RENO — The green shrubs nearly reach out and hug the gold park bench, which serves as a performance seat. Painted red, a piano sits perfectly placed on the green grass in Newlands Circle Park, as it awaits visitors who might find their musical muse and play a tune.

The precisely placed tile pieces that create the mosaic on the piano beautifully augment the view of the Sierra Nevadas and Peavine Peak to the west of the park in Reno.

The piano, which is one of 15 that have been placed within the community, is at the park for the public to play. An idea from Reno City Councilman Dave Aiazzi, called rePIANO, has paired artists with the musical instruments to create a scavenger hunt for the community as part of the Artown celebration.

“What this does is it brings a lot more interactivity,” Aiazzi said. “People are able to play with them.”

Keeping the location of the other 14 pianos a secret, Aiazzi said finding the instruments is half the fun.

“Most of them are in the downtown Reno area, some are going to be a little ways away but not too far away,” Aiazzi said. “I thought that would be sort of fun. I know geocaching is kind of big these days. I thought it would be fun to have people to Twitter and interact and say ‘I found one here.’ ”

Aiazzi explained that the idea for rePIANO came when he read an article about a similar project in London by Luke Jerram.

“I saw they were doing it in London and thought if they were doing it there, we could do it here,” Aiazzi said. “We went to Steinway Galleries in Reno and got the pianos. The two baby grands are in really great shape. The pianos are in operable condition. They are able to be played, which is what I wanted. If they weren’t, it would defeat the purpose.”

After obtaining the pianos, Aiazzi was on the search for artists for decorate the 15 instruments that symbolize the 15 years of Artown’s existence.

“This whole thing has been pretty organic,” Aiazza said about finding artists to participate. “I called one woman who knew an artist who called another artist and I met a couple guys in a coffee shop.”

From that organic process, Aiazza and the artists created installations around Reno each with a different design and concept.

“All the pianos are spectacular,” Aiazza said. “It turned into a bigger job than I thought. I thought people would show up for an hour and that would be it. But it has become a bigger job. Some of them are so nice that I cover some of them up at night if it might get hit by a sprinkler or rain.”

Artist Susan Morris said rePIANO happened at a time when she could focus on the artistry of the piano since she lost her job.

“I spoke with a friend and she told me about the project,” Morris said. “I met up with Dave at the warehouse on Fourth Street where they kept the pianos and he asked me if I wanted to paint one of them.”

Although Morris said she was reluctant at first because of the size of the grand pianos, she knew decorating a grand piano was something she could do and would enjoy the creative process.

“I saw that baby grand first and thought it was so curvaceous and yummy but I wasn’t sure if I had time to paint it,” Morris said. “I decided yeah, I’ll go for it. It took a good, solid two weeks.”

Morris’ vision was to create something that complimented the piano’s curves and the beauty of the outdoor setting.

“I used paint as a base and it’s red but I did use some purples and greens and blues,” Morris said of the base paint. “Then I used tile, glass tile mainly, to create the design. It’s basically a woman on it. It’s a silhouette of a woman’s back but she’s made out of leaves.

“I saw the piano and thought it was a very sensual piano,” Morris added, explaining that’s why she thought of the woman as a design for the mosaic. “I tried to make the woman’s body a piece of nature and all these flowers line the yard behind the grand piano.”

Even though Aiazzi said the community has responded positively to the art installations, two pianos were vandalized during Artown’s opening weekend festivities on July 3 and 4. One piano was at Virginia Lake and the other was at Wingfield Park in Reno.

“It was something I expected, but it wasn’t something I expected the first or second day,” Aiazzi said. “There are far more people having fun than the few that want to ruin it for people.”

“The one at Virginia Lake was vandalized the night it was put out,” Morris said. “I became friends with these people in the space and time I was working with them. So knowing what effort and passion went into making those pianos beautiful, it saddened me.”

Aiazzi said he spoke with the pianos’ artists who have enthusiastically agreed to fix and repaint the instruments.

After Artown, Aiazzi hopes the rePIANO project will live on at other arts and culture festivals.

“We have an application to do the same thing at Black Rock City at Burning Man,” Aiazzi said. “It would be great to take them out there and place them around the playa.”

For people who stumble upon the pianos in Reno, the project is encouraging individuals to take photos and post them to rePIANO’s Facebook page. For more information and to post photos, visit www.facebook.com and search rePIANO.