2023 Art by Bus!

After a pandemic hiatus, Ride Solutions, the City of Roanoke Arts Commission, and the Greater Roanoke Transit Authority are once again partnering to present a unique suite of public art projects celebrating the role of transit and artists in our community. Check out our September events and Join us to celebrate Art By Bus

WRITER BY BUS Eva Lynch-Comer reading at Book No Further in partnership with Latinas Network

Thursday, September 21, 6:30 PM, 112 Market St. SE

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at Book No Further with Latinas Network and poet Eva Lynch-Comer. Eva will rean from Sonder, her chapbook of poetry created for Roanoke Arts Commission. The cover of the Chapbook is from WE ARE ART, the Roanoke Self Portrait Project, and is a detail of Let your Mind Be Creative, by J.C. Stallings

Art By Bus Celebration

Wednesday, September 27, 10:30 AM, Third Street Transit Station

RIDE Solutions will hold a joint press conference with Valley Metro and the City of Roanoke’s Arts Commission to commemorate the 6th Annual Art by Bus Campaign. Organizers will reveal the work of art selected from the City’s art collection and installed on a Valley Metro bus, and Eva Lynch Comer, the 2023 Writer by Bus recipient, will be introduced. The limited edition 2023 – Writer By Bus Chapbook – Sonder by Eva Lynch Comer will be available for the public.

Writer by Bus Q&A with Eva on the Bus

Following the press conference attendants can choose to take a bus ride accompanied by Eva Lynch to talk about her experience and inspiration. The Bus ride will take place from 11 AM to 12 PM.

WRITER BY BUS Project Goals:
• Draw attention to the important role public transportation plays in connecting our neighborhoods and communities,
• Reflect on the role of transit in creating a just, healthy, and welcoming community that works for all residents,
• Encourage transit ridership and celebrate riders,
• Share the work of artists and the arts in making Roanoke a better place, and
• Encourage riders, residents, and Roanoke visitors to explore and participate in the community around them.

Applications for 2023 Writer By Bus are closed. A Roanoke Arts Commission panel selected Eva Lynch as the 2023 Writer by Bus Artist, see a profile of the artist here.

Application for 2024 Writer By Bus will be announced soon!
Timeline:
February 28, 2023, midnight: Applications due
March 18, 2023 Selected writer notified
April 1, 2023 Project onset
June 30. 2023 Deliverables finalized and submitted by author
September 2023 Transit Month celebrations and public reading

Putting Art on the Bus, and Bringing it to our Community

Check out the Visual Arts, Music, and Literature sections of the Art by Bus pages to learn more about each part of the program. And be sure to follow our Writer by Bus on Facebook to participate in creative writing programs, collaborative writing projects, and more.

Why Art by Bus?

Public transportation is one of the few features of our region that touches every part of a community. Buses travel through every neighborhood; get people from home, to work, to the doctor, to the grocery store; they serve every age, every race, ever income level. A bus trip will take you through parts of your community you may have never seen before, and introduce you to people you never would have the opportunity to meet.

By putting art on the buses, we want to remind people that taking public transportation is making a choice about how you spend your time. You can fight with traffic, or you can close your eyes and listen to music. You can spend money on gas, or you can pay your fare and enjoy a book. Public transportation is an opportunity to have experiences, not just an alternative way to commute.

Plus, it’s a way to bring art into all of our neighborhoods, for people who may not otherwise have a chance to experience all the culture the region has to offer.

Visual Arts

Working with the City of Roanoke’s Arts Commission, we selected different pieces from the City’s collection to reproduce on the exterior of four Valley Metro buses and to be featured as covers of the annual chapbooks.

“Let Your Mind Be Creative” by J.C. Stallings

“Wishes” by JM Lamb

JM Lamb was born and raised in Mississippi but her mother was from New York City, so her sister and her grew up “vacationing” in the Bronx in the 1980’s and 90’s. She moved back to the area in 2014, having completed nearly a decade of working as a field camp carpenter for the U.S. Antarctic Program. She spent the majority of the past two decades working as a construction carpenter and painter and when she returned to VA she wanted to change her career path. A friend told her about the Horizon Program at Hollins. Mandy believes that Hollins is the greatest thing she ever did for herself because of the amazing people that make up the Hollins community and the superhuman-women who are the Horizon Program. She is really grateful for my Hollins experience and the relationships formed with my professors and fellow students alike.

JM Lamb’s intention with this project was to create an image that invokes memories and feelings that instill joy, transcending age, race and cultural differences, as well as socio-economic class in-equalities. In short, something for everyone. Initially when most of us think of dandelion seed “puffs,” we can mentally scroll back to childhood and the hours spent stalking the yard for an intact “puff” to blow into the wind. So simple and satisfying was this playful task, the thought of it produces a smile on most of our faces.

“Lipes” By Ann Glover

Ann Glover, a Roanoke native, has made monumental sculpture for the Port of San Diego, “Urban Trees,” the City of Roanoke “Trojan Dog,” and the Taubman Museum atrium “Myth.” Her paintings have been in exhibitions throughout the US., including UCLA, The Taubman Museum and the Pauley Center of the Virginia Museum, where she received a Professional Fellowship in painting. She served as an adjunct professor of art at Hollins University for ten years.

“Path Through The Dunes” By Peyton Kline

Peyton Klein began her study of art in the 50’s under the tutelage of Jim Yeatts. She became a prolific painter and began teaching herself. She served as the art critic for the Roanoke Times for many years, taught at Virginia Western Community College and the Roanoke Fine Arts Center. Peyton was one of the co-founders of the Studio School and co-founder of Salem’s Art in the Alley. She passed on in May of 2005.

Writing

Music