Competition Announced: Traffic Boxes near Jackson State University

There haven't been any updates to this blog in a while, because sadly the traffic box project was put on a back burner with the changes in administration in Jackson. Our fair city has been through the wringer in the last few months, gaining a new mayor and then sadly losing him too soon to illness, then electing a new mayor. I'm not going into all that here because there are political blogs for that stuff.

I was happy to see this announcement today from The Center for University-Based Development at Jackson State University, the City of Jackson and the Greater Jackson Arts Council. Artists have until May 16 to submit applications to paint a traffic box. These boxes will be located near the JSU campus. Selected artists will receive $500, which of course will help cover the cost of materials. If this works the way it has in the past, I believe the City will prime the boxes before the artists begin.

I'm so excited, this means more pretty traffic boxes for me to photograph in the not-too-distant future!

Hwy. 80 at Metrocenter

UPDATE: I was at Metrocenter today for something else, and noticed that this box still hasn't made any progress beyond the side panel. It could be that the artist hasn't had time to finish it yet, but there is also another factor to consider. Jackson has a new mayor, Chokwe Lumumba, who was just inaugurated about a week ago. According to an artist friend who spoke with the Greater Jackson Arts Council about the traffic box project, the project is on hold until Mayor Lumumba gives the word that the  project can continue. This means no new applications are being taken for artists to paint boxes, but I would imagine the existing boxes on Hwy. 80 that were already assigned could still be finished. I was looking forward to seeing the rest of this one at Metrocenter. Mayor Johnson's vision was for all traffic boxes in Jackson to eventually be painted. How cool would that be?

I am hopeful that Mayor Lumumba will want this beautification project to continue. Not only does it create a better-looking Jackson by sprucing up the many intersections around town, but it provides an opportunity for the city to celebrate and showcase her local artists. So, if you live in Jackson, or care about Jackson, do me a favor? Write to your city councilman/woman, and write to the Mayor to request that the city continue this project. I am going to do the same - in fact, I'm planning to write to all of the city council, not just my councilwoman. If you care about this project and want to see more "Easter Eggs" around the city, please help!

Pascagoula and Farish - Don Jacobs

On my way to the Mississippi Museum of Art recently, I spotted a new box on the corner of Pascagoula and Farish streets. This one features people dancing up a storm, with dance steps marked out on the base of the box. The artist is Don Jacobs, a graphic designer, painter and mural artist.

Terry Road and Raymond Road - Scott Allen

This intersection is special to me.

My grandmother, Mary Jean Coor-Phillips-Agnew-Terwilliger (Maw Maw was a looker and fun to be with, but had horrible luck with her first two husbands), lived just off Raymond Road, on McGee Street, a few blocks west of this intersection. It was at this red light that we turned to go to her house. My dad and his sisters grew up here, and my grandmother lived there from the 1950s until 1997, when we had to move her to a retirement facility because of Parkinson's disease and the unfortunate decline of her neighborhood. Maw Maw Jean has been gone for 8 years, but when I'm in this part of town it is like she's right beside me. Another tidbit about my ties to this area (which I'm sure nobody cares about but me) - my grandfather, Edward Agnew, Sr., worked for the U. S. Postal Service. He worked at the downtown branch until he had a heart attack. After that, he transferred to the branch that used to be in the Mart 51 shopping center, right near this intersection. Another heart attack took his life a few years later, and I never got to meet him. Sad story, huh? I'm sorry... on to the traffic box.

It's only fitting, that another South Jackson-er should get to paint this traffic box. You've seen Scott Allen's work on the box at Court and West streets, the street-art style featuring a bluesman on guitar. He's a friend of mine, owner of A+ Signs, and a great artist.

Scott has been branching out in his artwork lately, trying out a style reminiscent of Walter Anderson. Lots of line-drawings with heavy black outlines. This box seems to be sort of a cross-breed between the Anderson style and street art. It's glorious no matter how you look at it. And it pretties up this long-neglected corner like nobody's business. I just wish Maw Maw Jean could see it. She probably wouldn't know what to think!

