The City of Sheboygan announces the winners of the April 2021 call for artists for Utility Box Designs. Over 25 applications were submitted with various works of art. A review committee represented by the John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan Area School District, Visit Sheboygan, City of Sheboygan Department of Public Works, and City Planning ranked the applications. The following artists were chosen as finalists:
- Anna Hawe, two pieces: “Astronaut and Sherlock” and “Malibu of the Midwest”
- Jason Kotecki, “Weeds or Wishes”
- Paula Hagerman, “Tall Ships on Sheboygan River”
- Joyce Babel-Worth, “Kaleidoscope of Flowers”
- Xoe Fiss, “Levitt AMP concerts at City Green – Together We Create Sheboygan”
- Toril Fisher, “Nature’s Beauty – Yellow Flowers”
- Wesley Cervantes, “Sheboygan”
- Jordan Gottsacker, “Stay Weird Sheboygan”
- Cindy Sarkady, “Kohler Andre”
- Flynn Luedtke, “Sheboygan’s harbor-themed aesthetics and unique architecture”
- Susan Alby, “Relaxing with a cup of coffee”
“One of the many reasons why I applied for this project was because of my growing interest in the art installations that can be seen around Sheboygan. Each year, I always noticed a new piece being presented in the city. Being a recent graduate in Studio Arts and a longtime ‘Sheboyganite’, this increase in installations gave me the motivation to one day have my art displayed in the city. It’s an honor to be one of the finalists for this project. I was never confident in my artwork growing up, but being a part of this project has given me the confidence once again to continue pursuing my art for future projects,” stated Flynn Luedtke, a 22-year old UW- Green Bay graduate in digital art.
Image provided by Flynn Luedtke
Image provided by Cindy Sarkady
City staff has begun working with local companies that provide vinyl wrapping to develop the wraps and install them on twelve city owned utility boxes around the community. Installation of the wraps is planned to occur this fall. Funding for this program is from a federal grant for placemaking.
“The City of Sheboygan thanks all participants who submitted for this call for artists. The art pieces that were submitted portrayed Sheboygan is a very positive manner. The City encourages participants that were not chosen for this round to consider resubmitting for future rounds,” stated Chad Pelishek, director of planning and development.
Image provided by Paula and Raymond Hagemann
Residents can follow the progress of this project on Visit Sheboygan and City of Sheboygan social media pages in the coming months.