Traffic signal box project adds color to Kalispell streets

The traffic signal boxes in downtown Kalispell are doing more than stopping traffic these days — they’re stopping passersby pausing to admire their new and unexpected artistic flare.

Phase One of KALICO Art Center’s Beautify Kalispell: Traffic Signal Boxes public art initiative is now complete. The project set out to beautify traffic signal boxes in downtown Kalispell. Four artists were selected from an open call this summer and the selected works, converted into vinyl wraps, were installed this week by Wrap Hive.

Residents and visitors to Kalispell have been treated to the pops of color around downtown. The project was designed to visually complement the city of Kalispell by inserting works of art into the community on surfaces that are often a target of unwanted graffiti.

“Art is less likely to be tagged and also adds an element of joy to the streetscape, bridging the gap of art and audience and encouraging community engagement,” said KALICO Executive Director Jemina Watstein. “The purpose of this project is to honor our local artists, emphasize all that Western Montana has to offer, beautify the city and attract both locals and tourists to downtown Kalispell.”

“It’s a terrific way to add to the unique character of our community, artist Heidi Marie Faessel said. “It adds friendliness and welcomes those who visit, live and shop downtown.”

Faessel created a colorful floral design inspired by her artist sketchbook containing her sketches, watercolors, pressed leaves and photography. She said she wanted to be involved in the project because she wanted to support KALICO’s vision of expanding public art in downtown Kalispell, making it easily accessible to locals and visitors alike.

“It seemed like a fun, fresh way for our community to celebrate the beauty of our valley through artists’ eyes,” she said.

MICHELL WANG believes public art can help foster a sense of love and pride for a place and community.

“I wanted to be involved because I felt the prompt was approachable, had positive focus … and reflected all that the Flathead Valley had to offer.”

Wang, an artist and art instructor, found inspiration in the collage mountains she already had been creating in her artwork, made of torn, patterned pieces of old security envelopes, and the sky.

“I am always in awe of the sky. You can almost always find me looking up. One of these days I'm bound to walk straight into a pole!” she said. “There is an expansive and hopeful feeling that occurs when the sky is clear, bright, and colorful — as if anything is possible.”

Sophia George, an artist born and raised in the Flathead Valley, titled her design “Playful Pastels.”

In her artist statement George wrote, “I read an excerpt from one of Elena Ferrante’s novels, ‘Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay,’ which says, ‘When you don’t know what you’ve made it means you’ve made something good.’ This little pastel felt like that — I didn’t know what I had made but I loved it. Is it a surface design? A piece on its own? Whatever it is, I know the best things come from play, and I know our Traffic Signal Box Project will add some spunk to Kalispell Main!”

Megan Crawford fell in love with the copious public art in the town of Bozeman, so when KALICO put out a call for artists she wanted to send in her artwork. Her signal box depicts iconic Goose Island on St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park.

“My piece originally started as embroidery, then it became a painting, and eventually it evolved into a vinyl wrap,” Crawford said. “Maybe, someday, this box on Main and Sixth can become someone’s bright spot in their commute.”

Crawford expressed her appreciation for KALICO and the artistic community the center has cultivated in Kalispell.

“Now, despite who may come or go or how the valley will change, these boxes will be here, sprinkled along Main Street — metal love letters to a place we call home,” she said.

The Beautify Kalispell: Traffic Signal Boxes initiative was made possible through the Tourism Grant Program provided by the Montana Department of Commerce, in-kind donations from Discover Kalispell, Kalispell Downtown Association and Wrap Hive in Kalispell, which turned the winning artwork into digital files that were used to create the vinyl stickers.

KALICO plans to hold another open call next year as this project continues on to Phase 2. When the initiative is fully complete, 12 gray traffic signal boxes will have become “canvases” featuring original art by Flathead Valley artists.

Earlier this year KALICO spearheaded the Tunnel Vision 2021 Mural Project in collaboration with Rails to Trails of Northwest Montana. That public art initiative resulted in five colorful murals painted by seven artists and more than 120 volunteers on tunnels along the trail system. Phase 3 of the Tunnel Vision initiative is slated for next summer at the Lone Pine tunnel south of Foys Lake Road.

KALICO Art Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is a downtown space for all ages and abilities to create, connect and experience contemporary art. Located at 149 S. Main St., the center offers classes, events, exhibitions and a ceramics studio. For more information, visit kalicoartcenter.org

Community editor and Arts and Entertainment editor Carol Marino may be reached at 406-758-4440 or community@dailyinterlake.com.