City of Goodyear Traffic Cabinet Signal Public Art Project
1 | Community Feedback
The first step in the process was to work with the community in selecting a design. I put together a graphic for subject matter which I then posted on social media in a poll to get feedback on a preferred direction. I also went door to door to the surrounding businesses to get their feedback. I am grateful to both King of Kings Church and CrossFit Fury for sharing the poll to help me get a broader reach.
The poll returned a near tie between botanicals and portraits, so I chose to combine the 2 directions.
2 | Reference Photos
The next step in the process involved taking reference photos to use for the artwork. My daughter was my model for this project. This photo is taken at Sahuaro Ranch Park, though we also took photos at a few spots within the neighborhood. The red flowering plant photos came from my own backyard.
One thing unique to this particular traffic cabinet was 2 poles in front of them that also needed to be designed. It was an interesting challenge to consider how to both complement the main design and also take into consideration any areas that might be visually blocked by the poles.
3 | Painting and design
The next step in the process was to get to work creating the artwork and then to put it all together. Initially I came up with 2 completely different designs. The image submitted with the girl and the cactus wren was selected by the arts committee overseeing the project, so I took the initial draft and improved on various aspects of it. It was important to me that the artwork be it’s best since I knew it would be blown up to fit on the cabinets at 78″ high and 44″ wide.
Also, it was important to create a design for the top of the cabinet for anyone who might see it from above, such as truck drivers. You can’t see it from the street – or at least 5’3″ me cannot – but the cactus wrens holding the banner is on the top of the cabinet.
4 | Photoshop
After getting the watercolors to my liking, I scanned them at a high resolution and brought them into Photoshop. In Photoshop I added a background color, edited the images as needed and added text.
5 | Approval and Wrap
Once the design was finalized it was submitted for final approval with Goodyear’s Arts and Culture committee. We had a few delays due to COVID shut downs which extended the project, but once it was approved, I formatted it for the print company to create a wrap. The wrap was installed in November 2020 and now you can see the completed design at the corner of Estrella Parkway and Van Buren.
