Untitled 54 Art Blog

Outpost For Contemporary Art April's T-shirt revival night Kelly will screening the "sharrow" sign on your favorite tee or perhaps hoodie. As a member of the Los Angeles bicycle community Kelly is dedicated to an open dialogue between rider and driver. For those of you unfamiliar the sharrow it is a pilot project done by La dot (department of transportation) where the "sharrow" a stencil with a bicycle and two chevrons above it was painted on our streets. Usually done on a road with no designated bike lane but with a shoulder, indicating to drivers to "share the road" with cycles.

Artist Statement: As a driver in Los Angeles I didn't even realize what this sign was until I started riding the streets. I think we need a more open communication between driver and rider. As a bike rider in LA I think the sharrow has been a wonderful tool in the campaign for making our roads safe for riders. I have personally noticed that the more drivers realize what the sharrow is and where they are posted that the cars do "share". I see this as a positive change and an important one. Bicycle safety is what I'm personally most care about. As an alternative choice for the T-shirt silk screen I am also designing a more abstract original bike themed image to print. Should be interesting as I've never silk screened before. Oh dear.

We have also teamed with David Matsu at the Bike Oven in Cypress Park on the "spoke card". Please feel free to pick one up at Outpost or Bike Oven. On the back is a copy of the "Cyclists Bill of Rights". These rights are definitely food for thought and a great place to start an open dialogue. http://bikeoven.com/

Labels: David Matsu, Julie Deamer, Kelly Thompson, NELA, nela arts, Outpost For Contemporary Art, Spoken Art;s Ride, The Bike Kitchen, The Bike Oven

April 9, 2011
Outpost For Contemporary Art


Hello Art Friends and Bike Riders,

I'm excited to be invited by the Outpost for Contemporary Art as the artist for there monthly tee-shirt project on April 9th. For those of you not familiar with the project, an artist is chosen to silk screen 2 images of there choice onto your tee-shirt. You pay $6.00 to have the image silk screened by the artist.

The subject we've chosen for my April tee-shirt project is going to be "bike safety" I've just started doing research and am getting some great input. It seems as if the sharrow is the number one street sign/image suggested. I remember smiling every time I would see the guerrilla wheat paste posters up around town. I don't want to re invent the wheel so to speak but to build on what's already out there. I have two images to do one is going to be the "sharrow". The other one is an original design I'm working on. Another suggestion was to "screen the image onto patches". I love this idea and will have patches with safety pins for purchase as well.

If you are interested in participating in this project all you have to do is stop in an get a screen on your own tee shirt.

We are teaming up with Dave Matsu and the Bike Oven in making spoke cards for the event. Also planned is a small book for the project. I'm happy to say Susan Weber local photographer has started it off by taking a few pictures for the book. Kicking it off with the bikers of the Spoken Art Ride through Flying Pigeon and Bike Oven.

I look forward to working on this project and hope you can stop in.

Labels: Outpost For Contemporary Art, The Bike Oven, The Flying Pigeon