Traffic Signal Box Art Project

The City of Bedford invites artists to compete for the chance to display an original design one of the City’s traffic signal boxes. The wrapped boxes will provide an opportunity to showcase the talent of local artists in a public space, as well as enhance the landscape of the City. This year, five artist proposals will be chosen to cover five different traffic boxes in Bedford. The overall goal of the project will be to wrap a total of 22 boxes. View all previous winning designs.

Themes

Proposals will be accepted based on the themes, “Local Inspiration" and "Celebrating Cultures."

Proposals submitted under the theme “Local Inspiration” can include any design inspired by Bedford and its landscape and community. This includes, but is not limited to spaces, places, celebrations, objects, people, buildings, and/or history.

For the “Celebrating Cultures” theme, the committee will look for designs that reflect the beauty and uniqueness of the diversity that makes up the community. This could include imagery from cultural celebrations or any other design that celebrates the variety of cultures that make Bedford beautiful.

The original work can be from any medium such as painting, graphic design, photography, or printmaking, but it must be able to be captured in a high-quality digital image for reproduction into the wrap.

Artist Stipend

Selected artists will be paid a stipend of $200 for their work being selected for inclusion in this project. Payments will be made once approved works have been received by the Cultural Arts Manager.

Signal Boxes

The dimensions of the signal boxes are as follows, with a bit of differentiation for some of the boxes:

55” high x 44” wide x 26” deep with an attached UPS Cabinet of 48” high x 16.5” wide x 16.5” deep.

The Selection Process

The competition is open to artists of all ages residing in Tarrant County, with preference given to Bedford residents. Artists may submit one design, per category. Proposals will be screened for completeness and winners will be selected based upon appropriateness, creativity, craftsmanship, and adherence to the theme. Winners will be chosen by a selection committee and will be notified via email and/or phone.

Winning designs will remain on the assigned traffic signal box for a minimum of three years. Should damage occur to the box prior to that, the same design will be reinstalled. After three years, should the integrity of the wrap start to fade, damage to the box occur, or a new box be installed, a new design will be added to the box.

Submissions

Submissions for the final round of traffic signal boxes are now open! Artists should send the completed submission form and design to Krissi Oden at Krissi.Oden@bedfordtx.gov.

The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. on Friday, April 21.

All traffic signal boxes will be vinyl wrapped based on winning designs. Entries can be in the form of a photograph, photograph of a painting or drawing, or a digital art work. Entries should be submitted in one of the following formats:

Photographs of paintings or work created by hand should be at least 4000 pixels.
Digital work should be sent in vector files.
High resolution PDFs are preferable.
If the design is completed using InDesign on a PC, please send a packaged .idml or .inx file with all linked images and fonts. If it was built on a Mac, please outline all type, and send a packaged. idml or .inx file with all linked images.

Design Criteria

All designs should be the original work of the artist.
Designs should not include any trademarks, brands, or any sort of advertisements.
The design should be created to flow across all faces of the box and reflect a unified work of art. Please note, designs that include large patterns and/or bright, bold colors tend to work best on the boxes.
The design should include little to no print, as it is distracting to drivers to try and read.
Artists will be invited to sign their work, once the wrap is installed.

For additional questions, please email Krissi Oden.