PORTLAND, Maine — The nonprofit group Portland Downtown is embarking on a mission to bring creativity and vibrancy to the city.
This time, they have set their sights on transforming everyday objects into pieces of art that locals and tourists can enjoy.
Among their targets for this creative endeavor are the often overlooked and unappealing utility boxes scattered throughout Portland.
"We're going to take this boring little black or grey box and turn it into a local piece of art," Cary Tyson, the executive director of Portland Downtown, said.
As summer approaches, Portland Downtown's initiative to paint the town, or rather its utility boxes, gains momentum.
Their budget this summer only covers six boxes, but Tyson believes it will still provide a significant boost for local artists.
Each chosen artist will receive $650 for their work, making it a worthwhile investment for the artists and the community.
However, it's not just anyone who gets to paint these utility boxes.
The city has selected professional artists like Jared Goultette, who is fondly known as the "color wizard" for his captivating artistry.
Goultette has been painting murals full time since 2018 and has already graced 15 utility boxes in the city of Portland with his colorful designs.
With more than 2,000 utility boxes in Portland's peninsula, there is an extensive canvas waiting to be transformed.
"The utility boxes are a great way for artists to express themselves, and with so many of them around the city, they provide ample opportunities to infuse artwork into the community for everyone to enjoy," Goultette said.
Goultette also noted that Portland is an exceptional city for such artistic endeavors, because unlike many other places it compensates artists for their contributions to projects like this.
The hope is that this initiative will continue year after year until all the utility boxes in downtown Portland receive artistic attention.
To select the top six artists for this project, a competitive process has been established, with a selection panel carefully considering the applicants.
The aim is to have the selected artists paint their assigned utility boxes by the end of July.
Applications from artists who wish to leave their creative mark on one of Portland's utility boxes must be submitted by June 23rd.