Bell Box - Heidi Burkhardt

Location: Isabella Street, west of Church
Date photo taken: 3 February 2013
Image #1 in the Bellbox Series

Back in 2005, in response to a complaint about offensive graffiti on a local telephone box, Councillor Joe Pantalone proposed a project that would see local artists paint murals on Bell phone boxes. For the pilot project, he enlisted the help of Style in Progress and together they worked to get well-known graffiti artists to paint murals on 10 phone boxes, with financial support from Bell Canada. And so the Bell Urban Art Project was born. While many of those original artworks have since been painted over, the idea has spread way beyond its Queen West roots. Painted boxes can now be seen in many neighbourhoods throughout the city, each with its own style and story to tell. This box was painted by Riverside artist Heidi Burkhardt.