After last years truly gorgeous crayon drawing of tomatoes, by then 10-year old grain elevator neighbor Tinca Joyner, we received a greater number of submissions from younger entrants this year.  And like Tinca’s ‘Tomatoes’, one of these submissions blew the jury away both in visual and conceptual content, truly expressing imagination on the topic Transport(ation).  ‘This Blows’ by 12-year old Omaha native Hank Novak is a simple pen drawing of a dandelion on a vibrant yellow background. Cropped perfectly to interact with the gap in the silos, thus sending the seeds blowing into the Omaha horizon, the image was furthermore a strong jury selection because of Hanks explanatory poem about the innovative movement of dandelion seeds:

THIS BLOWS

Dandelion seeds
Flying everywhere,
Helicopters and airplanes
Racing in the air.

I see car commercials
Almost all the time,
Their MPG’s are a revolution
But sometimes I wonder what
Transportation would be like
If we did not have evolution.

Henry Alois Novak is an artist living and working in Omaha, