This first-of-its-kind street art project engaged local artists and members of the public to create a unique art installation across the entire city of Columbus. The project is the brainchild of Columbus artist Stephanie Rond. Rond and fellow project director, artist Catherine Bell Smith, helped more than 600 people make tiles at the 2015 Columbus Arts Festival. To provide inspiration, 64 tiles were created by professional artists in visual arts, music, dance, film and performance in advance of the festival. Approximately 300 community tiles created at the Arts Festival werecurated and installed in groups of five, each set containing an inspirational tile and four community tiles, on street signs across the city in mid to late July 2015. The entire installation spells out the word “ART” when pinned on a Google Map of Columbus. New art will be created in 2017 by artists and the community at the Columbus Arts Festival and installed in the same locations mid- to late summer 2017.
The Sign Your Art Public Art Project was launched in Columbus Ohio in 2015. The Greater Columbus Arts Council's role was to help bring the project to life with funding and resources.
Sign #1: 1015 Atlantic Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
We envisioned a project with potential to change perceptions of where art can be viewed.
The brainchild of Columbus street artist Stephanie Rond, Sign Your Art was brought to life by Rond and fellow artist Catherine Bell Smith.
Sign #2: 6101 Busch Blvd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #3: 5794 Sinclair Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Involving visual artists, writers and performers in the creation of the inspirational pieces, they literally put Columbus ART on the map and into the forefront of community-driven public art.
Sign #4: 601 Chase Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #5: 493 E. Kanawha Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #6: 328 Fairway Dr (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
The project is meant to be a physical manifestation of the Art Makes Columbus campaign that launched in 2015. The campaign focuses on the stories of our city’s artists, in all disciplines.
Sign #7: 322 E. Jeffrey Pl (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #8: 90 Desantis Dr (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #9: 24 E. Cooke Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #10: 6093 Northgap Dr (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #11: 5700 Sandalwood Blvd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #12: 5514 Sandalwood Blvd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #13: 1616 Penworth Dr (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #14: 1700 Red Robin Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
A number of pieces were mixed media or represented a performing artists visual interpretation of their craft.
Sign #15: 1953 Morse Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #16: 2016 Fenton St (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
This sign has proven that people do still read. The back of this panel was covered with chewed gum.
Sign #17: 2037 Case Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #18: 5160 Sinclair Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #19: 5044 Kingshill Dr (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #20: 1511 Fahlander Dr S. (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Columbus performance artist Heidi Madsen's piece was the first numbered tile in letter "R"
Sign #21: 3680 Granden Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Bringing together the multi-faceted creative community was a challenge, but the call to participate was well met by a multi-disciplinary group of 64 Columbus-based artists.
Sign #22: 125 E. North Broadway (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #23: 19 E. California Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #24: 2800 N. High St (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Rond and Bell Smith cut, drilled, sanded and primed 5,000 5” x 7” tiles. Since this had never been done, and the Arts Festival attendance tops 450,000, they wanted to be prepared.
Sign #25: 93 W. Tompkins St (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #26: 104 W. Northwood Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #27: 120 W. Lane Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #28: 169 W. 10th Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #29: 207 W. 8th Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #30: 1299 Forsythe Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #31: 961 Neil Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Engaging the community during the Columbus Arts Festival proved to be by far the easiest task.
Sign #32: 533 Arden Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Arts Festival attendees were given space and materials to create their own tiles to be considered for inclusion in the final display.
Sign #33: 3563 Beulah Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #34: 989 Lenore Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
People who attend the Arts Festival are weather-hardened art enthusiasts. Their excitement in creating tiles (some worked for several hours on their pieces) was an inspiration to everyone.
Sign #35: 1264 Urana Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #36: 1401 Oakland Park Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #37: 2909 Dresden St (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #38: 1485 Aberdeen Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #39: 1428 Republic Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
After the Festival, Rond and Smith spent many more hours curating the collections and creating sets that “worked together.”
Sign #40: 2259 Ontario St (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #41: 2185 McGuffey Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Image by project creator Stephanie Rond exemplifies her large format street art style in a small space.
Sign #42: Mapfre Stadium Lamar Hunt Way (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #43: 458 E. Northwood Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Pieces by writers helped bring poetry to unexpected places.
Sign #44: 291 E. Northwood Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #45: 100 E. Norwich Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #46: 525 E. 20th Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #47: 695 E. 17th Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #48: 873 E. 12th Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #49: 1219 St Clair Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #50: 1100 E. 5th Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #51: 1241 Gibbard Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
While Rond and Bell Smith were installing the tiles, they got waves and nods and answered questions from people who happened by. They were a hit when they distributed the popular ART FAN stickers.
Sign #52: 642 W. Broad St (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Workers at a West Broad St. business were excited to have the tiles within sight of their store. A manager warned that they would never last a month without total destruction. All pieces survived.
Sign #53: 333 W. Broad St (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign Your Art public will be recreated in 2017 at the Arts Festival with new pieces installed in the same locations later in summer of 2017.
Sign #54: 66 S. 3rd St (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #55: 124 S. Washington Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #56: 851 Bryden Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
The Columbus creative community and the community at large is looking forward the new work next year.
Sign #57: 1128 Bryden Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #58: 1484 Bryden Rd (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #59: 431 E. Livingston Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #60: 893 Bruck St (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #61: 393 Mithoff St (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #62: 409 E. Markison Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Sign #63: 343 E. Barthman Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
Rond relates a tale of a man waiting at the Parsons bus stop. “He watched patiently and without comment until we were walking away." see next caption...
Sign #64: 2483 Parsons Ave (2015 - 2015) by Sign Your Art ColumbusGreater Columbus Arts Council
"He hopped off his perch and sidled over to get a much better look. The nod of approval he tossed our way, casual to him, warmed our hearts.”
Rond and Bell Smith want to thank everyone for the support, encouragement and engagement they experience while creating, producing and installing Sign Your Art.
