Art by Romano Johnson at the crossing of West Mifflin and North Fairchild streets.
“Why did the pedestrian cross to the other side?” asks Meghan Blake-Horst. “To see the art.”
Okay, it’s not much of a punch line, but it’s still a provocative concept. Madison street corners are becoming miniature museums, thanks to the Artful Crossings Initiative, which pays artists to decorate the containers that hold flags that pedestrians use to cross intersections.
Several Madison intersections already feature works by area artists, and organizers hope eventually to extend the program to dozens of locations in Dane County.
“There’s such great opportunity to engage in public art, and having art in unexpected places,” says Blake-Horst, Artful Crossings director and the owner of Absolutely Art, a community-based east-side gallery that closed last year.
Blake-Horst says she hopes the art encourages safety, too, as people are more mindful when crossing the street. “Not only do people get to enjoy it, as they stop and look it slows them down,” she notes.
Artful Crossings is a project of Safe Communities Madison-Dane County, a nonprofit dedicated to public safety, in collaboration with the city’s Traffic Engineering Division. It builds on Safe Communities’ pedestrian flag program, launched in 2002. Three installations are complete, three more are under way, and Blake-Horst hopes for a total of 10 by next summer.
The tough new flag holders were designed and fabricated by Mike Fisher and interns at Sector67, a community workspace, and depict unique art as well as “story plates” telling about the artists and their work.
Installation began in February. Art is featured on both sides of crossings. Their locations and the featured artists are: Atwood Avenue/Ohio Street, Laura Meddaugh; Atwood/Sugar/Oakridge avenues, Peter Patau; and West Mifflin/Fairchild streets, Romano Johnson.
“The artists that I’ve worked with so far have been all over it,” says Blake-Horst. “They were like, ‘Sign me up right away.’”
Artful Crossings recently received a $5,000 grant from the Madison Community Foundation’s John A. Johnson Arts Fund and is seeking additional funding to increase the program’s reach. “That’s our biggest challenge right now, looking for funding,” says Blake-Horst.