Santa Fe Springs council directs hire of professional artist for boxcar mural after student contest; city to use student art as inspiration

The Santa Fe Springs City Council authorized staff to procure a professional artist to develop and digitize artwork for the city’s landmark boxcar, using student contest sketches as inspiration rather than directly reproducing them. Council members also directed staff to pursue maintenance and quicker-repair alternatives for painted signal/utility boxes along city corridors.

Community Services staff said a student boxcar mural contest ran from February through April and produced 14 initial sketches; 7 submissions were from Santa Fe Springs residents and were eligible for review by the Heritage Arts Advisory Committee. The committee scored entries and selected four top submissions but recommended none be placed directly on the boxcar; instead, the committee recommended commissioning a professional artist to create a high-quality, digitized wrap for the boxcar and use student artwork for smaller applications such as traffic-signal utility boxes.

“Authorize the director of community services to contract a professional artist to digitize the artwork for the vinyl wrap,” staff recommended; Ed Ramirez presented the report and said estimated costs for design, wrap and kiosk updates would range from about $16,500 to $45,000 and would be charged to the Heritage Arts education fund. The council voted to proceed with procurement of an artist, asked staff to return with design concepts and directed staff to recognize the student participants.

Council discussion also focused on maintenance challenges for painted signal boxes. Staff noted painted boxes require the original artist to perform touch-ups and that vandalism/ graffiti can be costly to remedy; council members supported using vinyl wraps for easier replacement and directed staff to develop an ongoing maintenance plan and to begin repairs on existing boxes that have been defaced.

Staff said next steps include issuing procurement to hire an artist, having the artist develop two or three conceptual designs (informed by student submissions and local heritage references), deciding whether to paint or wrap the boxcar when a final concept is selected, and notifying the seven student artists and their schools that their designs influenced the process. The council approved the motion by voice vote.