City of Atlanta, Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs: Downtown Mural Bike Racks

The City of Atlanta Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA) Public Art Program seeks proposals from local and regional professional visual artists to create painted designs on metal bike racks for downtown Atlanta. The OCA will provide selected artists with a fabricated and primed bike-shaped bike rack for artists to embellish with original, hand-painted works of art. Artists will be responsible for completing the design and applying the paint to the bike rack. After completion, artists will return the bike racks to the OCA for installation at various downtown Atlanta locations.

The Mural Bike Rack Project aims to supplement and promote the City of Atlanta's biking infrastructure through functional public art, encourage the use of biking as transportation, enhance Atlanta's image as a bike and community arts-friendly city, and engage regional and local painters and mural artists. The exhibition of the artist-painted bike racks will be a temporary installation, with the OCA anticipating leaving the painted bike racks in place until the murals become dilapidated (likely around three years).

Awarded artists will receive $800 compensation for painting a mural bike rack. The OCA will provide protective breathing equipment (respirators) and purchase oil enamel paints for each artist (up to $200). Artists must provide their own paint application supplies. Proposals will be evaluated based on originality of design, artistic merit, design's relevance to downtown Atlanta, and previous professional art experience. Selected artists will be notified by June 27, 2017. Completed bike racks are due to the OCA by August 4, 2017. The OCA will install the bikes August 14-18, 2017. Non-local or regional artists may apply, but there will be no travel compensation provided.