Hwy. 80 and Wiggins

There is a story that goes along with this one. I'm not sure who the artist is for the current work on this box, but previously it was assigned to an artist named Norman Sisson. I didn't get to see Norman's work because it had already been painted over with primer the first time I came through to document the traffic boxes. I met Norman at Figment Jackson on May 18, when I noticed this wooden "traffic box" that various Figment-goers and children had painted throughout the day. I stopped to talk to Norman, and when I told him about this blog he told me what happened with his box.

(Disclaimer: I am reporting the story as Norman told it to me. I am not taking sides. There was an article in the Clarion-Ledger about it, with a picture of the box. I think it could have been a lot worse, but I am not black and won't even pretend to speak for black people. I can imagine how it might have been seen as offensive. My opinion is that it would've been worse had it been fried chicken or watermelon, but perhaps ribs could be listed in 3rd place in the racial stereotype list with regard to food.)

It seems that Norman was originally assigned the box at Hwy. 80 and Wiggins, after he submitted his idea for the box. He said it was supposed to be themed around Southern cooking. On one side of the box, he had a man cooking barbecue on a grill. On another side, he had a woman eating a barbecued rib. The problem (according to some passers-by) was that while the man cooking was white, the woman eating a rib was black. Some saw this as a stereotype, and complained to the mayor's office, so the city decided to paint over it and give the box to someone else. Norman claimed the primary complainant was mayoral candidate Regina Quinn. This was just a few weeks prior to the primary election, and Norman thought it was a political move. He said she drove by and stopped to talk to him about it, and she was upset. He said she not only complained about what she deemed the stereotypical nature of the artwork on the box, but also that the city was spending its money on this project. Was this a political move? If so, it didn't help her much. Also, the funds for this project come from the Greater Jackson Arts Council (who, by the way, really need to update their website - I love the GJAC, but get some web nerd on that, pronto!) so it's not as if it is taking money away from our much-needed pothole repair budget.

Anyway, I know there are two sides to every story, so I am certainly not taking Norman's side, per se. I asked him if he was going to try again, but he said he was pretty much done with the traffic boxes. He complained that someone had gone and painted ducks on the box that was originally his. When I went back down Hwy. 80 a few weeks ago, I saw what he was talking about.

They're very nice ducks, albeit not the most interesting traffic box in the collection. Also, City of Jackson, you could stand to weed-eat around this box. I nearly got poison ivy trying to get to it. Most of the boxes on Hwy. 80 actually have really nice landscaping around them. This one seemed to be neglected.

What do you think? Was Norman's original artwork a racial stereotype? Was it just art? How do you feel about the ducks? 

Tombigbee and Jefferson

Found one more in the latest series of boxes! I discovered this one after one of my recent trips to Hal and Mal's. I usually take Jefferson home to Belhaven because it's less traffic-y than State Street, and I spotted this brightly painted box on the corner of Tombigbee and Jefferson, next to the on-ramp for I-55. There doesn't seem to be an artist's signature, so if anyone knows who this one is by please leave it in the comments!

I love the bright colors and depiction of some Jackson landmarks. The red and yellow checkerboard pattern makes me think of when the Coliseum was red and yellow. Since this box is near the Fairgrounds, I thought that was appropriate! There is a lot going on on this box - the Governor's Mansion and the Old Capitol are featured, as well as a magnolia bloom, a catfish, a bust of Andrew Jackson and a large orange 3D Mississippi with a red star for Jackson. I love that this artist painted the block that the box is sitting on, too. Definitely go find this one and see it in person - photos don't really do it justice. And while you're down there, check out the freshly painted/spruced up Naval Reserve Center, which is now in use by the Dept. of History and Archives.

Hwy. 80 and Shaw Road - Jeanette Jarmon

Just before you hit the Clinton City Limits, you'll find one last box by Jeanette Jarmon. This box shows off one of Mississippi's greatest exports, the catfish, as well as many other colorful, happy fish swimming above the Fat Cat. The catfish looks so happy hanging out at the bottom of the river! This box made me happy, too.

Jeanette Jarmon is a Clinton resident, so it makes sense that she got to paint this box. She is an art teacher at Chamberlain-Hunt Academy, and she has taught at Mississippi College and Whitfield. She has been very active in the arts community around Jackson and in Mississippi for many years.