Photo courtesy Chelsea Audibert
Lucia Davis ’09 is preparing to embark across the Eastern Seaboard on a schoolbus that has been refurbished to present a traveling showcase of art and artists—it’s her brainchild, and she’s got the wheels to prove it. Davis founded the Art Bus Project, seeking crowd funding in support, and will take the work of eight American artists on the road as she exhorts visitors to learn about and be inspired by art. The Scripps College alumna enjoins donors to help her venture reach the $30,000 fundraising goal through the project’s website. She is currently at 60 percent of her goal.
Davis is a living example of her own philosophy that “one doesn’t have to adhere to a certain set of stereotypes or possess formal training to create art.” An economics major, her current mission to educate, expose and inspire others to both enjoy and create art is reflected in her Art Bus Project mission statement: “everyone has an artistic muscle, they just need to flex it.”
Davis’ own creative journey that has led her to serve as artist-in-residence at East Hampton’s Guild Hall this spring, and to pursue the Art Bus Project, was recently featured in the East Hampton Star newspaper. Davis’ path has taken her from economics and environmental research on goldmining, to studying in China, to being a journalist in Los Angeles, to jobs in public relations and social media, and her current gig in curatorial/critical studies in art.
The art bus idea has been percolating since 2014, and now, thanks to Davis’ enterprising and creative efforts, it has arrived.