La Quinta Arts Foundation

City of La Quinta

Newspaper article from The Desert Sun

Poster contest's winning art exhibited

June, 2001

By Lisa Martin

La Quinta- A group of young artist watched proudly Tuesday at the unveiling of one of six SunLine Transit shelter posters that each of them created.

La Quinta residents 18 years old and younger were invited to participate in an art competition co-sponsored by the La Quinta Arts Foundation, Fairway Outdoor Advertising, KMIR 6, and the City of La Quinta.

The poster competition was part of the Foundation's Youth Art Works program, which brings art opportunities to students under the supervision of professional artist and qualified youth leaders to create public art in their communities.

Youth Art Works received recognition from the President's Council on Arts and Humanities as on of the nation's excellent programs for young people, said Richard DeSantis, president of the foundation's board of directors. "Our major goal is to promote the arts through education, and this project showed students how the arts can benefit a community in many ways, not just in a museum."

The winning entries have been placed throughout the city's transit shelters and will be on display for the next several months.

The concept was created by Fairway Outdoor Advertising General Manager Steve Guild.

"We support arts education opportunities for youth and what better way to bring their creativity to the public than through the vehicle of transit shelters that are seen by tens of thousands of drivers and passengers every day," Guild said. The imaginative pieces of art were designed by local students. They were chosen from more than 150 entries depicting the theme "Why I Love La Quinta."