22 Jan New Art Box to beautify Summerville neighborhood
January 22, 2018 – Augusta, GA – New Art Box by Cyndy Epps to beautify the Summerville neighborhood
Residents of the historic neighborhood of Summerville and drivers on Walton Way may notice an artist beautifying the new traffic signal control cabinet on “Gould’s Corner” this week. This artist is local painter Cyndy Epps, whose work can also be seen in the “Art on the Wall” project on the Augusta Waterworks facility completed in 2012. She was selected from a talented pool of artists who responded to a call for artists released by the Greater Augusta Arts Council in the Fall of 2017 for this newly installed traffic box.
While the new traffic box was a necessary improvement to the intersection at Walton Way and Milledge Road, neighbors were displeased to see that the metallic box seemed out of place on historic Gould’s Corner. The landmark, named after the prominent merchant Artemis Gould in 1861, was the central point of the original Summerville village boundaries.
In order to beautify the box, Summerville residents met with the Arts Council to request an artist’s touch by making it a new “Art Box.” The City of Augusta approved the funding for the box in May 2017. A call for artists was released by the Greater Augusta Arts Council, and a panel made up of Gould’s Corner residents, artists, representatives of City Traffic & Engineering, and a local historian selected the final design by Cyndy Epps in August 2017. Her work features some of the stunning buildings you’ll find in Summerville, as well as magnolia flowers in reference to the many trees planted in the area.
Art the Box began in 2015, with 23 boxes painted by local artists in all 10 commission districts of Augusta- Richmond County. An additional box painted by Jason Lutz was completed in January 2016. The box at Gould’s Corner, which will be completed by Cyndy Epps this week, is the 25th painted box in the Augusta Area.
The Greater Augusta Arts Council facilitates the Art the Box program, writing and posting the calls for artists, managing the project timeline, and sourcing the necessary funds for supplies and artist payments. Organizations and individuals who are interested in sponsoring new Art Boxes are encouraged to contact Pax Bobrow, Project Manager for the Greater Augusta Arts Council at 706-826-4702 or [email protected].