Take a ‘Detour’

Palisadian Artist Elsie Dye Sims Aims to Shift Community Toward Healing Through “Detour Cones” Traveling Public Exhibit

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Their bright orange hue is designed to draw attention—but Palisadian artist Elsie Dye Sims took it one step further, painting traffic safety cones to inspire balance and joy during challenging times, while raising funds to support the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The El Medio Bluffs resident of 20 years explained that during the height of COVID-19, “flare orange” seemed to be everywhere she looked.

“After driving down PCH one day, I joked to my husband, Todd, that we should have gone into the orange cone business,” Sims shared. “Who knew that joke would become an actual reality?”

She noticed that cones were blocking parking on Pacific Coast Highway from the Palisades, where they began their journey, through Ventura and beyond. That prompted her to begin collecting and painting them, repurposing discarded cones entirely to be put on display as a traveling public art exhibit.

“When I looked to balance my alertness to the things that brought me joy, and still bring me joy to this day, I found the detour cones the perfect metaphorical canvas,” Sims explained. “They have helped me redirect my mindset from one of survival and safety to one balanced with more joy. My hope is that they can do the same for others.”

Sims shared that she has found cones “littered all over Los Angeles,” including wedged in gutters, half buried in hillsides along PCH and run over along road sides.

“Friends have also offered me their old, out-of-service cones, and some beach officials have donated me their old tattered cones too,” Sims explained. “With a little pressure washing and a scrub brush, they become canvases, ready to be put back to use.”

To date, she has crafted more than 60 reclaimed and painted cones, as well as about 25 monoprints she includes within this body of work.

Another facet of the project is supporting NAMI through a portion of funds through the sale of the cones, with Sims noting that COVID-19 put a special kind of stress on communal mental health.

“NAMI was the obvious choice to support due to its extensive local and countrywide workshops, community outreach, education, and resources for the most comprehensive variety of mental health issues,” Sims shared.

NAMI, which was founded as a small group of families gathered around a kitchen table in 1979, has expanded into the “nation’s leading voice on mental health,” according to the program’s website, offering an alliance of more than 600 affiliates, including NAMI Westside, and 49 state organizations that work within communities to raise awareness while providing support and education to those in need.

When asked how long it takes to craft a cone, Sims said it has taken her 50 years to have the mindset and skills that go into making each one.

“The stencils, their composition, the significance of color and subject matter all culminate in the physical crafting of the cone in more or less one day,” Sims added, “but to say it only takes a day to make a cone is not a good representation of my time spent in the creative process and the skills that have come over many years.”

The exhibit has been on display at a multitude of locations across the Westside, including the Venice Canals, South Boardwalk at the Santa Monica Pier and Annenberg Community Beach House Boardwalk.

“I have shown the ‘DETOUR’ project here in Pacific Palisades on the Via De La Paz Bluffs and on the El Medio Bluffs,” she explained. “I will be taking the cones to Golden Gate State Park in San Francisco at the end of the summer and to New York in the fall. After that, I hope they will find homes with individuals as well as within health care healing arts programs around the country.”

Sims graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in fine arts from Colorado College. While in college, she worked as an artist for a Denver-based architectural company.

“I also spent time traveling throughout Spain and lived in San Sebastián, where I continued my artistic education at Universidad del Pais Basco,” Sims said. “I began my full-time career as an artist in Seattle in 1996.”

There, Sims primarily focused on woodcuts and themes of nature. She continued to show her work in Los Angeles at TAG Gallery on Wilshire Boulevard.

“Before long, four children diverted my time spent creating artwork,” Sims shared. “Life filled with activities familiar to many Palisadians—school, buying lots of groceries, AYSO, sports tournaments, music performances, volunteering, running up and down the sidewalks, etc. Now, with mostly adult children, my years of stored up ideas and creativity keep me awake at night with excitement for the next day’s work at my studio.”

Sims works in many mediums, including printmaking, acrylics, oils, collage, spray paint and drawing.

She said that the response she has received from people about DETOUR has been incredibly positive and has sparked some interesting conversations.

“People have shared personal stories about their experiences and changes in direction due to COVID, both in their mindset and, oftentimes, in their personal lives and careers,” she said. “I have been happily surprised to see the joy children find in the cones. Even with four of my own children, I never considered that artwork is generally not at their eye level and that cones are.”

Sims shared one story told to her by a National Guard officer, that she described as “extremely touching.” The officer was called to duty and had to leave her corporate job to facilitate one of the largest COVID-19 vaccination sites in LA.

“She put out thousands of cones to direct traffic,” Sims explained. “When the site closed, she was devastated to find her job not there to return to, so she finished her teaching credential and took her life in a whole new direction as a teacher, and now she finds life so much more fulfilling. Needless to say, I gifted her one of my cones, covered in butterflies, as a symbol of the beauty and hope that can come out of a change in direction and thanked her for her service.”

Whether at home in the Palisades or across the country on the East Coast, Sims shared that she hopes a shift toward healing is prompted by the traveling cones.

“For many like myself who face the challenges of mental health, these cones are a shift toward healing,” Sims said. “This artistic expression has helped me redirect my attention and move forward, more grateful, mindful and alert to where I find joy. I am hoping they are a light to others in the same way.”

For more information or to purchase a cone, visit detourcones.com.