PEI

Charlottetown traffic control boxes get a visual upgrade with new public art displays

Four intersections in Charlottetown have been revamped with new public art installations. 

'It's good to have this joy and happiness and vibrancy brought into our life,' says artist Hilary MacDonald

Man holds up his hand and looks at it as he stands in front of an artwork depicting a hand in the same position.
Chester Hewlett is one of four artists commissioned by the City of Charlottetown to create artwork on traffic control boxes throughout the capital. His work is on display at the intersection of Euston and Weymouth streets. (Ken Linton/CBC)

Four intersections in Charlottetown have new public art installations. 

The City of Charlottetown commissioned four artists to transform traffic control boxes into pieces of public art. 

"In the art community, we've been asking for more opportunities to create art for the public and for people around us, and this was one of the initiatives that the City of Charlottetown took," said Chester Hewlett, whose artwork is on display at the intersection of Euston and Weymouth streets. 

"Not only does it help us in terms of building our career, it helps us also reach the community and help them know that there are artists here who can create and who can do good work." 

WATCH | Standing on the corner? Eyeball some art while you wait, thanks to City of Charlottetown project:

Standing on the corner? Eyeball some art while you wait, thanks to City of Charlottetown project

2 days ago
Duration 1:42
Leaders in Charlottetown put out a call for Prince Edward Island artists to create some original work that would be showcased throughout the city's downtown. The canvas: traffic control boxes on various street corners. Chester Hewlett was one artist who responded, and he tells us about his work ‘A Path Through Time.'

Each of the four artists selected for the project designed their piece using the artistic medium of their choice. The designs were then transferred onto the city's traffic control boxes using a vinyl wrap. 

Each of the public art pieces are marked with QR codes that can be scanned to reveal more information about the artists and their designs. 

A Path Through Time

Hewlett said when he learned about the project, the concept immediately appealed to him. 

"I knew this was a thing for me because I'm one who transforms … things that are mundane or ordinary things into things that people can see in a different light, and that's what really resonated with me in this project," he said. 

An artist and graphic designer, Hewlett created his design as a digital illustration. 

"Rather than an artwork that would continuously wrap around, I wanted people to have different interpretations depending on which side they saw." 

A man holds an iPad that displays a digital illustration.
Each of the art pieces is marked with a QR code that can be scanned to reveal more information about the artists and their designs. (Ken Linton/CBC)

Hewlett's piece, called A Path Through Time, encompasses the past, present and history of the area. It pays homage to landmarks in the area — like the Charlottetown Curling Club, ADL building and gas station — that existed in the past and evolved with time, he said.  

"I feel like there's a way to preserve the past and still have it be intertwined in everything that we do," he said. 

Hewlett said when he started his career as an artist, he didn't think creating a piece like this could be a possibility. 

"It takes a lot to show a part of yourself to the whole world. And literally anybody can see this, and it's a part of you that you're giving out." 

Coalescence 

A few blocks away, Hilary MacDonald's piece is on display at the St. Peters Road roundabout at Belvedere Ave. 

Woman stands next to traffic control box and holds a painting. The design on the painting and traffic control box is the same.
This design in Hilary MacDonald's piece, Coalescence, represents Mother Nature. It's located near the St. Peters Road roundabout. (Gwyneth Egan/CBC)

"It's such a great opportunity … to have my art displayed just this publicly in front of all these cars," MacDonald said. 

MacDonald's design, titled Coalescence, was created with acrylic paint on canvas. 

"This roundabout specifically kind of represented… a coalescence… of different aspects of trade routes, shore routes, it also led right downtown, and it just kind of felt like an immersion of everything that now leads up to what Charlottetown is today," she said. 

The warm colours, the flowers and the woman depicted in the design represent Mother Nature, as well as the Indigenous people who first lived on the land, MacDonald said. The graphic blue colours and the circuit board designs represent technology and how it has shaped the modern world. 

Public art displays like the newly installed traffic control box designs contribute to a sense of vibrancy and culture in the city, MacDonald said. 

"When people come from all over the place —  like tourists or even the people who live in Charlottetown — it just kind of brings people happiness and joy, no matter what the subject of the painting or the art is," she said. 

"It's good to have this joy and happiness and vibrancy brought into our life." 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gwyneth Egan is a digital writer at CBC Prince Edward Island. She is a graduate of Carleton University's master of journalism program and previously interned with White Coat, Black Art. You can reach her at gwyneth.egan1@cbc.ca

With files from Ken Linton