Your Art Here is pleased to announce the hanging of a new billboard at N. 6th and Walnut Avenue in Bloomington, IN. The billboard, which celebrates spring with a buoyant display of flowers, will be on display through the summer.

The billboard’s design was put together by Pinnacle School art teacher Josh Hoering with his K-12 art students over the 2012-13 school year. From November of 2012 to February 2013, Pinnacle elementary and middle school art students created the compositions, working from photographs or from the imagination, starting with pencil sketches which were then filled in with paint; while Pinnacle high school students contributed the Hello Spring lettering, took photographs of the resultant drawings and then helped compose the final billboard layout using InDesign software.

Hello Spring is the product of a curriculum devised by Hoering which introduced students to the work of famous artists’ depictions of nature—flowers in particular—through art history. By studying the different approaches artists have taken to represent nature—from Georgia O’Keeffe’s lusciously abstracted large-scale flowers, to Vincent Van Gogh’s expressive sunflowers, to Andy Warhol’s flat and bold graphic style—Pinnacle students were encouraged to experiment with their own unique styles in portraying the chosen subject, ranging from more literal depictions, to art historical homages, to completely abstract compositions. The process was inspiring and enjoyable for all; Hoering recalls that “the students wanted to keep working on their flowers, and they wanted to make more.”

What is remarkable to see in the final design of the billboard is the stunning variety and range of flower paintings that were produced: some incorporated other wildlife in their compositions, such as butterflies, bees and spiders; some students chose the simplest of designs comprising a single flower against a stark background; some chose to work with a minimum of colors, others with an extensive palette; some worked with great detail and realism, while others chose a more expressionistic route. During these lush spring and summer months the billboard will offer Bloomington audiences a celebration of the season, a testament not only to the diversity of nature, but to the many forms of creativity that draw inspiration from our environment.

This billboard is dedicated to the memory of Sophia Travis, Your Art Here treasurer and great supporter of the arts and the community in Bloomington. In her years of service to Your Art Here, Sophia’s favorite billboard projects always included collaboration with the Bloomington community and grade school students, such as the Billboard Generation projects, so we feel this billboard is a fitting tribute to Sophia. We are honored to present this billboard to honor Sophia’s memory and her steadfast support of Your Art Here and the arts in Bloomington.

Your Art Here is pleased to announce the hanging of a new artist billboard located at N. 6th St and Walnut Avenue in Bloomington, IN. The billboard will be on display for the fall semester.

The billboard, designed by Boston-based illustrator Christopher Serra, pictures a map of the United States sectioned into a series of numbered columns and bands of color–representing a stylized version of a DNA autoradiograph. Presented in a public space usually reserved for advertising, this image will undoubtedly stir up questions in the viewer, but not ones that are easily resolved: What does it mean for the US to be represented as a DNA map? What constitutes the DNA–the cultural, ethnic, political make-up–of the US? For viewers who are unfamiliar with visual representations of DNA analysis, it may lead to other questions: Why would the US be divided into neat numbered rows? What could the colors signify? During the upcoming fall election season, these questions could potentially become more loaded, and viewers might respond to the image differently according to their political orientation. It is not the intent of this billboard to provide answers, solutions or clear-cut messages, but rather to provoke–via an ambiguous incorporation of geography and genome–questions and introspections.

Christopher Serra grew up in the Boston area. He is a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art. Some of his clients include: The New York Times, Harper’s, The L.A. Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, The Progressive and The Nation. His work was included in The Society of Illustrators 48th Annual Show.

Your Art Here is an Indiana-based non-profit public art organization created to provide local communities with an opportunity to engage in visual, public dialogue through the use of billboards and other public spaces. Our mission is to extend visual expression beyond traditional museum and gallery spaces in order to create a public venue where art and ideas can be expressed freely.