Cedar Rapids aims to make rainy days a little better this spring with art that appears in the rain

The City of Cedar Rapids is asking high school students and other emerging local artists to create art that will appear on city sidewalks when it rains.

The project will use stencils designed by local artists and an environmentally-friendly, invisible spray to create art that appears when the ground is wet. The art pieces will be installed at bus stops and trail locations that will be identified by the city.

One of the goals of the project is to draw attention to the city’s Community Climate Action Plan. Artists are asked to create designs related to one of several sustainability topics — food insecurity, loss of tree canopy, natural disasters, greenhouse gas emissions, urban heat islands, pollution and social inequalities.

“The Rain Art Project will help build awareness for our Community Climate Action Plan, for one, but also, we’re hoping it will help increase understanding of climate challenges that Cedar Rapids residents face,” Stephanie Schrader, the city’s Community Service Coordinator, said. “In addition, we’re hoping to encourage local artists to create art in our community, and create an opportunity for people to get out and explore our community.”

The city put out the call for artists on March. 7, and plans to have the art installed by the end of May. The spray should last about four months. Interested artists can submit their art concepts through April 2, and a committee will select up to 10 artists to produce their designs.

“Some of the committee members will be current public art commission members, but then there also will be other members, like art teachers, people with a strong interest in sustainability, and a well-being advisory committee member” Schrader said.

The committee will be looking for submissions that align with the sustainability themes and show a strong sense of creativity, according to Schrader.

Each artist that is selected will receive a $500 stipend for their work.

Schrader said the rain art project fits perfectly with the Cedar Rapids Public Art Plan, which aims to create joy with art throughout the community, and to support local artists whenever possible.

“This temporary art project checks all those boxes,” Schrader said. “This seemed like a great opportunity to support local artists and tap into their local knowledge of what’s happened in our community in terms of recent disasters, and give them that opportunity to create art in their community.”

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