Category: Arts in Transit

When Theresa Hopkins attended a Metro Arts In Transit bus painting event in Pagedale this fall, she didn’t realize her visit would lead to something much bigger for her and two of her art students.

Hopkins, an art teacher at Jefferson Elementary in the Normandy School District, helped plan the Normandy Arts Festival with Beyond Housing on October 20. It was at this event where a new opportunity started to take on some color.

“I was researching more about the bus painting program when I learned about the MetroScapes competition,” she said. “I learned that the competition was open to all ages, so I went through about 150 of my archives from my art club, choose 12 art pieces that I felt would be good for public art and two artists were selected.”

Those two young artists were Eliyah Grimes-Jackson, 9, and Tyler Carlis, 10.

“I’m already proud of them,” Hopkins said. “For them to win something this huge – an adult competition – to me that’s what’s going to hook them for life.”

For Tyler, she’s already hooked to the world of art, specifically painting. Her winning piece, Maya Angelou, showcases the American poet with a variety of colorful shapes and textures in the background.

“I did it all by myself,” she said. “It was hard to do.”

Fourth-grader Eliyah’s winning art piece – which she actually painted in second grade – delectably reveals a subject everyone can get behind: cakes.

“One day while we were in art club, our art teacher told us to find something in a book to draw on paper and then we were going to paint it,” she said. “I chose to look in this art book and saw cakes, and I was like ‘Ooo, I should do this because almost everybody in the world likes cakes.'”

Even at a young age, Eliyah understood the power of art beyond the canvas. She knows art can bring a certain sprinkle to someone’s day.

“It inspires people” she said. “People may come home from work and they’re frustrated. That’s a good time to calm down and draw or paint.”

Hopkins started the art academy about four years ago at Jefferson Elementary, and since then, it has grown to include about 70 young artists. Demand for her organization has gotten so high that entry to the academy is by invite only.

To celebrate the two winning submissions, Hopkins is already thinking of ways to inspire all of her young artists.

“I want that hunger to never let go,” she said. “We’re talking about doing a bus tour so that we can see their artwork around town.”

Metro Arts in Transit selected 10 local artists for the 2018 MetroScapes program. Now in its fourth year, MetroScapes is a public transit art program that showcases local art at Metro transit locations. The program is supported by funding from the Regional Arts Commission.

The Ferguson Farmers Market is a staple in the community and has become the event to access fresh food and wholesome fun for residents and guests alike. However, on August 14, 2014 – a week after the death of Michael Brown – the future of the market and its art programs were uncertain.

Art Therapist Dana Sebastian-Duncan of the Queen of Peace Center and co-founder/board member of the Northern Arts Council, had an idea to welcome fellow artists, visitors and everyone in the neighborhood back to the Ferguson Farmers Market by providing a creative outlet for the entire community to share their thoughts and feelings. She’d rely on the power of art.

“I gathered materials on-hand, including ribbon, Sharpies, and clipboards and created a simple directive,” she said. “Ribbons of Hope for Ferguson asked people to write or draw on ribbons to express their vision of hope, their dreams, wishes or prayers for the future of Ferguson.”

The art project would soon grow to include all sorts of expressions, gaining momentum and growing into a grassroots movement. As news about the project spread, Missouri Art Therapists and groups in other communities, including some as far away as Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida and New York, created ribbons and sent them to Ferguson, expressing their support for the community.

“It became a collaborative community arts project, inviting the people of Ferguson and beyond to look toward the future in a creative project and process,” she said. “It also provided a ‘safe place’ for people to reflect, connect, commune and exchange dialogue.”

One of the ribbons Sebastian-Duncan remembers was one of the first written for the project.

“The first message one teen wrote was, ‘I hope my community can just get along again’,” she said. “That simple message had an impact on me. It elicited authentic and meaningful conversation, and definitely inspired me to keep the project going.”

A sampling of the Ribbons of Hope for Ferguson art project is now on display at the North County Transit Center.

“I hope riders will experience the art, read the messages and perhaps reflect on their own hopes, wishes, prayers and dreams of a better future, as we move forward, and come together as a community,” Sebastian-Duncan said.

Metro Arts in Transit is offering local visual artists an opportunity to display their works across the St. Louis region and to get paid for their creations.

Artists who reside within 50 miles of St. Louis are invited to enter their original work for 2018 MetroScapes, a public transit art program that showcases local art at Metro transit locations. Ten different artworks will be reproduced as large-scale posters that will be displayed at more than 200 MetroBus shelters throughout the St. Louis region.

“MetroScapes provides local artists with a tremendous opportunity to have their work recognized, rewarded and shared with the community,” said David Allen, Director of Metro Arts in Transit. “St. Louis has an amazing art scene, and I am excited that we will be able to help incredibly talented and passionate local artists reach new audiences.”

Artwork selected for the 2018 MetroScapes program will also be reproduced as smaller, limited-edition posters available for purchase by the public. Each artist will receive three copies of the limited-edition poster and $1,000 for the use of their original image in the MetroScapes program.

Local artists may submit up to three images for consideration. All entries must be submitted online. Submitted images must be high-resolution with a minimum 300 dpi. The deadline for submissions is Friday, September 21, 2018, at 11:59 p.m.

A reception for the artists whose works were selected for the 2018 MetroScapes program will be held on Friday, November 16, at Third Degree Glass Factory, 5200 Delmar Boulevard.

Last year, 10 artworks were selected from a field of nearly 150 submissions, and the works are featured at Metro transit locations throughout the area. View the work of last year’s selected artists and learn more about the MetroScapes program.

Metro Arts in Transit has been notified it will receive a total of more than $20,000 from two funding sources — the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis and the Missouri Arts Council — to fund public art programs that support local artists, enhance the public transit experience, and add beauty and art to the neighborhoods served by the Metro Transit system.

Metro Arts in Transit was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from the Regional Arts Commission and a $10,117 grant from the Missouri Arts Council. Both organizations work to broaden the growth, availability and appreciation of the arts, and these funds will be used to support three transit-oriented community art programs: MetroScapes, MetroLines and Art in Motion.  

MetroScapes is an annual public art program that reproduces the original work of local artists on large posters and features them at more than 200 MetroBus shelters and Metro Transit locations throughout the St. Louis region for a year.

MetroLines is a regional poetry competition that invites writers and local poets to submit their works for consideration to be reproduced on posters including visual imagery, and displayed on MetroLink trains and MetroBus vehicles as they travel throughout the bi-state area.

Art in Motion is an art program that allows the public to transform Metro buses into rolling works of art. Children, families and others are invited to paint specially designed murals on each side of the art bus, and the murals stay on display for one year as it travels along various routes throughout the St. Louis region.

“The Regional Arts Commission and Missouri Arts Council have been tremendous partners over the years,” said David Allen, Director of Metro Arts in Transit. “Their support and generous contributions will strengthen our public art programs and ensure we are able to celebrate and highlight art that can be enjoyed by our riders and all of the communities Metro serves.”