Charlottesville, VA – Tom Tom Founders Festival, Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT), and JAUNT have opened the public voting process for finalists of the City Art Bus Competition. The 2018 Art Buses will transform a 35’ clean diesel CAT bus and a 28’ JAUNT bus into moving murals that will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people.
Public voting opens today and closes Friday, December 15th at 11:59pm. The winner will be chosen from among the 10 designs by combining the results of the public vote, votes from both CAT and JAUNT Bus Drivers, and a juried panel. All the designs will be featured in a public art installation this spring as part of the Tom Tom Founders Festival in CAT bus shelters throughout the city.
More details and the public voting form are available at: tomtomfest.com
2018 Finalists:
Sarah Ashmun Vintage Planes. Ashmun is a synthetic artist and graphic designer from Charlottesville, VA who is inspired by rhythms and patterns found in nature.
Christy Baker Bees. Baker is a muralist and creative director of Pigment, the creative division of Piedmont Paint and Finish.
Michael Beaman Beta-field. Beaman is an Assistant Professor in Architecture at UVA and founding principal of Beta-Field, a multimodal research and design practice.
Amy Chan: Microbiology. Chan is an Assistant Professor at UVA and teaches drawing. She has exhibited widely in galleries including Pierogi 2000, Wave Hill, and the Washington Project for the Arts.
Sam Gray Nature. Gray is a freelance graphic designer and artist who was recently an Incubator Artist at the McGuffey Art Center.
Lou Haney Fruit. Haney is a painter from Decatur, Alabama who has exhibited work across the United States and is currently living in Charlottesville.
Anthony Meloro: Geometry. Meloro is a freelance comic artist, drawing instructor, and academic advisor for freshmen art students at VCU.
Andrew Stronge Outer Space. Stronge is a commercial artist, graphic illustrator, and owner of Stronge Designs.
Guillermo Ubilla Paper Cranes. Ubilla is a digital artist and photographer who combines digital and traditional art making techniques to create real and surreal storytelling images.
Suzanne Vinson Painted Marks. Vinson is an artist and facilitator of the healing arts guided by meditation, visualization and mindful creative practice.
Sarah Ashmun - Vintage Planes
Christy Baker - Bees
Michael Beaman - Beta-Field
Amy Chan - Microbiology
Sam Gray - Nature
Lou Haney - Fruit
Anthony Meloro - Geometry
Andrew Stronge - OuterSpace
Guillermo Ubilla - Paper Cranes
Suzanne Vinson - Painted Marks
The competition invited artists throughout Virginia to participate in Tom Tom Founders Festival ‘City as Canvas’ initiative, which transforms public spaces through murals, public performance, art installations, and innovative collaborations with local organizations during the Tom Tom Founders Festival, which will occur again April 9-15, 2018.
“One of Tom Tom’s most popular public art projects is the City Art Bus,” said Festival Director Paul Beyer. “ In the spirit of the festival, we crowd-source designs, and then offer the public an opportunity to engage with the artwork and vote on their favorites. The project also couldn’t be done without the tremendous community spirit of our partners, CAT and JAUNT, who embrace the project as a wonderful addition to the public transit experience.”
“The Art Bus initiative has been a great project that not only brings smiles to the faces of our passengers but helps furnish a medium for artists to showcase their work,” said CAT’s Marketing Coordinator, Westley Kern. “Over the years, we’ve been able to create something our community can truly be proud of. I can’t wait to see what the public selects for the next design!”
“JAUNT has always thought of itself as the community’s canvas,” said PR and Marketing Director Brian Cohen. “For over 40 years, we’ve displayed our area’s diversity in terms of our ridership. Now we get to exhibit that as locally created art while we travel through a collage of neighborhoods.” JAUNT makes over 300,000 trips annually in Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Louisa, and Nelson Counties, as well as Charlottesville.
The inaugural Art Bus was completed in 2015 by prolific Richmond muralist Mickael Broth. The 2017 Art Bus, which can still be seen driving on various CAT routes today, was designed by Paul Hostetler.
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ABOUT THE TOM TOM FOUNDATION AND THE FOUNDERS FESTIVAL
The Tom Tom Foundation is a nonprofit organization that celebrates entrepreneurship, culture, and innovation in small cities. Tom Tom’s signature event is a weeklong festival that takes place in Charlottesville, Virginia, each April in conjunction with Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. This cross discipline, multi-venue experience transforms the historic downtown and empowers entrepreneurs, innovators, and civic leaders who are defining the future. Since its inception in 2012, the Foundation’s Spring and Fall programming has showcased over 740 speakers and 330 bands to 186,000 program attendees, and has channeled $2.9 million to new ventures and projects. Learn more: www.tomtomfest.com.
ABOUT CHARLOTTESVILLE AREA TRANSIT
Charlottesville Area Transit provides bus service to the greater Charlottesville area. Riders enjoy safe, clean, and comfortable service Monday through Sunday. Most routes operate out of the Downtown Transit Station at 615 East Water Street. In addition to fixed-route service, CAT offers a free Trolley connecting downtown to the University of Virginia. Last fiscal year, CAT provided over 2.3 million passenger trips.
ABOUT JAUNT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
Whether you’re traveling to work, to shop, to the doctor’s office, or just to catch a movie, JAUNT has a route that can help you get around. Our staff of friendly people and 80-vehicle fleet provide public transportation for everyone throughout Albemarle, Fluvanna, Louisa, Nelson and Buckingham Counties, as well as Charlottesville.
SPONSORS
The Tom Tom Founders Festival is presented by the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, American Evolution, the Quantitative Foundation, and the i.Lab at UVA. It is also generously underwritten by a number of leading organizations, including the University of Virginia, Ting, C-Ville Weekly, New Belgium Brewing Company, Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, City of Charlottesville, UVA’s Galant Center for Entrepreneurship at the McIntire School of Commerce, UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, UVA’s Curry School of Education, and the Virginia Tourism Corporation.
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