Summer of Art update

Area artists have embraced our plan to run original art on our covers this summer. Thus far, we’ve received 12 submissions, ranging from well known to not-yet-famous creative souls.

To remind you, beginning May 25, our cover art for 15 weeks will comprise original works of area artists.

Here’s what’s up: City Pulse and the Arts Council of Greater Lansing are cosponsoring this project. If an artist’s work is selected for the cover, the artist agrees to give the work to the Arts Council, which will auction it off at its annual Holiday Glitter fundraiser. From the proceeds, the artist will receive a 30 percent commission. It’s a win-winwin: City Pulse’s readers get to see some great art, the Arts Council gets some dough, and the artists makes a little geld too plus earn some recognition.

We’re looking for the best 15 works of original art we can garner. All but three can be whatever artists dream up. For three issues we have themes — within which, let your imagination roam. Those three are: Beginning of summer; July 4th; End of summer.

All submissions need to be entered at lansingarts.org, where you can check out the rest of the rules. It’s open to anyone, Arts Council member or no.

One request: Abide by the rules. While we’ve received a dozen submissions, we’re unable to use several because of the dimensions. The available space is 10.25 inches wide by 6.5 inches high. Your art need not be exactly that — but it needs to be a rectangle of roughly those proportions for us to make it work. We can blow it up or shrink it.

Feel free to think outside the box. One well-known sculptor submitted a photo of his work. We presume he will auction the photo, not the sculptures.

We don’t have a firm end date in mind for submissions. But we’d like to know sooner rather than later that we have at least 15 qualified submissions. So please — get crackin!