Storm drain art can look like tempests of beauty
LOREN BENOIT/Press Local artist Willow Tree paints a lake and mountains around a storm drain at the intersection of Second Street and Sherman Avenue on Wednesday.
The city of Coeur d'Alene's first completed storm drain artwork, a masterpiece by Julie Rae Clark that hopes to send a message to preserve the area's environment through storm drain vigilance. (Courtesy of the city of Coeur d'Alene)
As Coeur d’Alene traffic kicked puffs of dirt along the corner of Second and Sherman, Willow Tree shrugged her shoulders in resignation.
“I have to remind myself,” she said with a smile, “I’m painting in the street. I should expect dirt.”
Tree is one of many tasked with creating very specific forms of art. While street paintings (official or otherwise) usually find their homes on the walls of businesses or near the entrances to tunnels and bridges, city officials want Tree and others to use some of its 2,700 storm drains as their canvases.
The project is part of the Coeur d’Alene Arts Commission’s drive to display aesthetically pleasing art while teaching visitors and residents alike that what finds its way into a storm drain ends up in either the community’s aquifer or in Lake Coeur d’Alene.
“The city put out a call for help,” Tree said. “They want to bring to attention that everything from the storm drain ends up in the water we use every day. It’s important we protect our resources, and it starts with reminding people how easy it is to help.”
Each artist is assigned a storm drain and a mission to educate and inspire as best he or she can, a project hailed by local environmental groups as a positive step.
“This is important,” Amy Anderson of Kootenai Environmental Alliance said. “The city has 150 miles of hard pipe and 12 main outfalls. There’s no filters to protect our environment from larger pieces of debris; none. There’s no stopping anything like oils and soaps and animal waste and trash once it goes into our storm drains. There’s no filter to protect the lake.”
Anderson said KEA also works with schools to participate in a storm drain stenciling program, but that the organization’s and the city’s shared interests help a common good.
“The more education we can do, the better,” she said. “Raising awareness is paramount to maintaining our environment.”
Julie Rae Clark finished the first storm drain art project, depicting an icy-blue river beneath a mountain landscape as it flowed into the storm drain, tethered to the proclamation, “Life is better at the lake when we keep drains clean.”
Tree finds the challenge of creating a visually pleasing artistic story invigorating. Painting, she said, is in her blood.
“I’ve been painting my whole life,” she said. “Straight out of the womb. And I’m so happy I get to work on something like this.”
The Coeur d’Alene resident said the art she’s creating on Second and Sherman focuses on a narrative that extends beyond traditional environmental tropes.
“I guess if you look at it from a certain angle, I’m trying to show a Utopic perspective that focuses on living in harmony and having an awareness of your surroundings.”
Despite her vision, Tree said she’s also painting from the hip.
“I’ve never done something like this before,” she said with a smile. “I’m so excited to be doing this.”
When asked what she hopes her storm drain art accomplishes, her answer was as electric and positive as her art.
“I just hope to bring joy to people,” she said as she dipped her brush in the paint.