CAT buses wrapped up in art

By Kristen Peterson

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2006 | 8:22 a.m.

It's not what's typically put on buses.

There aren't any Strip shows being promoted. Or other advertisements that are usually displayed.

No, this one is different.

The primitive black-and-white, line-drawn design covers the sides of the bus entirely and the only thing being promoted is art - and bus riding.

Titled "Xeno-Morphosis," the wrapped CAT bus was unveiled Thursday along with "Astro Bus: The Millenial Edition."

Both designs were winners in a jurored public art competition held by the Regional Transportation Commission and Clark County Parks and Recreation.

For the next year the buses will zip along the streets of Southern Nevada on various routes.

Wrapping them in art cost $43,000. Angela Torres, spokeswoman for the RTC, said Las Vegas Centennial funds paid $25,000 of the bill. The other $18,000 came from revenue the RTC made from the advertising on other buses.

"The purpose is to make public transportation attractive," Torres said, "to make it fun and bring the community together. It's to promote transit."

During 2004, 51 million riders took the bus in Southern Nevada. In 2005, Torres said, there were more than 55 million riders. The RTC expects 62 million riders next year and attributes that number to growth, gas prices, the new double-decker Deuce buses that run on the Strip and the Metropolitan Area Express buses that run only on Las Vegas Boulevard North.

In planning the public project, Joan Lolmaugh, Clark County's manager of cultural affairs, researched transit art programs in other cities, including Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C. New York and Los Angeles were also looked at.

Torres and Lolmaugh both say that Southern Nevada's transit art programs, which have included placing poetry on buses, are way behind other cities.

Los Angeles' Metropolitan Transportation Authority has a Web site devoted to its public art program, which includes its Metro rail, Metrolink and Metro bus. Since 1989 more than 250 artists have been commissioned for projects. In addition to visual art at ticket centers, the city's Metro bus art programs include photo essay bus cards and live poetry readings at bus stops.

Mary Priester, public art manager for Portland's TriMet system, said that TriMet's program receives approximately 1.5 percent of the budget of capital projects over $100,000.

The RTC's spending on art varies depending on partnerships and sponsorships. Last fiscal year, the RTC spent $2,000. RTC officials said they realize Clark County is behind other areas and is trying to do more.

Patrick Gaffey, cultural program supervisor of Clark County Parks and Recreation, said public art is "extremely important."

"It takes the art out of the galleries and puts it out on the street," Gaffey said.

"I think some people have problems with the government spending money on something frivolous and some will say art is frivolous. But it's about building the community. A culture is a human construction. We have to feel like we are a part of something. Something like this is essential."

Gaffey, who has lived in Las Vegas since 1953, is a strong advocate for public art in Las Vegas.

"It's all part of Las Vegas turning into a real city."

Looking at "Xeno-Morphosis," blanketing the CAT bus, artist KD Matheson said, "It's one of the greatest things, being able to share it with people.

"I hope they're inspired and think of a different type of energy, rather than just gaming and casinos."

A lifelong Las Vegas resident, Matheson partnered with Las Vegas artist Jorge Catoni to create the work. The piece is actually a section of a larger, 100-foot work the two created and are displaying in Mad Gallery in St. Louis.

The design represents the area's primitive past when the city was an ancient seabed, its present growth, and the future.

Artist Shan Michael Evans created "Astro Bus: The Millenial Edition." It represents Las Vegas 100 years from now.

The winning designs will also be displayed at bus stops around town and used on RTC's various printed material. Various artists and gallery owners came to the unveiling in support of their colleagues.

"I thought it was just going to promote the three artists, but it's really going to promote the whole community," said artist Marty Walsh, who owns the Trifecta Gallery and was a juror for the Wrap It Transit competition.

Kristen Peterson can be reached at 259-2317 or [email protected].