Overview:
A group of local organizations, including the Coronado Historical Association, collaborated to give Coronado’s utility boxes along Orange Avenue a new look that draws inspiration from the past.
Coronado’s utility boxes along Orange Avenue have gotten a new look, drawing inspiration from the location’s storied past.
The utility boxes lining Coronado’s Orange Avenue had been decorated with colorful, imaginative art created by local students since 2015. The goal was to enhance the Emerald Isle’s main street with a sense of community, history and youthful joy.
But, over time, the vibrancy faded, a victim of wear-and-tear that comes with exposure to the elements.
So the “Art Outside the Box” initiative renewed its mission to mobilize students, historians and city leaders to give the boxes a refresh. The project was completed earlier this year and the Coronado Historical Association hosted a public celebration this past week. The new boxes pay homage to Coronado history, with a series of archival photos from the Coronado Historical Association adorning the boxes.
According to “Art Outside the Box,” the life of a wrap is three to five years on average, making this a temporary public art installation. The city’s Arts Commission decided it was time for an update.
The project is a joint collaboration between the Coronado Arts Commission, Coronado Historical Association (CHA), Coronado Unified School District’s internship program and CalTrans. The initiative is funded through public funds for public art.
But eight high school student interns are the backbone of the project, including recent graduate Sophia Hodges.
“We spent a considerable amount of time researching those areas through the CHA archives and finding out what was the significance of them,” Hodges said, explaining the process of selecting images for the utility boxes.
Once the students had the information they needed about the areas where the boxes were located, they would look through CHA’s photo archives.
For example, the box on the corner of Fourth and Orange features a photograph of Miss Bunny MacKenzie’s class taking a ride on the ferry during its last day in service on Aug. 1, 1969 before the bridge opened. The ferries ceased operation Aug. 2, 1969, when the Coronado Bay Bridge opened for use.
Christine Stokes, CHA’s executive director, said multitudes of Coronado children have attended Miss Bunny’s Preschool that was located at 411 Orange Ave. MacKenzie also founded the Coronado Historical Association.
“Her civic work educating young children and preserving history has made her a truly noteworthy Coronadan,” Stokes said via email.
Coronado High School interns chose the photographs from the CHA’s collection of more than 40,000 pictures. They also drafted the paragraphs that accompany the images. Students also used their graphic design skills to create the photo art that is now wrapped around the boxes.
Stokes said the high school interns really played a pivotal role in the project.
“They were instrumental in creating the proposals that now adorn the utility boxes,” Stokes said.
These proposals were submitted for review by the City of Coronado and CalTrans, which oversee utility policies along Orange Avenue, before they were approved.
Hodges said the work was gratifying.
“It’s kind of cool that I get to do it right before college,” she added. “I just feel like I’m done with all the things I did in high school and everything’s fulfilled. I did everything that I meant to.”
Hodges said she learned some valuable lessons and practiced important skills, like how to write a research paper. Things she’ll take to college as a political science major at Boston University.
To learn more about the new boxes, visit the Artwork Archive’s website.
