BOISE -- A public art project the Central City Development Corporation, the City of Boise's urban renewal agency, paid thousands of dollars to install in a downtown intersection is getting scrapped.
The mural "Reflections" will be removed Sunday, just two months after it was painted on the street at 8th and Fulton streets. The artist, Jason Keeble, has agreed to remove the artwork at no cost to taxpayers.
The mural, which features a geometric pattern of blue and green rectangles, was put in place in August and was originally intended to stay on the road for a year.
But according to the City of Boise Department of Arts & History, "an unexpected material failure" has caused the mural to break down much sooner than expected. In wide swaths of the mural, the paint has chipped away or faded entirely.
8th and Fulton mural to be removed
"We've received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the community on Keeble's 'Reflections'," said Boise City Department of Arts & History Public Art Manager Karl LeClair. "While the outcome is extremely disappointing for all, we plan to build upon this experience and hope to explore the feasibility of intersection murals like this one in the future."
The idea for the mural was born after the Ada County Highway District gave the OK for the City of Boise to to conduct a pilot project for painted intersections as a "temporary public art project."
Keeble was chosen after responding to the city's competitive call for artists in April 2017, and received a budget of $9,000 to cover design, materials, labor, permitting and traffic control coordination. The mural was ultimately funded by the Capital City Development Corporation.
Heralded as a "first-of-its kind" project, the mural was in part intended to test materials and application to see if the artwork would be viable and last long enough. The project team first noticed the mural breaking down after a recent rainfall.
Mural being painted on Boise intersecton
Keeble was selected through a competitive call to artists process in April 2017, and was given a total project budget of $9,000 to cover design, materials, labor, permitting and traffic control coordination.
The Boise City Department of Arts & History staff are now working with ACHD and Keeble to determine whether the painted intersection project would be feasible in the future.
The intersection of 8th and Fulton will be partially closed Sunday as the concrete is resurfaced.
