There’s a public art project happening in downtown Eugene, but with no press release or mayoral ribbon-cutting, you may not have noticed it. About a year ago, Eugene artist Robert Bolman turned the empty spaces left behind when the city removed the coin vaults from downtown parking meters into tiny art spaces. Inspired by Bolman, Eugene sculptor Jud Turner and several other local artists got involved and installed their own art on different meters. It’s now a successful art-as-direct-action, grassroots effort to beautify the city center. 

City of Eugene Content and Community Engagement Manager Ian Campbell says, “Due to unprecedented theft and vandalism, the City temporarily removed coin vaults from single-space parking meters in the downtown area and converted them to credit-card only.” Parking Services is seeking more durable coin-vault replacements as the primary solution, Campbell adds. 

For now, those removed coin vaults have left about a 5-inch hole in each meter. Over time, those gaps became filled with trash and cigarette butts. According to Turner, Bolman thought that, instead, he could put public art in the space after assessing the dimensions of the hole and determining the screw size required to bolt it in place.

Inspired in part by the social and environmental ramifications of car culture, Bolman used automobile engine valve rods to create an industrial bouquet that appeared to explode.

Once involved, Turner offered the use of his CNC plasma table. With the tool, “You can put in a design on a laptop and have the machine cut out precisely the shapes that we need for the circle with the four screw holes,” necessary to attach it to the meter, Turner says.

Now, several hundred of the thousands of meters with empty gaps are filled with art made by Bolman, Turner and other artists. Among them is Erin Williamson, who says she’s filled about 90 different meters with tiny paintings and cast-relief sculptures, typically of animals, including an owl she recently made from watches and handcuffs. Williamson shares her work on Instagram. 

On whether the city has officially approved the project, Williamson adds, “Jud says it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.” Campbell, from the city, says, “Parking Services is generally aware of the art installations. It has not been ‘endorsed’ by Parking Services.” 

Early on, Turner and Bolman agreed not to conceal the people responsible, and instead of waiting for city approval, they began to work. “We felt comfortable that it wasn’t technically vandalism because the pieces could be removed if they were causing a problem. And we also felt it was a public service to fill these holes because they were otherwise just trash containers,” Turner says. 

(In one concession, Bolman and Turner agreed to remove the bouquet and not create any other protruding element on an installation — which would stick out into the walkway — for safety reasons.) 

Deb Babcock from Clay Space on Polk Street, a Eugene ceramics art studio seeking nonprofit status, says the parking meter art project was “something that our weather-proof ceramics are a perfect match for. We felt our members would enjoy creating some beautiful public art for the city. We hope to make enough of these disks to supply a whole block or more of meters with ceramic art from our studio.”

Campbell adds, “The discovery of art can be a fun, creative disruption that an artist interjects into the public realm. These pieces can form a conversation between an artist and the community, requiring the artist to consider the exchange in the design and development of a piece. The creativity woven throughout our city’s built environment is one of the aspects that make Eugene so vibrant.”

Putting a finer point on it, Williamson says, “Anything that transforms an empty hole people shove trash into into something that brings happiness is worth doing.”

See more of the art downtown or at Instagram.com/EugeneParkingMeterArt.