Members of the Three Rivers Improvement Movement (TRiM) have added to an already long and growing list of artistic contributions to downtown Three Rivers and surrounds. TRiM leaders Mike Curtis and Lisa DeVine recently installed new artwork to a signboard over one of the storefronts belonging to Lowry’s Books and More. The panel features a row of colorful bookends in relief, designed to look like a full bookshelf.

Over the last several years, DeVine and Curtis have added a range of creative planters, signage, and other improvements to the Main Street Historic District, as well as a range of improvements to Scidmore and Memory Isle Parks. Just prior to their work on the bookshelf signboard, the two collaborated with Jerry Barkley of Kelsey Block Brewing Company to repair and restore the popcorn stand at the Spring Street entrance to Scidmore Park.

Prior to that, the two have been working with Main Street property owners to paint buildings, assist with recent improvements to the East Parking Lot walk-through, develop and install creative planters like the beer stein flowerpots in front of Kelsey Block and stacked book planters in front of Lowry’s, as well a practical planter designed to seamlessly hide an unused step in front of another building. Curtis also has parts on hand for other ideas that he will eventually pitch to other building owners. 

All of TRiM’s Main Street improvements were inspired by a visit to Howell, north of Ann Arbor, several years ago. Curtis and DeVine joined other downtown volunteers and staff from the Three Rivers Downtown Development Authority and Main Street Program in attending a downtown revitalization workshop that took place there. The workshop emphasized small, easily achievable projects that could help bring quick but noticeable improvements to historic downtowns. Several buildings in Howell and other towns discussed during the workshop featured similar, three-dimensional signs, Curtis said.

Bookstore owner and Three Rivers Mayor Tom Lowry bought the materials to decorate the signboard. To create the books in relief, Curtis and DeVine recruited the assistance of Paul Leverentz, who supplied a metal bending brake to help bend the sheet aluminum pieces that formed each bookend. Curtis bent the pieces, scuffed them with sandpaper for better paint adhesion, and provided them with an undercoat of paint. 

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DeVine artistically painted each of the formed metal bookends to look like the multicolored, decorative spines of hardbound books. She reused paint colors from other downtown building projects to help harmonize the signboard with its surroundings. Curtis then gave each a clear, finish coat of polyurethane, and installed them individually on the signboard once they dried.

Curtis and DeVine created a similar set of planters, designed to look like stacks of books, to flank the front doors of Lowry’s a few years ago. Those are wooden, but Curtis said aluminum soffit material was chosen for the signboard to minimize weight, since he was not confident that the signboard would support much additional load. “Aluminum and paint don’t weigh much, so that was the best option for us,” Curtis said.

Curtis approached Lowry with the idea and got his approval, and then secured the approval of the Three Rivers Historic District Commission. Curtis said it took him about two or three weeks of periodic bending of pieces intermittently during available time, and DeVine took another two or three weeks to perform the detailed finish painting. Overall, the project took about five or six weeks.

A next round of creative additions is in the works for another building owner. Curtis said that owner will be revealed at a future date. When asked who that owner might be, Curtis only said, “Lisa’s booked up this summer.” Watershed Voice will provide coverage of those improvements when they occur.

Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.