In Blacksburg, five contest-winning artists began ornamenting storm drains to raise awareness of the public’s day-to-day role in protecting water quality.
Working not far from the continental divide, one artist, Shoshana Levensen, a Virginia Tech senior majoring in Human Development, began painting in orange and greens a large sidewalk mural marking the storm drain outside of Bollo’s Café and Bakery on Draper Road.
Although she’s a professional portrait painter specializing in painting pets and people, the sidewalk mural was a challenge on a sunny day last week.
“The scale is huge and I’m not used to it, but I practiced. It’s super scaled-up,” she said. “And it’s hot and I have allergies.”
Luckily, her boyfriend, Jason, was on hand with water and lunch. The two were filming the event in time-lapse, and the town photographer was recording the event.
Levensen had heard about the contest from a friend.
“I got really, really excited, and said ‘I’m definitely doing this’!” she said.
This Blacksburg public arts program aims to raise awareness of the region’s water heritage and water quality.
The effort was inspired by a similar event in Richmond that aimed to raise awareness that everything – plastic bags, bottles, motor oil, soil—that goes down a storm drain winds up in the James River.
Blacksburg sought design concepts from local artists to adorn selected storm drains around town “to raise awareness about the choices (and changes) we can all make to restore the health of our local waterways,” according to the town’s website.
Artists submitted designs reflecting three themes: The Town of Blacksburg’s Freshwater Heritage, The Protection of Stroubles Creek, and New River Watershed’s Natural Beauty: local wildlife, healthy habitat & natural beauty.
A $350 stipend for paint and equipment was granted to install the work. Storm drain locations include the parking lot behind Sharkey’s, the corner of Clay and Draper closest to the Police Department, Main and Jackson beside the Wells Fargo, and Main and Jackson beside the Post Office.
Artists will begin painting in May, and finish installing their work by July 31.
