The Bell Box Murals Project is a program of Community Matters Toronto, a non-profit community organization that began as a neighbourhood improvement initiative. Since 2009, artists have painted over 130 murals on Bell Canada utility boxes throughout Ontario and Quebec.
The project first took off in the Town of Essex in 2013. During Fun Fest weekend, selected artists painted eight Bell Canada utility boxes in Essex Centre based on the theme "Through the Ages." Their creative interpretations of that theme produced a variety of historically significant scenes, including a mural commemorating the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813 and a woman sewing a quilt used for guiding fugitive slaves along the Underground Railroad to freedom in Essex County.
In 2016, the Bell Box Mural Project expanded to Harrow where a set of very talented artists painted eight more Bell utility boxes in July. Using the landscape and the area's history for their inspiration, the artists produced a set of murals that reflect a theme that might best be described as "Land and Lake." In the photo above, Christine Dexter puts the finishing touches on her work, "Beauty in Small Places."
