Artists to redefine art with competition

When art takes to the skies, the birds are not the only ones that notice. If they were, then a woman driving by wouldn't pull over suddenly because she was so affected by the artwork. If they were, then a flood of artwork from all over the state wouldn't be pouring into Bloomington right now. And if the birds truly were the only ones that noticed, then a deluge of positive comments never would have reached the ears of the four founders of Your Art Here, letting them know that their point had been made. \nYour Art Here, founded by recent IU graduates Owen Mundy, Alyssa Hill, Shana Berger and Nathan Purath, is the organization responsible for taking art to these new heights. In accordance with YAH's vision of taking art to new places, the winners of their current art competition will have their artwork displayed on billboards -- high enough for birds, cars and everyone else to see and appreciate.\nThe billboard art competition, officially titled Flatland: Billboards in the Crossroads of America, culminates July 1. After this date, at least four to five Indiana artists from all over the state will have their work magnified to the range of about 11 feet by 22 feet and displayed on billboards that will appear in September in Bloomington, Indianapolis and in the School of Fine Arts Gallery on the IU campus.\nBut simply placing art high on billboards is not the true mission of YAH.\nInstead, the four founders said they have a vision of utilizing space that could be used for art everywhere -- from billboards, to T-shirts and even "java jackets," those little cardboard rings that protect your fingers from the searing coffee inside your cup.\nBy reclaiming these spaces usually used for advertising purposes, the founders of YAH said they hope to provide access for artists to public places where anyone can express their ideas, or where anyone can "be the media," as their credo says. \n"Billboards are the most visually powerful, two-dimensional space you see out there," said Owen Mundy, one of the founders of YAH. "We want to use them to let art take its role back as a social commentator." \nSocial commentary, strong visuals and virtually anything that could inspire conversations within the community are the sort of pieces that Mundy said he and the other members of YAH aim to display in the Flatland competition. \n"We're looking for something interesting and striking, and something that ordinary people can have a dialogue with," said Dana Sperry, associate director of the SoFA Gallery and one of the judges of the Flatland contest. "The art has to work on a billboard, so visually it can't be too subtle." \nSome of Sperry's artwork, a piece entitled "Making My Neighborhood Luckier, One Penny at a Time," was one of the two winners of the first billboard competition that YAH sponsored. As a result of his involvement in the contest, the SoFA Gallery became involved with Flatland. This September, when the winners of Flatland are unveiled on billboards, two of them will be presented, billboard-style, in the largest room of the SoFA Gallery. The winners then will become a part of a series of five shows featured there, all united under the theme "Of the Everyday." \nThough the indoor billboards might not stop cars, Berger, another of YAH's founders, said she hopes that the winners' art displayed in the SoFA Gallery might form interesting relationships with the other pieces on display there. Sperry also shares her vision, and said she believes that the relaxed guidelines for the images that will be displayed could lead to a huge survey of artistic work dealing with everyday life, pop culture and the media. \n"The theme is really just responding to things around you, and it's kind of vague," Sperry said. "All of the artwork should be pretty far apart." \nHowever, the united hope between the members of YAH and the SoFA Gallery is simply to get the word out that art can and should be everywhere, as well as to attract people to make a note to see and respond to the artwork on display. \nAdditionally, all of the members of YAH are looking to future projects. YAH will sponsor a T-shirt contest in the fall, where the winners will have their artwork printed on shirts, and Berger also has working ideas about putting art on billboards that artistically address reactions to the controversial building of Interstate 69 through Bloomington and other cities and states affected. \nBut the most important visualization that YAH has for the future is just to encourage artists of all mediums to express themselves publicly, right out under the sky if they choose to do so. \n"Whether you're a performance artist, activist, artist or anything else, anybody can put art anywhere," Mundy said. "We just want to encourage people to take action, and get out there"