SPRINGFIELD – The Valley Creation Stations project is bringing local art to the area from Amherst to Springfield. Valley Bikes, Common Wealth Murals and Rise Dispensary have partnered for the project, which put out an open call for work from area artists. After a selection process, 20 artists and their pieces were chosen to be displayed on Valley Bike kiosks throughout the Valley.

According to Director of Common Wealth Murals Britt Ruhe, the idea for this project was born during a time when advertising at Valley Bike kiosks was down.

“Many of them, the advertising spaces are not getting used because advertising really decreased during the pandemic,” she said.

This led to Valley Bikes approaching Ruhe to see if the displays could instead be used to promote local artists and their creativity. A partnership developed between the three organizations and the call for art was put out, which Ruhe said resulted in a diverse, fantastic and amazing response.

According to Ruhe, there was no theme for submissions and many artists submitted paintings, photographs, collages, sculptures, examples of costume design, wood sculptures, drawings and more that were emblematic of the work they do.

“We really just wanted to meet people where they’re at and just highlight the work they're doing,” she said. “There are people creating art all the time, everywhere. And art has been one of those things that’s really gotten a lot of people through this difficult year that we’ve just been through. So the idea of this project is to really highlight local artists and makers that are doing all kinds of interesting things.”

The 20 artists chosen to be displayed at Valley Bike kiosks will now come to Springfield for a photoshoot where they will have photos taken with their work. The photos from this shoot will be displayed at kiosks around the Valley beginning in April. Each artist will appear at two different kiosks in two different surrounding communities.

“Our hope is that it’s kind of encouraging people to be creative and raising awareness about the amount of art and creativity that’s being created in the Valley,” said Ruhe.

Ruhe said that she thinks this project is important because of its humanity.

“I think that this project is so important because creativity is uniquely human. It’s uniquely human to create art and people do it everywhere and in so many different ways. I found it really inspiring to see all the submissions that came in and just think about all the people in their own homes or in their studios creating work that’s meaningful and inspiring to them and sharing it,” she said.

She hopes that this project will inspire community members to be creative and look at art differently.

“The arts and the creative economy is a big piece of Western Mass. and this exhibit is really highlighting the artists, getting the word out that we have these incredibly talented artists in the Valley doing work and also serving as inspiration for people who may be thinking about creating or doing a little work but not taking themselves seriously. Hopefully when they see this they can be like ‘You know what? I can do this too. I can create.’ and spending time creating is valuable,” she said.

Along with being displayed at the kiosks, artists will also have short videos of themselves taken during the photoshoot. They will use these videos to highlight the artists, their background and their works. The videos will be posted online along with images of their work and links to their website and social media.

Those interested in learning more about the Valley Creation Stations project and staying up to date are encouraged to visit the Common Wealth Murals website at https://www.commonwealthmurals.org/.