A Hidden Valley teen is bringing the desertscape from her backyard to one of Maricopa’s intersections. 

On Wednesday, Anisa Burke, 18, began cleaning and outlining her plans for her traffic box, located on West Smith Enke and North Porter Roads. Named “Friends of the Sonoran Desert,” the art piece has a similar look to her backyard. 

Burke, a Hidden Valley resident, lives in a home near the base of the Table Top Mountains. She is a Maricopa-area resident of 11 years and recently graduated from Maricopa High School with the class of 2023. 

The local teen had continued to outline her plans on the traffic-box with Sharpie on Thursday. She had drawn outlines of a jackrabbit, quail, scorpion, rattlesnake, and plenty of Saguaro cacti.  

This is the second art project Burke has worked on for the city. She painted “Desert Freedom”, the wild horse on the corner of West Edison Road and North John Wayne Parkway. 

Related: “Desert Freedom” placed as tenth wild horse, more on way – InMaricopa 

Burke’s work is part of a public art initiative commissioned by the city. Artists began installing their work on 11 otherwise drab traffic signal control boxes. The installations will continue throughout June. 

Previous: Recent public art initiative a ‘dream come true’ for local artists – InMaricopa 

View a photo gallery from InMaricopa’s Brian Petersheim Jr. and Bryan Mordt.

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