League City arts update: murals, artist residency and traffic-box paintings funded in part by hot funds

City communications staff reported progress on League City arts projects including an artist-in-residency program, painted traffic utility boxes, a Sportsplex water-tank mural and an agreement to paint the Masonic Lodge building.

Sarah Osborne, communications, community engagement and cultural affairs for the city of League City, told the committee that three artists in residency have each completed initial free community classes as required by their agreements and that the residency pilot — currently nine months — is likely to be extended to a year. She said the program requires each artist to teach three free classes; examples cited included fish-printing for summer camp and portrait drawing at the library.

Osborne provided updates on public-art installations. A water tank mural at the Sportsplex is expected to be finished by the end of the month and five traffic boxes painted under the program are due by Sept. 30; one traffic-box mural near Walker Street at Victory Lakes had been completed. She also said artist Adam Sosie began pressure washing and staging work on a Masonic Lodge mural intended to visually connect the building to nearby Lee Park; Osborne said the mural would include bee imagery and other park-friendly motifs and be completed in time for Harvest Fest.

Osborne said a portion of the program funding comes from hot-fund allocations, noting that the committee has $100,000 in hot funds and that some of those dollars support murals and traffic-box painting. She also said other traffic-fund dollars are used in combination with hot funds for some pieces.

No formal action or funding vote on the art projects occurred at the meeting; Osborne said she would remind the committee of the artist-in-residency open house on Oct. 17 at the Gerardi House in Heritage Park.