Pedal Posters
“Velo Tucson” by Matt McCoy
Twenty-five local artists will showcase their bike-inspired prints at this year’s Velociprints Show on Saturday, November 10th at Borderlands Brewery. The prints on display will all be limited edition runs of bike-inspired art that were created exclusively for Velociprints. The artists will be on hand to discuss their work and join in on the bicycled centered festivities.
“Velociprints is really a very simple concept: we asked about 25 artists to express their love of the bicycle in a piece of art and gave them no more restrictions or prompting than that,” says Velociprints founder and Borealis Art Studio owner Nathan Saxton. “The only condition is that the resulting piece of art had to be a print in an edition of 25, and every print would sell for $40. So bottom line is on opening night, there will be about 25 different print designs all celebrating the bicycle, created exclusively for this show.”
The event made its debut in November of 2011 and was met with immediate success, as over 2,000 attendees visited the three locations where it was held to view and purchase the artwork. This year the organizers are expecting even larger crowds. To help orchestrate the event, Saxton has paired with the local organization BICAS (Bicycle Inter-community Art & Salvage) who puts on an annual bike art auction (see page 10.)
“Last year was wonderful and it was an overwhelming success,” says BICAS art coordinator Casey Wollschlaeger. “The whole place was packed, there was art everywhere, the walls were lined with exhibitions of beautiful prints and all of the artists were there so it’s a great way to meet the artists. People love sampling the drinks, networking and sharing their combined love of cycling and art.”
A portion of the sales will be donated to BICAS as well as El Grupo Youth Cycling and the rest will go back to the artists who participated. This year the event is bringing a variety of new merchandise and art that will be available to those who attend.
“We’ve also created a small line of exclusive pint glasses, water bottles, and tee shirts that will be available on opening night,” says Saxton. “In addition to the print art, there will be a few works that are premium for serious art collectors. There will be the ArtHeadz, which are helmets painted or sculpted by some of Tucson’s established artists. There will also be one large original painting, created in honor of Gary Fisher’s October visit to Tucson, signed by Mr. Fisher.”
While this event is perfectly tailored for Tucson, with our extremely strong cycling and art scenes, it was initially inspired by a trip to Minneapolis that Saxton took where he observed a similar event that merged his two passions.
“All good art is inspired by something, and I was inspired by a similar art event called ARTCRANK that started in Minneapolis about 8 years ago,” says Saxton. “The moment we walked in the door, we knew Tucson would love an event like this. Our original intent was to bring ARTCRANK to Tucson. Logistically, we just couldn’t make it work out. Amazingly, the organizers at ARTCRANK believe so strongly in promoting bikes and art, that they gave us their blessing to follow their model and considerable advice in creating our own event.”
The art show will take place at Borderlands Brewery, which is located at 119 East Toole Avenue and will kick off at 12:00pm and will run until 9:00pm. Local food trucks will be at the event to provide options for dining.
“The main characteristics of the show are simplicity, accessibility and inclusiveness, which just happen to be the things that make the bicycle so special,” says Saxton. “Bicycles are simple machines, available and embraced by all segments of society and they open the doors to greater fitness, mobility, economic growth and pure fun. Prints and poster art are often simply designed, clear in their message and open the doors to starting an art collection.”
For more information visit www.velociprints.com
Category: Arts, DOWNTOWN / UNIVERSITY / 4TH AVE
