HomeMy WebLinkAboutOct 30 - Utility Wrap
City of Edina • 4801 W. 50th St. • Edina, MN 55424
Contact: Krystal Caron, Communications Coordinator
Phone 952-826-0347 • kcaron@EdinaMN.gov • www.EdinaMN.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City Installs Art Wrap on Utility Box at 66th Street and
Valley View Road
Edina, Minn., Oct. 30, 2014 – Public Art Edina, a working group of the Edina Arts & Culture Commission,
recently installed an art wrap around the utility box located at 66th Street and Valley View Road. The wrap was
designed by Public Art Edina Working Group member and owner of Lidke Advertising & Design, Mark Lidke,
and was installed by Unleashed Productions out of Minneapolis.
“We would like to have this be a showcase for artists in Edina. … This is just one whimsical way that we can
[highlight the artists by] saying this utility box was wrapped by this Edina artist,” said Public Art Edina Chair
Barbara La Valleur. “We’ll definitely be doing more in the future.” She noted the City will look for additional
artist submissions for utility boxes in 2015.
The City of Edina owns 13n utility boxes and the Public Art Edina Working Group hopes to install additional art
wraps when the covers are due for replacement. The next box will likely be at the corner of 50th Street and
Wooddale Avenue and La Valleur hopes to install that sometime in the spring of 2015.
“We worked with Barbara to find a location that was prominent and was going to be a brand new cabinet so it
would last longer and wouldn’t mess up the cabinet if we had to do any maintenance work on it,” explained
Public Works Director Brian Olson. “[This project is] a collaborative effort between the Public Works
Department and the Arts & Culture Commission.”
Olson noted that the wraps also serve a valuable purpose as they are resistant to paints and other types of
vandalism. Having the art wrap will save the City money since it won’t be necessary to repaint utility boxes;
instead, vandalism can just be wiped away.
“We want all [of the boxes] to be different and to be by different artists from Edina. … Future boxes will come
from photography, paintings, children’s art and graphic design – it will be a variety of all those things,” explained
La Valleur. “We’ve had encouragement from the City and I think that’s helpful. Brian Olson has just been
wonderful -- [he] really partnered with us on this project.”
Each utility box wrap costs between $550 and $750; wraps for additional boxes will be made possible through
donations. For more information, to donate to Public Art Edina or to make an artist submission, contact Edina
Art Center General Manager and Public Art Edina Staff Liaison Michael Frey at 952-903-5729 or
mfrey@EdinaMN.gov. For more information about Edina Public Art, visit www.edinapublicart.org.
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