Sweet Briar College is one of several area organizations and individuals that have agreed to sponsor parking meters in support of the Amherst ArtMeter Project. Initiated by a group of local citizens and approved by town council in January, the project aims to transform defunct parking meters in Amherst’s business district into works of art.

This meter, painted by Terrie Linton, is already on display on Main Street.“It came from some television and newspaper articles … that highlighted the dilemma that the meters were no longer usable – some of them were not useable – and they needed repair, and the repair parts were not available,” Suny Monk, ArtMeters committee member and executive director of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, said.

“With a town the size of Amherst that’s always a financial question. Repair was not possible and purchase of new meters was very expensive. On the other side of the dilemma, the veterans and beautification persons in town like to use the meters poles to install seasonal flags, so there was a dilemma. I just kept thinking that there must be a different solution and formed a group of interested parties to talk about it.”

Monk had heard about other public art projects, such as Washington, D.C.’s “Art on Call,” where people paint out-of-use police and fire call boxes, and a Richmond effort, where local businesses painted fish sculptures.

The Richmond project started out with a theme, she said, and the D.C. project, a need. ArtMeters fall into the latter category. “That’s what creative minds are about, about not accepting the obvious solution,” she said. “There’s always another way to go at it.”

After some brainstorming, the Amherst ArtMeter Project was born. Monk and the committee pitched their idea to the town manager, who referred it to the community relations committee, who forwarded it on to city council. In January, council agreed to support the project for a two-year trial period.

Monk is excited about what ArtMeters will bring to Amherst. “The real beauty in it is it’s a community-based, participatory project,” she said. “It offers an opportunity for the whole community to participate. It doesn’t put art on a shelf up high somewhere.”

ArtMeters is currently seeking artists to paint the meters and sponsors – at $100 per meter per year – to pay for the project. The sponsorship fee includes $50 for artists’ supplies and $50 to cover painting the meter bases and administrative costs. Sponsors’ and artists’ names will be displayed on the meters and any leftover funds will go toward other Amherst beautification projects. The plan is to repaint the meters each year.

Joe Malloy and John Jaffe, who work at Sweet Briar’s Mary Helen Cochran Library, are sponsoring a meter in honor of Jennifer Crispen, a faculty member and field hockey coach who died last year after battling cancer.

Crispen, who lived on campus on Elijah Road, regularly displayed plastic flamingoes on her front lawn. Although they don’t have an artist in mind for the Crispen’s meter, its sponsors would like it painted with a pink flamingo. “It’s got a good shape for something like that, and, of course, for Jennifer it was such a big deal,” Malloy said.

Artists must submit their designs on or before Wednesday, March 25. Applications for art submission or sponsorship are available at Sweet Briar’s college relations office and will soon be available on the Town of Amherst’s Web site. This year’s design theme is “What I love about Amherst,” and artists’ concepts will be judged for both suitability and practicality.

Nancy McDearmon, registraral assistant for the Sweet Briar Galleries, is on the suitability jury and Donna Meeks, SBC grounds superintendent, will help judge practicality – things like whether or not a design will withstand the elements.

For more information, contact Monk at smonk@vcca.com or ArtMeter Project, P.O. Box 1046, Amherst, Va. 24521.>