Waco council OKs blue palette for I

May 11, 2023

Workers affix a lighting globe to its support on the Interstate 35 bridge over Fourth and Fifth streets May 2. The globe and others in the project were later taken down over city officials’ concerns with their colors, but will be reinstalled after all six are repainted in an all-blue color palette.

The artists behind the large metal light globes to be installed under the Interstate 35 overpass at Fourth and Fifth streets will not have to go back to the drawing board, just the paint shop.

The Waco City Council discussed three new paint options and settled on a blue color palette Tuesday night for the decorative lights.

Local artists Morgan Eyring and Andrea La Valleur-Purvis were selected to create six 4-foot metal globes to be installed under the overpass, a project intended to add safety with lights, add to the visual appeal of the area and make the expanse of concrete more inviting for pedestrians.

The normally bland underside of the Interstate 35 overpass at Fourth and Fifth Streets will sprout six brightly colored four-foot light globes later this spring, a touch of Waco art in an unexpected place, thanks to the work of local designers and artists Morgan Eyring and Andrea La Valleur-Purvis.

On May 2, city officials stopped the nearly complete installation of the globes, saying their paint colors were not what council members had in mind when they approved a package of decorative interstate-adjacent lighting features in 2018.

The globes each feature Waco-centric shapes, historical references, recognizable structures and images intended to cast complex shadows. Rather than retaining their metallic finish, the globes were painted multiple colors — green, orange, light blue, yellow, pink and purple — representing Texas wildflowers.

According to agenda documents for the city council's meeting Tuesday, the council was only presented with images from Creative Waco, the arts nonprofit that partnered with the city for the effort, showing uncolored metallic globes before signing off on the project. Council presentations included images from an underpass lighting project in San Antonio, Ballroom Luminoso, that inspired Waco's project. The city at the time approved $2.1 million in downtown Tax Increment Financing Zone funding for decorative lighting for I-35 underpasses and bridge towers.

The TIF Zone board in 2018 approved $430,000 for the globe light project, the city paid the artists through a $21,000 contract with Creative Waco.

"Upon review of the finished product, there was a genuine surprise among executive staff that the globes were not what had been discussed, approved, and funded by TIF#1 and the City," the document says. "Because the globes were not as originally approved, City Management directed that they be taken down so that a decision could be made by the City Council."

Mayor Dillon Meek said it was his understanding that the council would have final approval of the colors, per the contract.

"This is an important location for us, I think," Meek said. "This is a gateway to our city, so we have thoughts around that."

Those awaiting the debut of large metal light globes casting patterned shadows under the Interstate 35 overpass over Fourth and Fifth Streets will have to wait a little longer pending a resolution of a dispute over their color.

Creative Waco Executive Director Fiona Bond gave a presentation Tuesday, joined by the organization's public art and development director Amanda Dyer and both artists. The group presented three high-durability vehicle paint options for new paint colors that would allow the project to move forward: a dark neutral finish that would mimic an unpainted metal, a cool color palette and a warm color palette.

Bond said it is not possible to strip the paint off the globes to return to their true metal finish. The steel would corrode over time if not covered, and the sculptures’ delicate welding could not withstand sandblasting the existing paint completely off, she said.

The first option, which the city council ruled out, was to paint all globes the same Texas steel gray color, a dark neutral option.

The second option, Texas sunset yellow, included six hues in the yellow color family. The colors were inspired by sunsets that can be seen looking east to west through the underpass.

The final option, a bluebonnet-inspired six-shade blue palette, was suggested to evoke the sky and water. Both the blue and yellow options offer a bold daytime contrast, Bond said.

Bond said the council could select fewer than six hues from either of the color palettes, or they could choose just one.

"Of course, you know, the options are endless, but having really carefully considered the space itself, the way the light enters into the space and how it interacts during the day, those options are offered as the best kind of contrast option if you didn't want to go with metallic finish, which is what you can see in previous presentations," Bond said.

The council considered the yellow color palette as it bears some resemblance the school colors of the nearby Baylor University. Baylor's signature gold is not part of the palette, however, and Council Member Josh Borderud said the yellow seems too loud.

When asked for the artist's opinion on a color palette, La Valleur-Purvis said it was a very difficult decision because "we had a different picture when we made the work, and that was that it's more colorful."

"I mean, I think we’re really here to hear what you all want to be the color feature of the gateway, or lack of color at the gateway under the overpass," Eyring said.

Council Member Andrea Barefield pointed out that the photo shown to council of the "Ballroom Luminoso" globe project in San Antonio did feature colored lights and different hues.

Borderud said the city has been using a lot of blues and it feels more consistent with Waco's branding. The council rallied around and approved the blue palette, and Barefield said keeping all six shades presented would still allow for a little bit of playfulness. The city is still in the early phases of a branding study, and City Manager Bradley Ford said he suspects Waco's official blues would come through in the study.

The council did not discuss a timeline for the globes’ refinishing and installation.

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Kourtney David is a Baylor University graduate from Springfield, Missouri. She joined the Tribune-Herald staff in July 2022.

The brightly painted metal spheres created by local artists were nearing their full installation last week when Waco officials halted the work…