Art + Transit is calling on local artists to submit design proposals for their Artistic Bus Shelter opportunity as a way to provide everyday engagement with art and the community.
Past artists have decorated Chapel Hill and Carrboro bus shelter windows with designs ranging from abstract murals to iconic Chapel Hill landmarks in a variety of mediums from acrylic paint to adhesive vinyl and screen prints.
“We spend a lot of time looking at our phones, answering emails or doing those sort of things, because there's not much else around,” said Brian Litchfield, director of transit for Chapel Hill. “This provides an opportunity to enliven a space that is typically dull.”
Programs like this are part of Chapel Hill Community Arts and Culture and Chapel Hill Transit’s response to the Town Council’s desire to have more art in public spaces.
“Artistic bus shelters provide access to art in a way that anyone who happens by that space can see it,” Litchfield said. “You don't have to go into a building or access something in order to see this. You can just walk by, run by, drive by or roll by.”
Another important aspect of the opportunity is the effort to give local artists a particular space to share their work and creativity, Litchfield said. In order to apply, the artist proposing the design must live within a 40-mile radius of Chapel Hill.
Sarahlaine Calva is a local artist from Raleigh who brought her self-taught skills in mural design to Chapel Hill bus shelters in last year’s program.
“My piece was raindrops, and that's pretty much my signature design in most of my artwork,” Calva said. “But with this particular project, it was to represent the shelter's purpose and how it's supposed to shield us from different types of weather while at the same time admiring it.”
She said while installing her piece, she was able to engage with the community as they continued to use the bus lines.
