'Let's Paint Sherman Oaks': Apply To Paint A City Utility Box

SHERMAN OAKS, CA — Sherman Oaks painters have an opportunity to brighten up their home – the Sherman Oaks Chamber Foundation is looking for local artists to paint utility boxes throughout the neighborhood.

"Let's Paint Sherman Oaks," a program run by the Sherman Oaks Chamber Foundation, has been funding the painting of utility boxes for the last four years, said Fran Kerzner, president of the Chamber Foundation.

The Foundation is offering $350 grants to paint small utility boxes, and $450 grants to paint large ones, according to their website. Though over 100 utility boxes have been painted, 10 remain up for grabs.

To apply, Kerzner said, interested artists should download a template online, draw their idea for a neighborhood-appropriate painting on it in color, and email that drawing to ShermanOaksFoundation@gmail.com.

Paintings must include the Valley Oak Leaf or Valley Oak Tree (artistic interpretations are okay) and the paint used must be low in VOCs and non-metallic, according to the Let's Paint Sherman Oaks website.

The Foundation will pick their favorites, which then go to the City Council for approval, followed by approval from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), Kerzner said.

Once the LADOT approves, the artists are notified that their paintings have been accepted, and they can begin painting. Artists are awarded the grant money after their paintings are finished.

Robbie Myles, a local artist who recently finished painting a utility box, said the process took him around three months. Myles submitted his design in April, he said, and it was approved within a few weeks.

"My best friend and I had been applying to a number of utility box painting posts and Instagram pages. We were very interested in finding public art opportunities within our surrounding communities," Myles said in an email. "And we stumbled across Let’s Paint Sherman Oaks. Since it’s very close to where we live, we both applied, and both of our designs we accepted."

In May, Myles was told the location of his utility box and given a time frame in which to complete it. Once he started painting, the box took him about two weeks to finish.

Each completed box is covered with a layer of clear, graffiti-proof paint, Kerzner said, and one of the artists is paid to clean each one once a month.

"(The clear paint) works, like, 90 percent of the time," Kerzner said. "There’s 10 percent where it doesn’t work, and if that’s the case, we repaint the entire box or touch it up."

Sherman Oaks began the initiative after hearing that nearby cities had implemented the same program. The Foundation pays for it through fundraisers and private donations, Kerzner said, and some individuals and organizations have sponsored boxes.

Artists get a lot of positive feedback from the neighborhood where they're painting, Kerzner said, and the program helps them gain visibility – several have been commissioned to paint murals and boxes in other towns since finishing their Sherman Oaks boxes.

Myles concurred, and said he would encourage other artists to participate in the program.

"All the while that I was working on the utility box, community members would stop by and thank me for the work that I was doing, take pictures with the utility box, or just strike up conversations and get to know me," Myles said. "It was a wonderful way to get involved in the neighborhood that I was working in, and really get a feel for how the art was impacting those around me."