Kinzlie Yeates points at a copy of her artwork on display on a Connect Transit bus on June 14.
The 2025 Art in Transit: From Schools to Community bus was on display during Summerfest on June 14.
Many Cache Valley residents are used to seeing Connect Transit buses passing by, decorated with advertisements for various companies or events. But one bus design is not like the others.
For over a decade, Art in Transit: From Schools to Community has brought student art into public spaces, displayed on the inside and outside of Connect Transit buses.
This year, the Art in Transit bus features poppies, butterflies and beetles created by first and second grade students at River Heights Elementary and fifth graders at Lake View Elementary.
Fifth grader Kinzlie Yeates was one of the students whose artwork is featured on the bus design. She stopped by to see the bus when it was unveiled during Summerfest on June 14.
“It was really cool, and I just loved it because all of the art was beautiful and colorful,” Kinzlie said.
She said she had fun with the project, learning to use pastels and to blend colors to create her butterfly and poppies.
“I thought it was a really cool project,” said Kari Yeates, Kinzlie’s mother. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Each year, a visiting artist works with students to create art for the project. This year, the visiting artist was Aurora Villa, the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Endowed Program Director for Elementary Arts Education.
Villa founded the Art in Transit program during her time as district arts coordinator for Cache County School District.
Mandee Monson is the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Art Educator at River Heights.
Monson said she and Villa spent multiple class periods working with the second and third grade students. She said first they showed the students beetles frozen in resin and pictures of butterflies, letting them make observations about the bugs’ symmetry and color.
Then, they showed them how to create their own using paint, pastels and techniques for creating symmetrical images.
She said it was wonderful working on the project and seeing how excited the students were to show off their creations.
“I think especially for young kids, it’s so powerful when they can have a connection with their community and see their artwork can be shared with more than just their parents or class,” Monson said.
Monson said she thinks the program is empowering for the students and helps them realize what they create can impact other people and beautify the world.
She said Art in Transit is fun because the art doesn’t sit in one place where people have to go looking for it. It moves around town, and anyone can glance out their window and see it.
Programming for Art in Transit: From Schools to Community is supported by Arts Are Core, Utah State University's Beverley Taylor Sorenson Endowed Program for Elementary Arts Education and the Sorenson Legacy Foundation.
Learn more at https://cehs.usu.edu/teal/arts-are-core/community-outreach.
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