Back in March, the City’s Department of Public Utilities asked local artists to submit designs to be painted on downtown storm drains for The 2nd Annual “RVAH2O Storm Drain Art Project“.
The art is meant to send a message to RVA citizens about how important it is to keep the streets, sidewalks and waterways clean and pollution-free and the city recently announced the winners and the location.
Four local artists have been selected to paint storm drains in the heart of VCU along Harrison Street and adjacent to Grace Street. The project is an initiative of RVAH20 which aims to educate the community on the importance of waterways and tactics to keep them pollution-free through local art.
The artists will paint the drains over two weekends, two artists will paint May 27-29 and the other two will complete them June 3-4.
“It All Drains to the James” is the project’s theme for its second consecutive year.
Last year’s murals are still painted near the James River on Tredegar Street, this year’s location was picked with the audience in mind. The DPU chose an area with a lot of foot-traffic and an already established arts community for this year’s murals, DPU Operations Manager Jonét Prévost-White said in a news release.
“VCU supports a strong culture of environmental excellence and stewardship. Its students are frequent visitors and enthusiasts of the James River,” Prévost-White said. “They are a great audience to embrace our message.”
Check out the artists and the winning entries below:
Donna Bailey, “It All Drains to the James”
Douglas Fuchs, “The James in the Drain”
Jenny Haebel, “Consider the River”
Alison Tinker, “Protect the River – It’s What You Otter Do!”
