WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – The Arts Federation is asking local artists to submit their work for designs that will be placed around traffic signal boxes across West Lafayette.
Artists, 18 and older, are being asked to submit up to five examples of imaged designs. The Public Arts team will be selecting four artists from the group of submissions. Those who are selected will be compensated $750 per design.
Tetia Lee, Chief Executive Officer of TAF, said they want designs to reflect the unique style of artists.
“There’s a point after we contract with these four artists, then they’ll be given a specific location and asked to design an original piece of artwork,” Lee said.
“If they’re a painter, we want to be able to tell after it’s installed that it’s a painting. If they work with a lot of textures, that’s ok.”
There are six potential locations across West Lafayette intersections. One looking towards Northwestern and Lindberg Road. Another right beside West Lafayette Fire Station 3.
Some will be located near Purdue’s campus, at the intersections of State Street and Chauncey Avenue, and State Street and Robuck Drive. Salisbury Street and Fowler Avenue, and Salisbury and Wiggins Avenue.
Lee said the process of wrapping signal boxes is similar to wrapping a vehicle.
“The artwork, whether it comes over digitally or if it’s a two-dimension piece that we’ll then take a photograph of, we’ll design it so that it’s proportional to the exact dimensions of the traffic signal box. At that point, it is printed on high quality vinyl. And then the print company will then take that and install it on the traffic signal box,” Lee said. “We leave that up to the professionals to do that, because there’s a specific amount of temperature and technique that goes into wrapping it, so it’s seamless.”
According to Lee, the idea behind the project is to show off local talent and increase quality of life through the efforts of public art.
The upcoming project is being funded by the City of West Lafayette, in a partnership with TAF.
“Another effort that the city has done to really say that the arts are meaningful in the branding and reputation of the city. And they want to make sure that it’s accessible to everyone, especially to our local artists,” Lee said.
The deadline to submit applications is by June first. Artists chosen will have one month to do the specified artwork. If everything goes as planned, the projects will be finished by October 2024.
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