Utility Box Wraps

City of Redmond’s Traffic Operations Safety and Engineering partnered with the Cultural Arts team in 2020 to create a pilot program for artist commissioned utility box wraps. Installation was delayed due to the pandemic until 2022.

Read more about the artworks selected below and be sure to check out the wraps in person downtown at Cleveland and Leary. If you have any questions or comments, please share them with CulturalArts@redmond.gov

I Am Home, This Is Home by Soo HongI Am Home, This Is Home by Soo Hong

My raindrop painting explores identity, culture, and a longing for a harmonious integration into the environment. Raindrop is a metaphor symbolizing the individuals within the area and community.

Soo Hong's work explores the unrooted human condition, reflecting a nomadic life experience that aspires to feel belonging. Not being deeply rooted in a particular culture or a place, she feels the act of painting is analogous to nesting in the place she lives and creating an intimate space. Through her works, she wants to convey a sense of belonging and inclusion regardless of the differences in backgrounds. 

hometown by Lynn ColwellHometown by Lynn Colwell

This painting features some of my favorite places and items in our beautiful city, some expected—the trees, water and gardens—and others not so much, the climbing walls and windmill along with the red chairs. We live not far from Marymoor and the climbing wall and windmill were great surprises to me when we moved here four and a half years ago. I visit the community garden all year long to see not only the plantings and the wildlife, but the gardeners themselves who are working for the good of the community. The red chairs at the downtown park make me so happy. I visit quite often after buying lunch at one of the nearby restaurants. My husband and I are high risk for COVID so we are inside a lot. These places and things in invite us outside and allow us to enjoy the environment our new hometown offers.

Community by Wolfberry StudioCommunity by Wolfberry Studio

This digital illustration is composed of live drawings done in Redmond Downtown Park during the Cinco de Mayo celebration in 2019. It was one of the most enjoyable drawing sessions I had in that space: the festival brought a palpable sense of community, family and color to Downtown Park.

Wolfberry Studio has been life drawing in Redmond’s public spaces for more than a decade. Although the drawing sessions were originally intended to be solitary exercises, they came to appreciate the interest of community members in what they were working on. They started holding mini popup art shows to bring art safely outdoors to our community during the pandemic and enjoyed how sometimes community members share stories about their own lives and interests after viewing the art.