35th Avenue Streetscape

Built as part of a streetscape redevelopment in the formerly rural town of Laveen, AZ, the bus shelters and benches were designed to provide a comfortable place for people to inhabit while waiting for busses or walking along 35th Avenue. A small heard of cows, recalling the area’s disappearing dairy farms, appear to nap in the shade of nearby mesquite trees, keeping the bus riders company while they wait.

As part of the project, I created a two-week artist residency program with Tiffany Enriquez's sixth grade honors art class at Cash School, located near the project area. The students created icons that reflected treasured parts of their changing neighborhood, and learned to silkscreen the images onto paper and t-shirts. The images were then transformed into boot-stitch designs that were incorporated into the backs of the benches.

Date: 2010
Location: 35th Avenue at Southern Avenue, Phoenix, AZ
Commissioning Agency:
Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture
Details: Five bus shelters: rusted steel with solar lighting, 12’ x 10’ x 8’
Fifteen benches: powder-coated, laser-cut steel. 
6’ x 3’ x 2’
Ten cow sculptures: painted, cast concrete. 
7ft x 3.5ft x 3 ft and 4 ft x 2 ft x 1ft.