Editor’s Note: Day 6 coverage of the Utah Arts Festival features a look at the Revinylize Project of the Salt Lake City chapter of AIGA, a professional organization for graphic and creative arts designers; a preview of Tom Mattingly’s choreographed piece representing the festival’s first-ever dance commission, and a look at Head for The Hills, one of the headliners at today’s Bluegrass Mini-Music Fest. Tomorrow’s coverage features previews of RonKat FreekBass Connect, Fareed Haque and The Flat Earth Ensemble, and an afternoon post about the artist who has curiously priced his work in odd figures such as $197.65. Follow Twitter updates as well.

DID YOU KNOW?

Doing its part to keep local nonprofits stable during a still-tenuous period of economic recovery, Market Street Grill’s food booth will raise funds for Voices for Utah Children, a statewide advocacy organization to represent the public health and welfare interests of all children, especially those in economically vulnerable circumstances, throughout Utah.

The Market Street Grill is featuring reasonably priced shrimp cocktails, its signature clam chowder served in a bread bowl, and the house dessert of ice cream with sabayon sauce and fresh strawberries.

After last year’s phenomenal response for its hands-on workshops where participants made handbags, satchels, wallets, and tote bags from reclaimed billboard and vinyl materials, the 350-member Salt Lake City chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) has returned to the Utah Arts Festival with the Revinylize Project which now has blossomed into a year-round community effort.

The workshop’s popularity is its sheer simplicity. No specialized or previous design experience is necessary and AIGA members help participants with tips about designs, layout and color and provide templates. “In fact, last year, we had a young girl who made a bag at one of the workshops and returned the next day to show off the bag which she had decorated with soccer stickers,” Kevin Perry, SLC chapter president, recalls.

For $10, a nominal fee to cover the costs of materials and tools, participants will be able to make a customized bag, which does not require any sewing, or accessory. Visitors also can purchase vinyl bags made by AIGA members at the organization’s booth near the festival stage – including those made from coffee burlap sacks and last year’s Utah Arts Festival graphic design materials. And, proceeds go to other AIGA Revinylize activities that help local refugees establish their economic footing.

Last year, AIGA sold more than 200 bags and hundreds lined up to attend the scheduled hour-long workshops that were held four times each day during the festival. In order to accommodate as many people as possible this year, AIGA has adopted a continuously operating schedule providing 20 workshop seats that can be claimed anytime they open up. “Some participants will work quickly – in as little as 15 minutes,” Perry adds.

Revinylize has resonated particularly strongly because it provides a valuable hands-on lesson not only about good principles underlying smart design but also of the impact of an individual’s creative resourcefulness when it comes to producing a high-quality functional and aesthetically appealing item from recycled materials. For the festival alone, AIGA has acquired more than 400,000 square feet of materials – much of it former billboards or large vinyl signage featured at events – that otherwise would have been dumped in landfills. The sustainability issue has become a critical one for the design community considering that more than 600,000 tons of billboard material are created annually, much of which, unfortunately, ends up in landfills.

AIGA members also have ensured all of the non-biodegradable billboard materials used at the workshops have come from Utah, not from any other state. The billboard materials work well, Perry says, because AIGA professionals can demonstrate easily how portions of particular graphic elements such as large letters, tool lines, logos, and shapes can be used to create artistically appealing designs.

For more information about the SLC chapter of AIGA, see here, and for more information about Revinylize, see here.