A public art project of the Somerset County Cultural & Heritage Commission (SCC&HC), Gallery 24/7 was initiated in 2010 to integrate art into non-traditional venues. According to SCC&HC Manager, Patricia McGarry, the initiative seeks to "expand the reach of the arts to broaden and diversify public exposure, interest in, and access to the arts; to expand exhibition opportunities for New Jersey visual artists; and to welcome tourism to Somerset County." A total of seventeen (17) original artworks have been reproduced and installed on county traffic control boxes as of December, 2011, with more to come.
TO SEE A SET OF ALL THE TRAFFIC CONTROL BOXES NOW INSTALLED THROUGHOUT SOMERSET COUNTY, PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR A SLIDESHOW.
"A Splash Of Spring In Warren County" County art project brightens a busy roadside corner by John Patten
It may be winter, but there's a splash of springtime color in Warren.
The brightly-colored traffic control box on the southeast corner of Mount Bethel Road and Mountain Boulevard features a reproduction of a photograph by Somerset artist Vivian Bedoya. Her photograph—"The Rumor Mill"—was selected by the Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission last year during a competition aimed at sprucing up public spaces with works by local artists.
The commission's public art project, called "Gallery 24/7" placed the work of 10 Somerset County artists on traffic control boxes throughout the county. It was deemed so successful, the commission will be seeking a fresh round of applications in February for placement on county property during the summer.
In the meantime, Bedoya's photograph of tulips and a bee are giving commuters a view of what to look forward to as the seasons change. After December's blizzard, Bedoya stopped by to take a look at how the box decorated with her photograph looked.
"I've been looking forward to seeing how it would look buried in snow," she said.
Bedoya is a self-taught fine arts photographer specializing in nature photography. "I spend quite a bit of time in the gardens and parks of our beautiful Garden State."
The photo featured on the traffic box in Warren was taken at the Cross Estate Garden, on Old Jockey Hollow Road in Bernardsville, in May 2009. Bedoya said she noticed the parrot tulips in the photo are bending towards each other, looking like a group of women talking.
"I imagined them to be gossiping," she said. "Upon closer examination, I noticed a bee hovering near one of the tulips and in my mind, it was bringing the scandalous news! I named the image 'The Rumor Mill' and it has become one of my favorites."
A traffic control box (TCB) is an aluminum cabinet found near intersections, which contain the wiring for traffic lights. My photograph was enlarged and transfered to a special adhesive film manufactured by 3M. The film, applied to the TCB, has a life expectancy of three to five years.
