Walking in downtown Bellingham, you may notice artwork on transformer boxes in various areas. In 2018, the City of Bellingham announced a contest calling for local artists to create original artwork to be painted on select traffic boxes in the Arts and Downtown historic districts.
The goal of the project was to promote a sense of community, as well as add beauty and identity to city streets. Prior to that, traffic boxes had attracted unwanted graffiti and vandalism, and had cost the city thousands of dollars in maintenance and cleanup.
Art projects similar to these are becoming increasingly popular all over the U.S., as city tourism commissions and utility companies seek to brighten public spaces and deter defacement by transforming what were once drab green boxes into works of art.
Along with the city, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) also collaborated with nine local artists to create ARTility, a program designed to beautify neighborhoods and discourage vandalism on their transformer boxes.
PSE’s first facility to feature the artwork was the Encogen Generating Station on Cornwall Avenue in Bellingham. Local artist Gretchen Leggitt created the 21,600-square-foot mural depicting the North Cascades mountain range.
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