“Creative Routes”: Calling all creative student innovators

Boise State Department of Public Safety is seeking visual-enthusiast students who want to submit design entries for its program, Creative Routes, that aims to incorporate artistry and sustainable transportation on campus grounds.

The final project will reward two students with a $500 scholarship for the spring 2021 semester and will place two student-designed transportation symbols in the heavy-traffic areas of the Friendship Bridge and the Bleymaier Football Center, which will be there for up to 10 years. 

The main objective of this program is to redesign the standard bike lane icon. The final work has to be an original design created by the student artist. It should also illustrate the traffic symbol’s purpose, which is that cyclists and motorists have equal rights on the roadway.

Boise State Department of Public Safety Bicycle Infrastructure Supervisor Stephen Ritter hopes that this program will enliven campus commutes and encourage people to become interested in riding bicycles on campus.

According to Ritter, the Boise State Department of Public Safety was trying to think of an inclusive way to represent the whole community on campus and realized the best way to proceed is to offer it to students.

“It combines student involvement, where we have students design the artwork and it creates a method for them to work beyond their majors and build their portfolio and resumé,” Ritter said. “We currently plan to install two more designs each year for the foreseeable future. There is no planning to stop any time soon.”

Fonda Portales, Boise State’s art curator and collections manager, assured that every student is able to participate regardless of what major they are pursuing. All current students are allowed to use their Boise State email address to submit their design entries.

“It really isn’t just a program for one major. We want to see the whole campus community be represented,” Portales said. “It beautifies campus as well as providing students an opportunity for safe experiential learning.”

The entry submission is currently open and the deadline is on Friday, Dec. 18, 2020. The winners will be announced on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021.

The Creative Routes selection panel will evaluate all entry designs received by the deadline for consideration. This panel is made up of art professionals, students, campus stakeholders and community partners.

Interested students can submit their entry designs with “Creative Routes Artwork” in the subject line to fondaportales@boisestate.edu. Entries should include a professional cover letter and one to three design proposals as image files.

Holly Papa, an illustration major graduate who won last year’s Creative Routes Bike Sharrows Redesign program, said that her passion for bicycling is one of the reasons why she applied for this program.

“This was the project that spoke to me from the very start,” Papa said. 

She grew up in Boise, and she is grateful that she had been given a chance to contribute back to her community by raising awareness to motorists and cyclists in her reimagined bicycle symbol. 
Students are welcome to contact Stephen Ritter, Supervisor Bicycle Infrastructure, at StephenRitter@boisestate.edu or Fonda Portales, University Art Curator and Collections Manager, at fondaportales@boisestate.edu for any further questions and concerns about the program.