After much debate in class, we settled down to just five sites and individually chose our own sites. I decided that one of the best opportunities offered was the one to beautify our storm drains and manhole covers. When we got the map of all of Meadville's drains, we decided to focus on just one street: Chestnut Street from North Main/Diamond Park to the Downtown Mall. With three of us working, and no desire to overwhelm ourselves, we thought that three drains per person would be a good number. Here are the drains that I was assigned. They are located on Chestnut Street between Market Street and Park Street.
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| South side of Chestnut St and Market St (appx. 3') |
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| North side of Chestnut St and Market St. (appx. 2') |
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| South side of Chestnut St, between Market Street and Park Ave. (appx 2') |
Some ideas that I had, after looking at Meadville's own art, other towns' street art, and considering our theme of "water," included:
- modeling each drain in a similar style, but having an individual French Creek critter dominate the scene
- a single one panel abstract water design that changes in style from drain to drain (ie Impressionist, modern, etc)
- the above, but changes in color
- a theme that tells a story up and down Chestnut St. (see the blog entry Urban Art for barrier projects that do this)
Here are some really neat ideas from sewer drains around the world:
