The Ballard Alliance is commissioning an artist to paint the utility boxes on Market Street, and they’re asking for the public to vote on which artist should do the work.

Called the Utility Box Beautification Project, the Ballard Alliance has narrowed the applicants down to five artists, whose work is shown below with blurbs from the artists:

Artist 1: “The theme I’d like to go for in my designs will play homage both to the natural beauty of western Washington and Ballard’s history as a fishing community. I’d like to combine imagery of boats, Seattle’s urban environment, and the great conifers and mountains we have in abundance here.”



Artist 2: “My proposal is to create designs that will focus on highlighting the rich history of Ballard in combination with the vibrant community we know and love today. Each box would highlight a different part of Ballard’s unique history and culture. The designs would display things such as Ballard’s Nordic heritage, it’s logging and fishing industry, as well as its restaurants, arts, biking culture, and diverse community.”

Artist 3: “With the fun, colorful, graphic and illustrative elements displayed in the examples of my work above, I hope to create a stylized isometric map of the area with landmarks and colorful characters, a scene from a busy street with stylized characters, or a battle between two imaginative creatures relevant to Ballard’s marine history and it’s new, booming development.”

Artist 4: For this project I envision using industrial and maritime icons to highlight the heritage of this neighborhood that make it stand out from other parts of the city. Functional structures such as cranes, boat slings, or coils of heavy duty dock line will act as inspiration for colorful and high contrast compositions. Using these subjects as focal points I will also include bits of organic elements, like plant life and water, to create movement and weave together nature and industry.

Artist 5: “With small bursts of complementary colors, my watercolors would add interest to Market Street, but would also blend in well, flowing with the Pacific Northwest vibe of nature and culture. The shapes of leaves and flowers would add softness to the corners, and complement the existing structures.”