This summer, downtown Toledo receives another public art installation. The project, funded by the City’s One Percent for Art program and administered by the Arts Commission, will feature the works of local artists’ along Jefferson Avenue as vinyl wraps for traffic signal boxes.
In March, the Art in Public Places program invited artists living within 50 miles of Toledo to submit original artwork for consideration. Plans are to feature the selected works on eleven boxes from the Old West End to the riverfront.
Flora and fauna
This project coincides with downtown construction of a dedicated bike lane and enhancement of the pedestrian experience in strategic corridors. The theme, “local flora and fauna,” pays homage to the region’s diverse ecology.
The Arts Commission announced the 11 artists selected on June 8: Coira Cook, Sammi Dougherty, Shannon Eis, Elsa Furia, Dorene Jones, Amber LeFever Soboleski, Bradley Scherzer, Becky Williams, Steven Wipfli, Sarah Worthington, and Jennifer Ziolkowski. Each artist will receive a $500 honorarium and will have their design displayed for a number of years.
Focus on Scherzer
City Paper picked one of the selected artists to profile here.
Bradley Scherzer, born and raised in Toledo, is an art teacher at Fremont Ross High School. He has public art displayed all across Northwest Ohio, with murals in restaurants and on walls in Bowling Green, Findlay, Fremont, Maumee and Toledo.
Scherzer was funded by the Arts Commission in 2019 for what he considers “a break-through project,” entitled “Poof!”, an interactive creature sculpture created for the community. “Poof!” is a temporary installation built for special events.
Scherzer took a nostalgic approach to the signal box project. “Nutshell Heroes,” his submission, features squirrels with enticing poses, masks, and colors. “I came across pictures of squirrels leaping through the air, and they looked hilarious. The way they play is ninja-like… I’m a child of the 80s and 90s, so that is in my head.”
Scherzer is also currently finishing a large mural along Broadway in downtown Toledo and recently completed a fortune-telling installation at Franklin Park Mall beside the Apple Store. All Scherzer’s projects can be seen at
bradleyscherzer.com.
http://theartscommission.org
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