Hello designers of C-U! You are receiving this letter because we heard you enjoy making art, or enjoy riding a bicycle, or perhaps both. We do too.
We (Joel and Molly) are part of both the local design and bicycling communities, and we got to thinking it would be nice to create an opportunity for these two worlds to collide in Champaign-Urbana. We’ve seen some of the great work that the
ArtCrank series has done with bike-themed posters in larger cities around the country and world, and we thought that bringing something similar to C-U would be fantastic.
That’s where you come in. We’d like to invite you to submit a poster for
Tandem: Bicycles and Artwork, a bicycle-themed art show opening Friday, October 19 at Cafe Kopi. Artists and designers will create posters or other artwork with a bicycle theme, which will be displayed at Cafe Kopi and offered for sale. Our goal for the show is to display 20 to 25 pieces from different artists and designers.
Your original artwork would be offered for sale at reasonable prices ($20 per poster is the suggested price). For posters, you may submit up to 10 copies of your work to sell, or if you prefer, you can submit one original piece of artwork, which will be priced accordingly. You will get 60% of the proceeds, and the remaining funds (after any expenses from putting on the event) will be donated to The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign to help establish a cooperative bicycle shop in North Champaign.
This shop aims to make the local cycling community richer in three key ways: 1) by serving as a resource for cyclists who live in or ride through the area; 2) by connecting with other community-based groups to further opportunities for area youth to access bike-related resources and knowledge; and by 3) increasing the race and class diversity within the local cycling population.
Prints are preferred (screen print, letterpress, linocut, woodcut, intaglio, lithography, mixed media, etc.) but other forms of work are happily accepted. Sizes of work ranging from 4” x 6” to 4’ x 6’ will be accepted, but please keep in mind our goal of keeping prices relatively low so more work will be purchased. Note: Your submission does not need to be flat, but it will need to be hung easily on a wall at Cafe Kopi. Please email us with any unique requirements or questions.
Here are some key dates to keep in mind:
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Friday, September 21: Application deadline for Artists
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Saturday, October 6: Deadline to submit your artwork
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Friday, October 19: Exhibit opening at Cafe Kopi in downtown Champaign
Sound like fun? We hope so. If you’re interested, please take a minute and
fill out this quick online application form. If you have any questions, drop us a line at
in...@tandemcu.org. And if you know anyone else who might be interested in participating, please either pass this along to them, or let us know and we’ll make the connection.
Thanks so much for your interest in Tandem, and we look forward to working with you on this project.
Best regards,
Joel Gillespie and Molly Poganski
Organizers
