VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Getting art into the community, and into areas it’s not generally seen: That was the goal of the Virginia Beach Public Art Committee, and it still is. The committee joined forces with Virginia Beach Public Schools to embark on a beautification project of sorts, giving traditionally not-so-attractive utility boxes a makeover.
Christopher Buhner, the former visual arts coordinator for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, helped get the proposal off the ground.
"The students designed wonderful quilts. We called the project Stitched, representing the community. A way to represent things that make you feel safe and secure. We told the students that they not only would have a quilt in their school, but we’re going to spread them out into the community to spread the love,” explained Buhner.
The original designs were created by students from Bayside, Rosemont, and Betty F. Williams Elementary Schools. They made collages from mixed media papers, like magazines. Then, high schoolers from Salem’s Visual and Performing Arts Academy took over. Senior Ember McSpadden was on one of the teams that took those first drafts to the next level. She told News 3 photojournalist Ray and me that they digitized the quilts and really made an effort to keep the integrity of the elementary school students’ work intact.
Another main focus was keeping their customer, the City of Virginia Beach, satisfied.
"At first, the kids were really excited about it because they thought working with the city would be cool and the kids' work was cool. They realized very quickly, though, that working with a client is much different than working on your own art,” visual arts teacher Erin Richburg shared.
After some back and forth, final renderings were agreed upon for the utility box wraps, and the students learned a great deal along the way. Their teacher believes the project taught them a lot about what they want and don’t want for their future.
“Some of them are really gung-ho about working with clients now and some of them are like, 'Well, that’s not what I want.' Ultimately, that was the goal: to give them a project they could work on and be excited about,” said Richburg.
Right now, there are 16 Project Stitched wrapped utility boxes in the City of Virginia Beach at the following locations:
- Northampton Blvd. between Burton Station Rd. and Diamond Springs Rd.
- Rosemont Rd. between Dahlia Dr. and Lynnhaven Pkwy.
- Lynnhaven Pkwy. between Ski Lodge Rd. and Primrose Ln.
- Baker Rd. between Hampshire Ln. and Newtown Rd.
- Newtown Rd. between Diamond Springs Rd. and Deford Rd.
To learn more about the City of Virginia Beach Public Art Program, click here.
