by ads for nightclubs and such.

I know not everyone is a full-time pedestrian like me, but sometimes a stroll around is much more interesting than a quick view through a windshield. This artwork even has the garden bumblebees and butterflies when you look closely.

As the article notes, this project is an initiative of the Union County Board of Freeholders, chaired by Mohamed Jalloh, brother of City Clerk Abubakar "Ajay" Jalloh. Two handsome guys, both devoted to public service!

My other favorite city, Seattle, is full of public art.

Jimi Hendrix statue, Capitol Hill, Seattle

The sculptures, sidewalk features and murals demonstrate an appreciation for creativity that enlivens the city. Plainfield has artists of all kinds and could benefit from publicly acknowledging that facet of the community. The late Ray Blanco, a documentarian and social activist as well as a city councilman, advocated for the arts in Plainfield by supporting a $50,000 budget for the Cultural & Heritage Commission - roughly a dollar per resident. (Seattle allots 1 percent of its capital budget for art projects, as do some other major cities.)

Keep an eye out in your travels for the new public art and if you agree that it enhances the city, ask your elected officials to keep that thought in mind at budget time.

--Bernice