Local artists will bring splashes of color to downtown and the North Side Marketplace in the Benchmarks project for the last time.

Benchmarks, sponsored by University of Iowa Community Credit Union, allows artists to paint the benches each year with their creative and fun designs.

Ansel Cummings, a Riverside, Iowa, resident who is painting a bench for the first time, said the artists were informed this would be the last year Benchmarks would allow artists to paint. Benchmarks started, he said, because the benches were showing their age, and the city saved money by letting people paint over the benches. However, he said, downtown in particular is being renovated over the next two to three years, and all the benches will be replaced with new ones that don’t need fresh paint.

UI sophomore Olivia von Gries said she is creating her first bench this year, a piece called “A Parrot Party” featuring parrots in party hats, in front of the Bread Garden.

To create a bench, von Gries said, artists had to fill out a form explaining their design and highlighting their artistic experience. Of the 120 designs submitted, she said, 20 were selected.

Being involved with Benchmarks, she said, offered new but fun challenges.

“I’ve never painted outside before, and it was really different to have people come up and talk to you,” she said.

Harper Folsom, a Coe College student who is painting a bench for the second time, said she plans to get started next week. It will be a pysanka design, she said, which is seen on decorative Ukrainian eggs. Lots of people young and old become a part of the painting process, she said, asking questions and bringing energy to and excitement about the project.

The Benchmarks artists are compensated for their work, she said, and paying artists and funding art programs and projects should be a focus for communities.

“Artists work for fun because we love it,” Folsom said. “But [creating art] is also a service. We train for it, we work for it, and we deserve to be compensated.”

Cummings’ bench art is based from the embroidered tapestries Peru’s indigenous Shipibo people create. His bench is near the playground on the Pedestrian Mall, and his 5-year-old son can have fun and make friends while Cummings paints. He also finds, like Folsom, that artists play an important role in the community.

“[Benchmarks] represents a part of the personality of Iowa City made by the people for the people,” he said. “Iowa City is known for its culture and art, and without public displays like the benches, it doesn’t have a lot [to keep up this reputation].”

Cummings said the loss of the Benchmarks project in Iowa City is sad, and in its place, more community-based projects should be funded.

“I’ve lived here for 20 years, and Iowa City is losing its culture,” Cummings said. “Benchmarks really gives back to the community in a tangible way, and without [public art such as the painted benches], Iowa City is sterile and becomes Anytown USA.”

Folsom said, at the end of the day, Benchmarks brings a positive force to the community.