Canyon Webb’s signal box is hard to miss with its colorful design.
When driving by it, you can see the two furry giants with white sharp teeth and yellow diluted eyes. It shows them ravaging through a spooky town during a full moon.
Webb has been tattooing for two decades. He recently opened his own tattoo shop called Good Neighbor Tattoo located in Midtown.
But in early May, a public art project from the City of Reno gave him a chance to get out of his comfort zone.
“I tried to go so far left field with everything on that signal box. And I had liked doing a style, kind of like that with painting but no, it's so far from my style as a tattoo artist,” Webb said.
Hundreds of signal boxes are scattered throughout the Reno area.
For almost two decades, local artists have been painting many of them through a program called Art Signals.
Erica Hill, the city’s program assistant for art and culture, said the end goal of the program is to give emerging artists a public art experience.
“This program is so beloved that I see it happening as often as possible. It’s part of that 2% for art, public art budget that we have. I don’t see a reason why it would stop other than an elimination of an art budget," Hill said.
Raquel Monserrat, the special event supervisor for Sparks, said they started a similar program a couple years ago after seeing the success in Reno.
“Our mayor would like to see all of them painted in the City of Sparks. I think there’s about 142 and we have 30 painted already,” Monserrat said.
One of the artists chosen for the Sparks program is April Gratrix.
Her signal box features a sandy desert, snowy mountains, and an afterglow sunset.
“I think it’s really important because not everybody wants to do a job where they’re inside or they're working at a restaurant, and having that creative outlet is important. And a lot of schools don’t have art classes and I think that’s a big disservice to the kids,” Gratrix said.
She says painting the signal boxes makes them more noticeable. And the public can see pieces of artwork on every corner including the corner by the Greater Nevada Field Stadium.
Blair Latos painted the signal box outside the stadium a few years ago.
Latos’ inspiration was a sold out baseball game where a ball is thrown out into the stands. And a young boy tries to catch it.
She said while painting the box, drivers and bystanders passing by complimented her.
“When they say, ‘oh wow I really like what you’re doing,’ or cars will drive by and do a little honk honk honk, ‘looks great,’ that type of thing,” Latos said.
She said the opportunity to paint a box is meaningful to her. She sees it as a step to her dream of becoming a big thriving artist someday.
For Latos, art connects and uplifts the community.
“I am just really thankful to the city for enabling this and supporting me and my friends who are artists and who were born to do this type of work and that we just thrive getting to do that for a living,” Latos said.
Artists receive $1,000 for painting a signal box in both the Reno and Sparks programs.
Back in Midtown, Webb said whether that compensation is enough varies for artists.
But he does think painting a signal box boosts confidence and feels liberating.
“I’ve been doing art my whole life and then 20 years, pretty professionally and I don’t think I’ve gotten ever the response I got just out there painting,” Webb said.
It may have been Webb’s first time applying but he said, it won’t be the last.
