Public art project brightens cityscape in Mesquite

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

What was once a drab electrical utility box became a brightly-colored work of public art last week on the corner of Pioneer Blvd and Mesa Blvd in Mesquite.

About thirty people braved the late afternoon heat on Friday evening, June 18 to experience a special unveiling ceremony in front of the Eureka Resort.

The metal utility box, just off the sidewalk at that location, was initially covered in a blue tarp awaiting the unveiling. Two Mesquite Showgirls were on hand to remove the covering revealing a vibrant artwork that had been applied to the box using a vinyl wrap process.

The artwork for the project, donated by Salt Lake City artist Rachelle Knight, depicted scenes of cultivating, growing and harvesting the Virgin Valley’s first cash crop: cotton.

“In these works, I wanted to tap in to the early agricultural heritage of this community,” said Knight. “And it was the idea of growing cotton in this area that brought those first pioneer settlers here.”

Knight has created about a half dozen different illustrations to be used in similar utility box wraps in Mesquite. Each of them show an aspect of the agricultural heritage of the community. They include scenes of grape vineyards, pomegranate orchards, sunflower crops and more.

A project to install these artworks at various utility boxes throughout the City is being coordinated by the Mesquite Public Arts Commission (MPAC) with the help of a number of different partners.

“We were created by the City to beautify the downtown area of Mesquite,” said MPAC Chairwoman Chris Picior of the Commission. “We began our work in the beginning of 2020, but weren’t able to get up and running until June of that year.”

Picior said that MPAC had decided early on that covering the communities electric utility boxes with public artwork was good first project.

“We had a very limited budget and we went to the Eureka who agreed to purchase this first one, plus one more located in front of the Rising Star,” Picior said.

MPAC also received a grant from the Nevada Main Street program to fund additional utility box wraps, as well as several other public art projects that are underway.

Of course, the utility wrap idea wasn’t a simple project. There were multiple logistics that had to be addressed, Picior said. Not least of which was that the large metal boxes are owned by the Overton Power District #5 (OPD5) and they contain functioning high-voltage switching equipment which is vital to the electricity distribution system. So doing anything with those boxes requires caution and care.

Picior acknowledged the OPD5 management for being open and willing to discuss the proposed improvements to the boxes and working with contracted crews to install the wrap onto the box.

“We are very excited to provide a canvas to Ms. Knight and thankful for the opportunity to work alongside everyone who participated in this worthy project,” said OPD5 Finance Manager Melisa Garcia who was in attendance at Fridays unveiling. “This project enhances the landscape where our equipment is located, while sharing the heritage of our community through beautiful works of art.”

In the days leading up to the installation, OPD5 crews had done some work on the box to clean it off and prep it for the application of the vinyl wrap.

Local business, Clark County Printing & Mailing, was contracted by MPAC to reproduce the artwork on the vinyl wrap material, and then install the wrap to the box. It turned out to be an extensive process according to Clark County Printing & Mailing General Manager Junior Flores.

Flores explained that the vibrantly colored artwork took a full day to print on vehicle-grade, heavy duty vinyl wrap. “We used the best of the best in materials to make sure that this will have a long lifespan,” Flores said.

Then at 5:00 on Friday morning, Flores and his crew arrived on scene to apply the wrap to the box. With all the irregular shapes on the box’s surface, including ventilation holes and various compartment doors which had to be left functional, it turned out to be a painstaking process, Flores said.

“It took about eight hours to get it all wrapped,” Flores said. “It really did test our limits. It was not an easy install and there are just elements of these boxes that are not going to be easy.”
MPAC has a total of 10 locations identified for similar treatment. Flores said that he planned to start at the next location on Monday morning. The installations would then continue, one by one, throughout the latter half of June, he said.

City Councilman George Gault is the visionary that pushed to get the MPAC established and off the ground for the City. Gault, who was involved in public art and beautification in his former hometown of Sheridan, Wyoming, said he had a similar vision for Mesquite. He was pleased that this project was the launch point for MPAC.

“I think this is a great first start and I am happy to see things getting off the ground and moving forward from here,” Gault said. “I think there is so much potential in bringing really quality artwork here, to beautify the public places of Mesquite. Now that things are off and running finally, I look forward to that becoming a reality.”