LAKEWOOD —Lakewood paid $175,000 toward public art projects along the West Rail Line, and community leaders say the spending has helped create neighborhood identity while giving residents and visitors something beautiful as they move through the city.
The money came on top of $375,000 allocated by the Regional Transportation District and helped create dozens of art pieces in various forms: windscreens, murals, sculptures, mosaics, paintings and the artistic wrapping of more than 30 RTD panel boxes along the W Line.
Each station had a committee of community members and other partners that worked together in deciding artwork, said Lorene Joos, the arts programming curator for Lakewood’s Heritage, Culture and the Arts Division.
The goals were to create strong markers, celebrate local history and curb graffiti while reinforcing neighborhood identities.
“It’s so much fun because it’s all so different,” Joos said. “The Wadsworth Station has a more modern look, while in the 40 West Arts District you see the hummingbird on some of the artwork, which is becoming their mascot.”
Lamar Station is the gateway to what supporters say will be a Construction is underway on a nearby roundabout, which will house a 20-foot tall, 10,000- pound sculpture.
A finished brick-and-metal sculpture north of the Lamar Station called “Lakewood Legacy Trees” by Lonnie Hanzon features multicolored trees bursting out of the ground and rising into the air with items representing local history hanging from branches.
“I try to do works that are lovable and have some humor to them,” Hanzon said. “There wasn’t a sense of place through that area before the light rail; it was very industrial and so forth. I wanted to do something loud, something that felt like it was alive … the trees were a way to get some color up in the air.”
Hanzon etched designs in bricks acquired and forged from a nearby brick company, and community members helped carve some of the designs.
“That’s very important when I’m doing public art, that there’s a buy-in and ownership process, because the more people that own public artwork, the better chance it’s going to be taken care of and maintained,” Hanzon said.
The city of Lakewood was the first to propose wrapping shed-sized RTD electrical boxes with locally produced artwork. A total of 34 boxes with designs from seven local artists will soon be wrapped, with each one reflecting the neighborhood.
Mountair Park has a box depicting chili peppers and vegetables in ; a box near Wadsworth Station is wrapped in a sleek, multihued graphic of interlocking triangles.
The wrapped boxes so far have avoided the fate of their unwrapped counterparts: becoming a target of graffiti vandals.
“We keep hearing from residents that they love the wraps and the city should continue with it,” said Lindsey Smith, RTD Art-n-Transit administrator. “It adds a piece of art and not a steel box in neighborhoods.”
Not all of the W Line public art weighs five tons; some is more subtle, like the colored wire and reflective tape rippling down the side of Kipling Bridge.
All of it is designed to surprise people, whether they’re seeing a piece for the first time or they walk past it hundreds of times a year, said 40 West director Bill Marino.
and will host an event next August that will see the creation of seven new outdoor murals.
“Think about five more years of creating more and more outdoor art,” Marino said. “What an experience to walk or bike the corridor and enjoy all the outdoor galleries and celebrate that creativity.”
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729 or abriggs@denverpost.com
