Peter Finkle: Students give city a box of art

Ashland High School art students and teachers with the traffic box they redecorated near the campus. Designer Junie Christopherson is wearing a red shirt. Art teacher Max Malcomb has the red hand. Peter Finkle photo
February 3, 2025

Say hello to a traffic utility box that used to stand in gray anonymity, until Ashland high schoolers transformed it

By Peter Finkle

Have you noticed the three recently painted traffic boxes? They are bold, brightly painted traffic signal boxes along Siskiyou Boulevard. This article is the first of three that will introduce you to the artists and the artwork.

You will see them at the Siskiyou Boulevard intersection with Beach Street (Box 1, across from Ashland High School), at the intersection with Walker Avenue (Box 2, near the Presbyterian Church) and at the intersection with Wightman Street (Box 3, by the SOU diagonal crosswalk). Read on to learn about the first one, which was painted by Ashland High School art students.

Why public art?

The painted traffic signal boxes are part of Ashland’s public art collection. You might wonder why Ashland has a Public Arts Advisory Committee to sponsor and advocate for public artworks.

“Public art humanizes the built environment. It provides an intersection between past, present, and future… Public art matters because our communities gain cultural, social and economic value through public art.” — Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit association

Public art is valuable, even crucial to a community. Why? Because it is for everyone — not just for art collectors or people who go to galleries.

Public art can celebrate history of place and local identity. Sometimes it encourages our imagination or challenges our beliefs. It can be socially relevant. And often, we value public art for its ability to stimulate smiles, wonder and moments of joy.

At the end of this photo essay, I will briefly describe all three traffic signal boxes that were painted in 2024, and how many more remain to be painted in the years to come.

‘Hello my name is’ — Artist Junie Christopherson

“I am super happy that I got it done. The community that formed while it was happening gave me a sense of pride as well.” — Artist Juniper “Junie” Christopherson

The Ashland students transformed a gray traffic box into public art. Student Junie Christopherson started by painting “Hello my name is” in name tag style. Fellow students joined in and took it from there. Peter Finkle photos

The first traffic signal box painted is across the street from Ashland High School, at the corner of Siskiyou Boulevard and Beach Street. The community that helped to paint the box was Ashland High art students and art teachers.

High school student Junie Christopherson presented a design in the form of the ubiquitous “Hello my name is” name tag, with its distinctive red color. Her vision was to have Ashland High art students and faculty fill in the white spaces of the name tags with their signatures and their art.

Students and teacher Max Malcomb, at right in black shirt, paint the box. Peter Finkle photo
The painting process

Ashland High art teacher Max Malcomb, who painted the box along with his art students, told me: “The students were excited about painting the traffic signal box. The nature of that piece was an impromptu thing, which made it feel very spontaneous. Having Junie put it together meant a lot, since she’s a fresh [Ashland High] alumnus guiding the students and having it be about them.”

Painting took place last September. Junie began with the “Hello my name is” background on Sept. 21, with assistance from her friend Otis Tracy. A few days later, two groups of art students walked across the street to fill the box with a wide variety of artistic styles. Junie thought that a lot of the students enjoyed participating and felt like it was a great way to express their artistic abilities.

Junie told me she was pleased with the outcome. “I am happy. I think it looks great. I’m happy that we had a lot of different people with different styles of art paint on it. I think that contributes to the chaotic-in-a-good-way look of it.”

Community participation: eighteen people helped artist Junie Christopherson paint the box. Ashland High art teacher Max Malcomb brought an entire art class across the street to paint, including a teaching assistant.

Local business support: Thank you to Ashland Hardware. Junie purchased paints and supplies at Ashland Hardware, which generously offered a gift certificate to the Public Arts Committee for the project.

The west side of the completed box. Peter Finkle photo
‘Chaotic-in-a-good-way’

Sadly, someone vandalized this community art project by covering part of it with solid spray paint just three weeks after it was completed. While removing the spray paint, some of the underlying original artwork was washed away. Several additional, smaller graffiti/tags have been added to the box since September. As I explore my own emotional reactions to these “additions,” I remember Junie’s description of the completed box mural, which I thought was spot-on. She described the look as “chaotic-in-a-good-way.” I think this particular traffic signal box will be different than the other eighteen to be painted. With its genesis in the minds and hands of Ashland High School art students, this may turn into a living, changing artwork, hopefully always “chaotic-in-a-good-way.”

Many painted utility boxes

As you explore Ashland, you will see many painted utility boxes. I previously published photo essays about some of these at my WalkAshland website, especially in the Railroad District and along Calle Guanajuato. These colorful, humble artworks that brighten busy streets and pedestrian walkways were painted between 2009 and 2015. Sponsored by the Public Arts Committee, all are part of our public art collection.

How this project came about, and why

After Ashland City Council approved the concept of painting all 20 traffic signal boxes with community involvement, the Public Arts Committee identified three boxes to paint during the first year of the project — the year 2024. The committee planned for a “neighborhood” or “community” of people to assist in painting each box, with supervision by the artist whose design was chosen. Because this was such a new endeavor, and they knew there would be a steep learning curve, committee members thought starting with a clearly defined community of painters would simplify the process. That is why the first three boxes listed below were chosen.

  • Ashland High School art students and faculty would be involved in painting the box at the corner of Siskiyou Blvd and Beach Street, across the street from the high school.
  • Members of the Presbyterian Church and the students at Children’s World Montessori School that meets at the church would help create the box at the corner of Siskiyou Blvd and Walker Avenue.
  • Southern Oregon University art students and faculty would participate in painting the box near the corner of Siskiyou Blvd and Wightman Street.

History, and a vision for the future
Pioneer Mike, in the center of Ashland Plaza, was donated to the community in 1910 by the children of H.B. and H.H. Carter in memory of their parents. The Butler-Perozzi Fountain, in Lithia Park, was donated to the community in 1916 by Gwin Butler and Domingo Perozzi. Peter Finkle photos

Our town has a long history of public art. You are probably familiar with three early 1900s public artworks: the Butler-Perozzi Fountain in Lithia Park, Pioneer Mike in the Plaza and the Mickelson-Chapman Memorial Fountain in front of Ashland Library. Our city’s public art collection has grown considerably since the Public Arts Committee was formed in 2003 by the City Council. Now, in 2025, many new public art projects are underway. This multiyear project is one of them.

There are sixteen more traffic signal boxes to paint during the next few years. In the years to come, hundreds of Ashland residents will help create these ODOT box public artworks. Counting just their families and friends, thousands of residents have the potential to be touched emotionally or intellectually by the painting process.

Being human, we tend to take for granted what we are familiar with. For example, we so easily take art for granted, hardly noticing a mural, sculpture or painted utility box we see regularly in our own town. Yet we know that art, whether we see it as a tourist in another city or here at home, has the ability to move us emotionally and spark us intellectually.

Ultimately, the success of this Neighborhood Public Artworks project will be measured by how many people are inspired, even a little, to more deeply appreciate the wide variety of public art that surrounds us in our daily lives.

Stay tuned for more traffic signal boxes to be painted in 2025 and beyond!

Peter Finkle leads Ashland walking tours. Visit WalkAshland.com to learn about his history, art and Haunted Ashland tours, or to request a private tour for your group or family.

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