The Shaker Arts Council’s Utility Box art program showcases local artists.
By Joe Miller
Ostriches and Alpacas in Love and Starry Meow in Cle by Hilda Gabarron Ordorica and Sunflower and Mandala by Alicia Vasquez
There’s a bit of whimsy spreading through Shaker Heights.
At Kenyon Road and Chagrin Boulevard, wide-mouthed cats howl at the stars. Up the street on Chagrin at Palmerston Road, a whirlwind of identifiable flying objects – including Elvis, Superman, and a winged pig – soar through the air. And near the Main Library, ducks and frogs catch up with their favorite books.
The magical scenes are part of a campaign by the Shaker Arts Council to convert the City’s drab metal utility boxes – the ones that house traffic light timing controls – into showcases for local artists. So far, the non-profit group has decorated 13 boxes and has plans to transform at least six more in 2021.
What started four years ago as a high school senior project idea has morphed into a design competition open to artists who work or reside in Shaker Heights. The winners are chosen by a Shaker Arts Council jury and then approved by the City’s Public Art Task Force.
The designs are transferred to vinyl wraps and installed on the boxes by Diamond Signs & Graphics in Warrensville Heights. The project is partially funded by a Cuyahoga Arts & Culture grant.
“Public art creates a sense of place, a sense of identity for our community,” says City Planning Director Joyce Braverman. The utility box program “is whimsical, unexpected, and can bring a smile to your face.”
Renee Parker Boyle, a graphic designer and Shaker resident, has had two winning designs so far: the aforementioned “Come Fly with Me” starring Elvis and friends, and “Carousel,” which features an old fashioned carnival ride and harkens to the Lake County Fair.
“I loved those summer nights at dusk and how everything looked on the midway,” says Parker Boyle. “The design makes me feel like I’m back there as a kid again.”
Hilda Gabarron Ordorica, a Shaker-based artist known professionally as Higo, is the creative force behind two more boxes. Her “Starry Meow in Cle,” features the three howling cats, who also appear in a children’s book she is writing with friends. The cats sit in front of a former bank that’s coincidentally being converted into a veterinarian’s office.
Her other piece, “Alpacas and Ostriches in Love,” shows colorful pairs of the amorous animals at Fairmount and South Belvoir boulevards.
“These projects made me love even more the tremendous amount of time I invest in my art,” Gabarron Ordorica says. “I create characters thinking they can maybe be part of a book, a story, printing art, a new project, or making people smile when they saw them on a corner.”
The project was originally sparked by Shaker Heights Arts Council board member Susan Rotatori when the decorated utility boxes in University Circle caught her eye. Soon she was pitching the idea to Shaker Heights High School. Shaker students have since designed three of the boxes as part of their senior projects.
“We have so many gifted art students at the High School,” says Rotatori, currently the co-president of the Ludlow Neighborhood Association. “And the City has way too many boxes.”
For 2021, the Shaker Arts Council has won another county grant and struck a deal with the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to wrap at least six boxes along the Rapid tracks in Shaker. The group recently put out another call for designs.
The project has been an artistic bright spot in the middle of the pandemic, says Marcia Romano, the council’s treasurer. “Cuyahoga Arts & Culture told us that they appreciate the fact that we were able to finish what we started,” she adds. “A lot of projects were lost to COVID last year.”
