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Artist Brenda Sylvia had the winning entry for the 2021 "Art in Transit."
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For Bay Transit, proceeds from entry fees, artwork sales commissions, and sponsorships go toward a community college scholarship fund for Bay Transit’s frontline employees and its New Freedom Program.
As Brenda Sylvia drives the roads near her home in Northumberland County, she has looked for one particular piece of her art on display for the past 1½ years.
Sylvia’s giant painting, a joyful montage of her sister’s dog frolicking in the Chesapeake Bay, isn’t on any billboard or sign.
It’s on the side of a bus.
“It’s pretty unique to see your artwork motoring around town,” says Sylvia, who runs an art gallery in Reedville. “I’ve never had one of my paintings blown up so large. It’s been an amazing experience for me, and I hope it’s brought happiness to others.”
That’s one of the goals of “Art in Transit,” an annual competition and fundraiser organized by Bay Transit, a division of Bay Aging, in collaboration with the RAL Art Center in Kilmarnock. The contest to decorate a Bay Transit bus, launched in October 2021, helps support the missions of both nonprofits. A 2023 winner will be named on May 19.
For Bay Transit, proceeds from entry fees, artwork sales commissions, and sponsorships from businesses and civic groups go toward a community college scholarship fund for Bay Transit’s frontline employees and its New Freedom Program, a low-cost transportation service for disabled and/or senior individuals who need to travel outside of its normal service area or operating hours.
“This has been a wonderful community success story,” says Ken Pollock, director of Bay Transit. “It has brought beautiful artwork into residents’ lives, along with more exposure and a little extra money for our two organizations.”
Bay Transit serves 12 localities across the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula, Charles City and New Kent Counties, covering more than 3,000 square miles in total. Its 50 buses provide more than 100,000 rides a year to people regardless of age, economic status or disability.
“For many people, it’s the only option they have,” Pollock notes.
About three years ago, Mike Stevens, a graphic designer who helps place advertisements on Bay Transit buses, came to Pollock with the idea for a bus-decorating contest. Pollock was immediately on board but wasn’t sure how to stage and judge it until he connected with RAL Art Center, which became an integral planning partner.
Founded 73 years ago, the center offers a creative space for artists of any skill level to exhibit and learn. Its smART Program for Young Artists offers art lessons, classes, enrichment activities and gallery exhibit opportunities for youth from preschool through high school.
Most recently, RAL Art Center has partnered with the Northern Neck Boys and Girls Club as well as the Lancaster County Early Childhood Education Center. Funds raised during Art in Transit help fund all these educational programs.
Contest guidelines call for artists to submit nondigital paintings or drawings that connote motion or movement. The winning entry is enlarged and printed on vinyl, which generally holds up for a year or two on a bus before it begins to grow brittle and peel.
The first competition wrapped up in October 2021, drawing 19 entries. The second, held in the spring of 2022, had 40; this year is expected to have even more.
In 2022, Bay Transit joined forces with Rappahannock Community College to create an annual scholarship for an employee or employee’s child or grandchild attending RCC, a gesture of staff appreciation and part of ongoing recruitment and retention efforts.
Last year, Bay Transit contributed $500 and the RCC Educational Foundation another $500 for the Bay Transit-RCC Scholarship. The amount now has grown to $2,000, which will be awarded to a student by early April.
The 2022 scholarship recipient was Kenedi Hence of Tappahannock, 18, who is studying Business Management at RCC. Hence’s grandmother, Princess Wise, has been a Bay Transit employee for 12 years and is regional supervisor at its Warsaw office.
Hence, who juggles school with a job at Dunkin’, hopes to run her own home improvement company one day. She has put much of the $1,000 award toward class supplies. “I never believed my mother that books were so expensive,” she relates. “Then I walked in the bookstore and was like, ‘What in the world?!’ I really appreciate the extra money.”
For the RAL Art Center, Art in Transit has raised awareness of its gallery among artists who live farther away from Kilmarnock. In fact, membership has grown from less than 300 in the fall of 2021 to nearly 400 today, reports Sharon Stone, executive director.
“It’s great that two nonprofits with such diverse missions can work together for the benefit of the entire community: artists, students and people needing transportation,” Stone says. “Art always brings such rich color into our lives.”
The RAL Art Center displays all contest entries for a month and hosts a reception to announce first, second and third prizes. Those come with cash awards: $700 for first, $500 for second and $300 for third prize.
The event’s pinnacle is the grand unveiling of first prize, when a bus adorned with a reproduction of the piece pulls up to the front of the RAL Art Center.
Last year’s winner, Mel Neale, an artist who lives in Lancaster County, will never forget the moment that she spotted her pastel painting of huge seagulls in flight, “Cacophony,” on the side of the bus. Her delight hasn’t worn off since then.
“I just feel joy when I see my bus around town, at Walmart or at a gas station,” Neale says. “I can say to the driver or the people getting off, ‘That’s my art!’ That’s a part of me that I’m sharing with the world, and I hope it brings them joy as well.”
Brenda Sylvia cried when she first saw her painting, “Jumping for Joy,” on a bus. Usually a landscape painter, Sylvia was inspired by her sister’s rescue terrier mix, James, as he splashed around at a private beach. Her entry, a 3-by-2-foot painting, captured James at different stages of his leap.
“They had me sign my bus with a permanent pen, which is an autograph I never thought I’d do,” she remembers with a laugh. “I was so happy, because I feel strongly that bringing art into daily life is such an important service.”
Bay Transit and RAL Art Center hope to keep expanding the competition to attract more artists and arts organizations throughout the region.
“It’s done so much good,” Pollock says. “We knew it was a great idea, but it has surpassed all of our hopes.”
Sponsors of the 2023 "Art in Transit"
GOLD: B. H. Baird Insurance Agency/Towne Insurance, Warsaw; Tri-River Investment Group, Davenport & Company, White Stone; Sonny Merryman, Virginia’s Bus Company; Chesapeake Bank & Chesapeake Wealth Management, Kilmarnock; RCC Educational Foundation, Warsaw; Sandra Hargett, Managing Broker, Liz Moore & Associates, Kilmarnock
SILVER: NWP Energy, Kilmarnock; The Local Scoop, Kilmarnock
BRONZE: Northern Neck Rotary Club, Kilmarnock-Irvington-White Stone; Patrick Stone, Agent, State Farm, Tappahannock
IN-KIND: Twin Rivers Communications, Kilmarnock
Bay Transit I 111 Commerce Parkway, Warsaw I 804-250-2019 I baytransit.org
RAL Art Center I 19 North Main Street, Kilmarnock I 804-436-9309 I ralartcenter.com