I have been blissfully busy on public art projects this spring! Between my floral wall mural for the Master Gardeners and this recent group of traffic signal box pieces I’ve been painting for the City of Stockbridge, it’s been super rad spending so much time outside painting.

“Ronnis the Deer” Public Art

E Atlanta Rd & Old Conyers Rd • Stockbridge, GA 30281

“Ronnis the Deer” was my response to City of Stockbridge’s December 2023 initial public art call for submissions. While they were focusing on Stockbridge artists, we did used to live in the neighborhood right at that East Atlanta / Old Conyers Road intersection. This is an ode to the mom and two baby deer we used to see in our backyard all the time when we lived there. It took just over a week to paint this traffic signal box art. Lots of little details and bright happy colors, and this piece just makes me so happy whenever I see it!

“Party for Squares” Traffic Signal Box Art

Walt Stephens Rd & Speer Rd • Stockbridge, Georgia 30281

“Party for Squares” is based on a set of funky geometric repeat patterns I created a couple of years ago, but isn’t a straight up copy of that art. As I began laying out the painter’s tape lines on this traffic signal box, the shapes definitely grew into taking on a mind of their own!

One of the rules when you’re doing a public art piece for traffic signal boxes is the Department of Transportation says no text of any kind. I started playing around with the idea of other ways I could communicate something to the community. You can see my ode to vintage 80s video game cheat codes on the side with the grid of squares. The tiny white squares inside them echo the old cheat code that goes “Up up down down left right left right B”, and then I ran out of room lol.

“Monarch Village” Traffic Box Painting

Walt Stephens Rd & Monarch Village Way • Georgia 30281

There was actually another piece of artwork slated for the traffic signal box at this intersection; when I went to take a look at all of the locations and realized there was more than one callout to “Monarch Village” I asked the City of Stockbridge if we could switch up the artwork to be this butterfly, and we had the new art approved by the Department of Transportation within a week!

One of my favorite things about these traffic signal boxes is how brightly they’re colored – I really wanted these to stand out from the natural colors and scenery around them. I want them to really catch your eye and hopefully brighten your day as you drive by!

“Kente Pattern Party”

Flippen Rd & Walt Stephens Rd • Georgia 30281

As I settled into my most recent public art painting for City of Stockbridge, I was drawn back to my thoughts on how to communicate with the public through art and design when Department of Transportation says no text allowed. I knew I was going to use this green / gold / black / red color palette to 1) celebrate the diversity in our community and 2) coordinate with the emissions business signage nearby.

I got to thinking about the amazing patterns found in African kente cloth. This woven fabric made in Ghana has so many different patterns and colors that all mean different things! It’s a way to share ideas with others without using any words at all, and I loved incorporating my take on a couple of the patterns here. The big bold zig zag means everyone’s life is a road that’s full of twists and turns. That’s just the way life is!

The black / green / gold checkered pattern is about forgiving others, because we all fall down at some point and need forgiveness ourselves. See how the boxes tumble downwards in their pattern?

Which one of these traffic signal boxes is your favorite? Do you have an upcoming mural project I can help with? Jump on over to the contact page and let me know!