Electric boxes color streets of downtown Provo
The streets of downtown Provo are lined with colorful designs from local artists on non-traditional canvases — electric boxes.
Quinn Peterson is the executive director at Downtown Provo Inc., an organization dedicated to improving the community of businesses and visitors in the downtown Provo area.
“Overall, we try to design experiences in the downtown so that when you come there you feel that you’re a part of this creative environment,” Peterson said. “It becomes a destination you want to spend time at.”
Peterson has spearheaded multiple creative projects in Provo, including a mural project where local artists created about 45 murals on buildings around the city. After running out of walls to paint, Peterson suggested a shift to start revamping the electric boxes on the streets of Provo. He explained that these boxes have become a target of stickers, posters and angry messages, so the project aimed to both enhance downtown with more artwork while also reducing vandalism.
Peterson reached out to local artists to design vinyl wraps for 14 utility boxes.
Havoc Hendricks is a self-taught, full-time professional artist who created one of these wraps for the project. He has been living in Provo for about 10 years and has known Peterson for a while. When Peterson reached out to Hendricks about creating a wrap, Hendricks was eager to offer his talents.
The artwork Hendricks creates has a signature style, recognizable by simple black lines on white backgrounds making the outlines of mountains. The art for his wrap came from an old design he originally created for a professional surf company. He shared that his favorite part of the process was seeing the finished product.
“When the end product is there and you see it in person, it’s just amazing,” Hendricks said.
Colt Bowden is another local artist involved in the project. He was born and raised in Magna, Utah and graduated from BYU with a BFA in illustration. Bowden is also good friends with Peterson who reached out to him to create a wrap.
Bowden shared that his approach to designing the wrap focused on geometric shapes and elements of nature.
“I wanted it to be quirky enough to make someone smile when they walk past it,” he said.
Ruel Brown also graduated from BYU in 2001 and has been a professional artist ever since. He grew up drawing monsters as a child, and used those illustrations to inspire the wrap he created for the project. According to Brown, the monsters are meant to represent learning how to deal with emotions and empowering individuals to be their true selves.
“It’s beautifying the city,” Brown said of the project. “We have a lot of concrete junk sitting around, so this allows us to spark imagination and cause joy.”
Bowden explained that city infrastructure, like electric boxes, can look messy, but this project can make community members appreciate the infrastructure more.
Hendricks echoed Bowden’s thought, saying this project is particularly special for the community because the quality of art in Provo is so high. He explained that often when the local government becomes involved in art installations in the city, the quality may not be as good because they may not work with professional artists.
“Provo is lucky because there are amazing artists here and we have incredible art throughout the city,” Hendricks said.
Havoc Hendricks’ wife, Laura Hendricks, is also an experienced artist who participated in the project. She expressed her appreciation for her friend group of artists in Provo.
“I love being an artist in Utah because there’s such a thriving community of artists,” Laura Hendricks said.
As a mixed media artist, she has used photography, painting and vinyl to create artwork. In her vinyl wrap for the electric box, she wanted to create a “surreal portal” in an urban landscape using different photographs of skies she had taken. She said she enjoyed thinking of a “fresh” way to bring beauty to a spot in front of a cement parking lot.
“I think it brings awareness to how many creatives there are here in this community,” Laura Hendricks said. “I like the idea of people seeing these boxes and being like, ‘Who are all these artists?’”
The most recent box for the project was finished in December 2023, but Peterson said they would like to continue the project. He explained that because of city regulations, there are certain areas in Provo where public art cannot be created. The wrap project has covered all the utility boxes they have access to, but within the restricted areas are several more boxes.
Peterson said he hopes this project will make the Provo community, including BYU students, appreciate the city more. He shared that being a student at BYU can be isolating when students do not go out and experience what the city has to offer.
“We really hope to remedy that so students can realize the community that lives here is valuable,” he said. “It’s not just a temporary place where you live in dorms and can’t wait to escape.”
Downtown Provo Inc. is also working on a new historic plaque program with the goal of educating Provo residents and visitors about historic locations and events that have taken place downtown. The common theme of these projects, Peterson said, is creating an enjoyable atmosphere in the city.
“It’s been gratifying to see people enjoying the environment that we’re trying to create,” he said.