Launched last spring and expanded in autumn to Downtown, the Milwaukee County Transit System's Bus Shelter Art Project has brought color and life to bus shelters in Bay View, Downtown, Riverwest, Walker’s Point and South Milwaukee.
Now, MCTS and The Bus Art Project MKE are seeking submissions for artwork for eight future installations around Milwaukee County.
Of course, this call for art comes with some very specific requirements.
Remember first off, that because the art is outside, it must be able to withstand the elements and, sadly, it could be vandalized or stolen.
"Any permanent damage to the artwork may result in the removal of the artwork," notes the call. "As these are meant to be temporary installations, we cannot guarantee that a replacement will be installed."
The designs must fit within the size of the bus shelter window panels (diagrams can be found here and here. Remember that your works will be interrupted by 2-inch metal bars between the panels. A clever artist might even include those in the design.
"he artwork must be appropriate for public viewing; anything deemed inappropriate will be disqualified," the call notes. "This call is open to all Milwaukee County residents. Artists retains all copyrights to submitted images and represented artwork. By entering artwork to the submission, artists grant The Bus Art Project MKE and MCTS rights to use the selected design(s) on promotional materials including print and digital. The Bus Art Project MKE and MCTS retain no copyrights or usage rights outside of promoting the artists, their work, and the program."
You can submit your designs through March 31, by emailing them to thebusartprojectmke@gmail.com. Eight new designs will be selected for sites around the county.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
