Antique Threads Beauties - Calgary, Alberta
N 51° 01.027 W 114° 10.241
11U E 698442 N 5655538
This box has three women in historic (Victorian?) costume on a black background on three sides. The fourth side has long-stemmed yellow flowers.
Waymark Code: WMEJ0X
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 06/02/2012
Views: 2
There are three women in historic costume on this utility box near the Alberta Treasury Branch located in the Westhills Shopping Centre. The street address would be the SE corner of the westernmost intersection of Richmond Road SW and Stewart Green SW. The four faces show: 1) Chin, neck and bustline of younger woman wearing a decorative choker and lace-collared dress; 2)Head and bust of woman wearing a green brimmed hat with huge red feathers; she also has a white scarf tied in a large bow; 3) Five yellow flowers with long stems which seem to be floating up past a building in the background; 4) Three-quarter length portrait of a woman with blonde curls under some kind of cap, with a white blouse and patterned blue skirt.
This art is unusual for its apparent use of various stamps and stencils to create patterns as part of the images. A signature stamp on the bottom corner of one side reads "karenklassen.com" but no painted utility boxes are shown on the artist's website. However, this box is one of several shown on the City of Calgary's website about the painted utility box project: http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/Roads/Pages/Traffic/Painted-utility-box-program.aspx
This is one of two painted utility boxes created by the artist on Stewart Green SW; the other, also by Karen Klassen, is at the east end of the same block. I saw the artist working on them for several days in 2011. This particular utility box was a target for graffiti before it was painted, but so far has not been vandalized - let's hear it for the power of art!