Three months ago, Sally Marbry conceived the idea to transform a utilitarian electrical box in front of the Greyhound station in downtown Redding into a piece of public art. This 18-part series is a chronicle of her work and her observations of life on the corner of Pine and Butte.
Part 3: The Routine of Life
August 1 Weather more humid. Street smell strong. Buy new paint base color and paint two coats. I scope out an extra perfect bench inside the terminal. E-mails to the powers-that-be of the bench and street cleaning. Maybe there is a cigarette container somewhere out there in the bowels of city warehouses.
Wheelchair local talks about the closed café and his dream efforts to re-open it not granted. Old lady chats about how her sons used to be bus drivers and about the apartments upstairs that made a nice layover for drivers. She hands me a religious pamphlet. Weaving Bum makes a wall lean stop for a minute. A bow-legged man hobbles down the street and I mind-flash how fortunate I am.
August 3 Jumble of words scratched with a sharp ball point pen on the top. I know I will eventually cover it…but worried about a streak of blue paint that I can’t get off. Start to wood grain thin boards. Hope to get trunk up and going so the graffiti will stop. A blank canvas is dangerous to leave out for too long. Once the street sees something they like, they leave it alone.
The usual stream of cars disappears down the ramp to park underground. Street people flow by my periphery. I should take photos but I never pause to document myself. I am part of the process and the routine of living it takes over. I’d love to snap a few of other people but I never have felt comfortable with photo invasion. I am the one who carries the heavy camera all through a traveling adventure and never stops to click the moment. Hard to put the lens in front of a local. In your face. Not.
E-mail return on permit process for bench: Viva will cover the cost of permit. Way nice. Good news for Tony and the groaning waiting customers.
To be continued…
Click here to find all the Greyhound Chronicles.
Visit Sally on September 12 on Pine and Butte as she reveals her electrical box turned masterpiece as part of September’s 2nd Saturday ArtHop.
Sally Marbry has shared her fine art, ceramics and sculpture skills as a teacher, product designer and interior designer. For the past year, Sally has been the host and writer of “Home Zone,” weekly on KLXR. She also chairs Viva Downtown Redding’s Design Committee, which spearheaded the public art and street beautification project. Reach Sally at Earth2Sal@charter.net.
