An Adopt-a-Planter program is about to sprout along downtown Phoenix’s Grand Avenue.
The “Greening Lower Grand Avenue” project changed the landscape of Grand Avenue and added 55 plain cement planters along the street.
The city agreed to maintain the planters for six months, but after that it will become the responsibility of the community. The Grand Avenue Members’ Association formed a sub-committee, as well as recruited artists, to organize the decoration and future maintenance of the planters.
Volunteer artists will have the opportunity to come out and decorate their adopted planter with paint, sculpture, mosaic or other mediums. There are only three requirements: no advertisements, no words and it must be publicly appropriate.
“I think (an Adopt-a-Planter program) adds a different dimension (to downtown Phoenix),” said Laurie Carmody, a member of the association who volunteered to lead the sub-committee. “It makes it more attractive for people to come over and go through the studios, and it enhances the whole art scene that Phoenix has to offer.”
Recruitment efforts via email and Facebook are being used to attract artists to the planter program, Carmody said. About half of the planters have already been assigned to artists, with some starting as early as this week.
Darcy McGrane, another member of the organization who volunteered to lead the sub-committee, is one of the artists who will begin working this week.
“I’m donating it for free — all my time and materials,” McGrane said. “It’s something I really care about. It’s something where I feel like I can make a difference.”
McGrane used to have an art studio at the Oasis on Grand Avenue. She described Grand before “Greening Lower Grand Avenue” as “struggling.”
The greening project was made possible by a grant funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. From that grant, the city of Phoenix was able to implement a “road diet” for Grand Avenue. Traffic lanes were reduced from five to three and streets were resurfaced. Bike lanes were added, as well as the 55 gray planters.
The project was completed on Oct. 18, 2013, and dedicated the next day at the Grand Avenue Arts Festival.
“It was like a breath of fresh air,” McGrane said. “It was a big shot of help injected into the neighborhood.”
McGrane is a mosaic tile artist and will be painting her planter to mimic an abstract, vertical mosaic design.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of people who live there,” McGrane said. “I think they want more beauty, more people to care about the area.”
The planter McGrane will work on is located on Grand Avenue between 11th and 12th avenues near Motley Design Group, an architecture and design firm known for its work in historical preservation.
Motley Design Group, a Grand Avenue Members’ Association affiliate, has adopted two planters outside of their property as well.
“It’s the kind of thing that gives Grand Avenue its sense of identity,” said Bob Graham, the principal architect at Motley Design Group. “Grand Avenue, I think, is one of the few authentic places in downtown Phoenix. The planters are an expression of that.”
Contact the reporter at carolyn.corcoran@asu.edu
