Arts & Entertainment

Newton BoxART Evolving Beyond Paint

Calling all Newton photographers, sculptors, quilters, decoupagers and other artists. BoxART is reaching beyond the boundaries of paint.

About 12 of Newton's matte gray signal boxes have already received an energetic update thanks to the city's BoxART program that launched in early 2012.

But there are about 90 boxes scattered throughout the city, so local artists still have plenty of opportunities to see their art displayed. And the next round of proposals can reach well beyond the traditional two-dimensional paintings that have so far covered the boxes.

"We were only getting submissions from little kids so we sort of wanted to open it up to other artists, but they don't all paint," said Jeannie Smith with Newton Community Pride, which helped launch the BoxART program last year.

Thanks to a new partnership with a local artist, however, the proposals for the boxes this time around can expand well beyond painting to photography, sculpture, quilting, decoupage or really any number of art forms.

That's because the boxes will no longer be painted. Instead, under the guidance of Newton Open Studios, artists will submit images of their artwork and those images will be recreated in giant "stickers" – commercial signage wraps – that can then be applied to the boxes.

"What's cool about it this time is artists can submit samples of their work in any medium," Smith said. "It'll be very different."

An example of a wrapped traffic control box has been created at Commonwealth Avenue and Chestnut Street. The Request for Proposals (RFP) for this project indicates that artists can submit works of art created for any purpose, but that those created especially for Newton's BoxART program are certainly encouraged.

The first submission deadline under this new system is Sept. 10, 2013. More detailed information is available in the RFP (included as a PDF with this article), including how to submit a proposal, the specifications for the design and additional details.

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