The Electric Botany art project is a win win for both Launceston's art scene and subsequently its traffic scene.
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A number of new traffic signal boxes have been installed across the municipality to help upgrade infrastructure and the added bonus is they are being decorated to honour Australian botanical illustrator Margaret Stones.
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Twelve Tasmanian artists and students from six secondary schools studied Stones' collection at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. Before using their interpretations to decorate traffic signal boxes across the municipality.
City of Launceston council mayor Albert van Zetten said the project aimed to brighten the streetscape, provide an outlet for emerging artists and form a trail connecting points of interest for tourists.
"What's great [is] it has provided local artists an opportunity to present original works in a public space while paying homage to Margaret Stones," he said.
"Each artist has brought their own vision to life on these boxes and the positive feedback we've had so far has been really pleasing."
During the project some boxes were initially painted and then installed, but it has progressed to boxes being painted or wrapped in situ.
East Coast artist Melanie Fidler has painted several boxes and her work focuses on endemic Tasmanian flora.
"Working on the street, I was a little bit concerned about what the general public would think, but everything that I have heard from people, everything that I've received has all been really cool," she said.
"It has been really quite heartwarming, the public have loved it."
To view the Electric Botany trail, visit www.qvmag.tas.gov.au.
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