CITY OF EUGENE + BICYCLE SAFETY
The City of Eugene, in Lane county Oregon invited me to create artwork to help with bicycle awareness. The goal was to make art that invokes a playful, fun and safe environment for both bicyclists and motor vehicles that travel along 13th avenue.
Nine scenes titled “Glow Ride”, were illustrated for approval and then hand-painted on the traffic control boxes that are along that street at the 9 traffic lights between Downtown Eugene and the University of Oregon. It was a wonderful experience with lots of Oregon sunshine.
The best part of the experience was being able to see how the colorful art made people feel. Some commented how much they like seeing the bright and cheerful paintings. This made me happy to be able to contribute to the community.
I had so much help painting from my wife Véra and daughter Zoe. You can see Véra standing in the shadows in these next photos. She was a big support when it came to the details. These pictures show us painting on the “doodle grid” which is the technique I used to copy the art on to the boxes. Since we could use any image as a reference when combining the layered art with photos in the computer, we chose to paint the abc’s. We had fun watching the reaction of people when they saw we are painting the abc’s but somehow got a few letters not quite right.
These paintings are made with the thought of promoting bicycle safety. The images are bright and colorful in a way that shows the importance of being seen while commuting on a bike. The characters shown are wearing bubble like helmets that help to keep their heads safe. I wanted to show exciting scenarios that a rider might come upon in a daily bicycle commute.
Here is a view of my initial thumbnail sketch that I made to get the concept layout for each one.
Hand-painting these was time consuming and kept me standing outside on the street for many hours. It was with each brush stroke that I felt the energy of the city. Cars, people, music and lights all contributed to an amazing vibe while painting these. Standing on any street corner for a whole week observing the people and environment is a timeless experience. Here is a link to the City of Eugene’s website article about it.
“Thank you for all of the work you did to create a unified, well designed and vibrant series of traffic box paintings on 13th. They look amazing and I so appreciate your thoughtful approach. We are lucky to have you in our community.”
- Kate Ali, Public Art Manager City of Eugene