Raise a glass to Savannah art: Local artists needed for new to-go cup design

Sure, people love the historic homes, history and culture of Savannah. That's why millions visit each year. But let's also not pretend that the ability to grab a drink and walk around isn't a fun little quirk that crafts the Hostess City into a destination as well.

In an effort to help make the asset into a sustainable one, the Savannah Downtown Business Association has introduced the recyclable, aluminum cup, which allows visitors and locals alike to pick up a drink and ditch its plastic cousin.

But in a city rife with talented artists, it seems wrong to just go with a basic design. So earlier this year, the Savannah DBA selected a summer-themed design by artist Dana Richardson to grace the cup and become a celebration of the city’s arts and culture scene while taking a sip of beer.

2022 Savannah Local Art Gift GuideCelebrate the holiday season by supporting your neighbors

Zach DennisThe Savannah Cultural Arts Center's Spotlight grant could open the door for local nonprofits

UnpluggedNew public art near the Enmarket Arena spurs exciting, future possibilities for the area

Brooke Goth, Savannah DBA executive director, said Richardson’s design has been featured on over 50,000 cups since its debut. “A lot of people love having them. I mean, they're easy to rinse out and reuse as well. But I know some people that have some just hanging out in their car for them to take whatever they go around downtown.”

Goth said over 20 vendors have jumped on board with the cups with restaurants such as The Ordinary Pub and Common being two of their top-selling establishments. “They move them very frequently. They say that people come in and purchase them all the time,” she said.

“I've had folks reach out to me personally. One guy was a visitor in town, reached out to me and asked if he could buy an entire sleeve of them, and I put him in touch with one of the vendors who has them so he could get a whole sleeve of them.

“Visitors love them… It's just kind of a little keepsake, a memento for them to take with them whenever they leave.”

Mickey Hickey, brand ambassador for The Ordinary Pub and Common, agreed. “The majority of people have really enjoyed that aspect of changing to aluminum from single-use plastic and they really like the artwork on them versus the first one when we were trying them out.

“They had the (City of) Savannah logo and people enjoyed them, but they really liked the art and being able to run into the artist is really cool.”

Small-scale public art

For Richardson, it was a nice challenge to design a little smaller than normal. She’s a frequent public artist, participating in past Starland mural projects, having a mural featured at the top of the stairs in the Jepson Center and more recently, the City of Savannah’s Storm Drain Art Project, so large-scale pieces are a breeze.

“I think that's what’s fun for the next person is how to work with this long, narrow format, which I had never done before. And I just thought that that was an interesting problem to solve.”

More:Savannah artist Dana Richardson brings new mural to the Jepson Center

For her design this year, Richardson went with a more summer vibe — capturing the Savannah cityscape in sunset with vibrant colors and features along the river’s edge all the way to Tybee Island. “(There’s) something about a round, continuous design that seemed unusual to me. But in terms of it being seen and what it means to represent Savannah in a design. I mean, I think choosing the cityscape was fairly straightforward.”

To capture the scene, Richardson turned to older photographs of the Savannah River and cityscape to get a sense of how far the city has come over the years. “I went to a lot of the rooftop bars and tried to take a picture with a panorama setting on the phone and it was always like there was some obstruction. But what was crazy was that the skyline really hasn't changed much. It looks very similar to the early 1800s.

“I ended up looking at (the photographs) to get clear views of the buildings but the representation of Savannah was also (important to the design), there's some seagulls and so I was thinking about this location and how seagulls go between the earth and the sea…  I was thinking about that in terms of how things move in our community.”

Richardson said she’s enjoyed having people tag her on social media holding the cups and having friends text her pictures of them drinking out of the designed cups.

“Whether you take a picture, you take a little cup with you; how do you remember something can be a way to spark a memory if you actually use it. I would think that the aluminum cup would be better to drink out of than those flimsy plastic cups. It feels more comfortable, more substantial.”

Calling local artists

Goth said the initial submission garnered around 20 designs from local artists and she’s hoping this next call-to-action will gain some more. “What we're really looking for is just anybody and everybody who's an artist to submit Savannah St. Patrick's Day-themed designs, but generally it was well received.

“You've seen Dana's style of art. We had some line drawings from Inky Brittany, who submitted a design as well. So it's pretty much run the gamut of designs and it was really hard to choose the first one as well. I anticipate this being a very difficult decision every time.”

The Art SceneLet's take a cue from Augusta and use their program to boost public art in downtown Savannah

The Art SceneSavannah could promote public art and engage with the community by painting some dogs

Richardson said she’s excited to see which design is next and encourages local artists to submit as the experience working with the Savannah DBA was great. “It really was very, extremely positive. I have to say, I mean, everything about it was easy. They really were great to work with.”

She added that she’s even more curious to see what people do with the design next, saying that being the first one to design the to-go cup was a challenge but she hopes she has laid the groundwork for people to continue pushing the envelope in what this could be.

“Because of its format, it's got its limitations so it's an interesting problem to solve. And I really am very interested to see what they do, and I hope students and people of all ages get in on it.”

The Savannah Downtown Business Association is accepting to-go cup designs through Dec. 31. The selected artist will earn a $1,000 cash prize and will have their design featured through next year’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities and beyond.

For more information, visit savannahdba.com to submit a proposal or contact administrator@savannahdba.com with questions.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA looking for artist designs for aluminum to-go cups