They stood on street corners, 4 feet high and uniformly green, some tagged with graffiti, all housing electrical equipment. They’ve since become works of art.
In September, the Civic Joy Fund’s project Paint the City, in which 100 utility boxes in San Francisco would be covered with art, was underway. Twenty-seven local artists were assigned two to four boxes apiece, in neighborhoods including the Richmond, Mission and Tenderloin.
The project culminates in a free community event on Saturday in the former temporary Transbay Terminal with food, music and appearances by some of the artists, whose three-dimensional works have varied styles, colors and themes, but are united in offering public art.
“I’m so proud of the project. It’s better than I ever could have expected. … We’re turning these things into something really special,” says Manny Yekutiel, who founded the Civic Joy Fund with Daniel Lurie.
The Civic Joy Fund, a part of the Civic Space Foundation, is behind initiatives including Adopt-a-Block, Clean Up the City and Summer of Music, all focused on San Francisco’s economic recovery and revitalization.
San Francisco artist Fernanda Martinez’s interest in painting a heavily graffitied utility box outside of Yekutiel’s Mission District community space, Manny’s, was the source of inspiration behind Paint the City.
Yekutiel says, “She painted it, and it went from getting graffitied every day to getting graffitied once a week or once every two weeks. And not only that, it was beautiful. … And so when I started this Civic Joy Fund, I thought, ‘I wonder if we could do more of these?’”
Yekutiel contacted Paint the Void, the art nonprofit behind the city project The Golden Mile, to facilitate Paint the City and select the locations and artists, who were given grants to paint and maintain the boxes over six months.
“We actually give money to artists which is necessary because it’s really tough right now and has been for a while to be an artist in San Francisco,” says Yekutiel.
For San Francisco artist Ayesha Rana, who participated in Paint the Void’s project to put murals on boarded up storefronts near the beginning of the pandemic, it was a no-brainer to be on board for Paint the City.
Rana explains, “They reached out to me again, saying, ‘There’s this amazing project where a lot of artists are painting the city. Would you be interested?’ And I never say no to any art-related opportunity that comes my way.”
Rana thought she’d be painting one utility box, but that number rose to four, about which, she says, “That was even better for me. I could put more of my art in the Richmond District. I got a beautiful opportunity.”
Rana’s boxes, on Geary Boulevard between 22nd and 25th avenues, have vibrant, eye-catching designs that attract pedestrians and people driving down the street.
“My art is always very colorful and very organic shaped, but the one defining element in most of the art that I do is worms—I call them ‘wormies.’ My goal as an artist is to basically challenge and change people’s perceptions about worms. … These tiny creatures are very underappreciated, and I especially want to talk more about them because they play a big role in our ecosystem,” says Rana.
Considering the many schools and nurseries in the Richmond, Rana decided to go “all out” with her color palette.
“I really wanted kids to get inspired by what I did,” says Rana, who became a magnet of interest, with children and parents flocking to her stations to observe and inquire about her work.
“Every day, I saw the same kids … and they always saw my progress and had fun, interesting questions to ask me, like ‘What are you drawing?’ and ‘Why do you like worms?’ Parents were also very inquisitive about my artist journey. So I think that was really nice.”
It took Rana about a week and a half, excluding the weekend, to complete four boxes. She had to add on a day of work to address graffiti — someone tagged the side of one of them.
Going from painting murals alone during the early pandemic to having thoughtful interactions with Richmond residents struck a chord for Rana. Groceries, coffee, doughnuts and other snacks—people would drop items off for her as she worked, which she found touching.
“When I painted these utility boxes, this was the first time that I had the community interacting with me. I had a really good, very positive experience [and] was really happy that I chose this project,” shares Rana.
J Manuel Carmona, a San Francisco artist who also worked with Paint the Void and collaborated on murals on the exterior of LGBTQ+ clubs Oasis and El Rio, was assigned three utility boxes in the Mission on Valencia Street.
Carmona says, “It was a pretty smart move because these boxes are already there. They’re a blank canvas for what we’re trying to do to improve the city right now with all the negative news and the problems happening. We wanted to create art as a therapy, as a way to improve street life and public spaces.”
Carmona’s utility box murals focus on the intersection of Latine heritage and queer identity and include an ode to the queer history on the Valencia Street corridor.
“MoonThey,” on Valencia and 21st streets, celebrates the transgender community. Carmona also created a standout for LGBTQ+ San Franciscan drag queen Juanita MORE!
“On the very last box, I decided to paint a tribute to the work that Juanita MORE! as an activist has been doing in this city for over 30 years. We thought, ‘San Francisco is ready to have a drag queen represented on Valencia and 22nd,’” Carmona says.
MORE!, “reigning empress” of the Imperial Council of San Francisco, an LGBTQ nonprofit that fundraises for charity, even went to the box location in person to pose for Carmona and fellow artist Gui Leemes, who painted MORE!’s likeness on it.
MORE! comments, “I think [the project’s] amazing. I mean, even all over my neighborhood … artists are painting all the utility boxes around here, and it’s beautiful to see. Of course, I love the artwork and I’m a big champion of artists in San Francisco, but the thing that I’m really most excited to see is other people stopping and interacting with the artist and being so happy about that being in the neighborhood.”
However, the MORE! (“Forever Drag”) box was vandalized, painted over repeatedly. Carmona and MORE! are hopeful that the box will be repainted, with the Civic Joy Fund continuing to champion Carmona and other Paint the City artists.
Yekutiel says, “I want to utilize this as an opportunity to celebrate queer art on the street, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’ve decided to give Manuel another grant to paint more pieces of public art on Valencia Street, so it’s sad, but I’m interested in turning lemons into lemonade and actually using it to fuel a greater celebration and awareness of the importance of queer Latin artists in the Mission.”
People who attend Saturday’s event, hosted by Paint the Void and Together SF, will have the opportunity to meet 11 artists (including Rana), observe them making new murals, and maybe even grab a paint brush and create more public art in the city.
“For me, this project is about how individually all of us can kind of come together and do something for us in the city—something that’s positive. … It’s about involving the community and trying to understand the change that people are looking forward to in the coming months or years,” says Rana.
“It All Starts Here,” a community mural event, runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 21 at The Crossing at East Cut, 200 Folsom St., San Francisco. Admission is free. To reserve a spot, visit eastcrossing.com. For a map of “Paint the City” utility boxes, go to paintthecitysf.com.