This article was originally published in The Examiner on Jan. 18, 2018.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
Southeast Texas artist Ines Alvidres will be finishing the third box in the city of Beaumont’s traffic box beautification project this week, she said, one she started just before the end of 2017.
The box at the corner of Main Street and Liberty Avenue marks Alvidres’ second contribution to the initiative spearheaded by City Council member Virginia Jordan and artist Darrell Troppy, a Southeast Texas icon for several decades whose work was exhibited at The Louvre in 2014.
She started painting her first box, featuring a stained-glass-style cactus, back in November. That electrical box is in front of the Beaumont Police Station at Main Street and College Street, where Alvidres said she hoped vandalism would be less likely.
Jillyann Marshall painted the second box, located on Main Street and Crockett Street, the City of Beaumont said.
Troppy said he brought the idea for the project to Jordan after seeing a similar beautification initiative in Toronto that dovetailed with the platform Jordan used in her run for city council — the beautification of downtown and bringing back Old Town.
Jordan said when Troppy came to her with this project, she thought, “You know there’s not a reason in the world why Beaumont can’t do something like that.”
The city plans to start with 19 electrical boxes featuring various Southeast Texas artists, Jordan said. Troppy, like some of the other artists, is waiting for warmer weather before starting his three boxes. The city provides the artists with $100 per box to help with the cost of supplies, Jordan said.
Jordan explained that the city plans to cover each box with sealant to protect it from the elements and prevent vandalism.
Troppy and Jordan both said they hope that the project could expand to other streets after the Calder Avenue strip is completed, including Lucas Drive, Phelan Boulevard and even Dowlen Road.
“There’s going to be more coming because this community is so beautifully creative,” Jordan said. “I think we’ve got a door open and we’re unstoppable.”
Troppy believes Beaumont residents will be proud of this project, he said.
Jordan said she hopes this beautification project, in addition to working with the city to encourage cleanup efforts for littering and bringing in nearby small businesses such as delis, coffee shops and microbreweries to the once-heart of the city, will help with downtown revitalization.
“The city is filthy,” she said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with us. We don’t show our pride like we should.”
“We’ve got to do better,” Jordan said. “The box project is a good start in making this city more charming. We need that.”
Troppy hopes this project sparks more art in public spaces downtown covering over graffiti and “tagging” on the currently abandoned buildings.
Other cities have murals created by collectives like local artists, schoolchildren and nursing home residents, he said.
“You see more murals on buildings [in bigger cities] because they get tired of people tagging, and once it’s beautiful, the taggers walk away,” Troppy said.
Troppy said that he plans to make each of his three boxes distinct — one
fashion-oriented, one with a nightlife theme and the last one more abstract.
Alvidres, who is originally from Mexico, said she graduated with a drafting degree from Lamar Institute of Technology before going into art. She calls her style “friendly abstract” and teaches children’s classes at Amarte Studio at 215 Orleans Street in Beaumont. She’s also one of the organizers of the New Orleans on Orleans Art Festival.
About 10 of her students helped her in painting the electrical box in front of Main Street and Liberty Avenue, she said, incorporating local symbolism like the chicken from Patillo’s Barbeque and the San Jacinto building in the downtown skyline. The students that contributed ranged from 8 to 15 years old, she said.
Passersby love this project because it’s a permanent display, Alvidres said, and people “crave seeing live painting.”
“This is the beginning of something bigger,” she told The Examiner. “[This] is going to open minds and let everyone see that we have talent locally.”
Alvidres said she hopes to encourage the community to buy work from Southeast Texas artists instead of buying art at shows in Dallas or Houston.
Any Beaumont resident can apply through the city to paint a box.
The city doesn’t limit or dictate the subjects of the paintings, Jordan said, but the guidelines are that it can’t be political or sexual, and artists must sign a liability waiver before starting their project.
Eleanor Skelton 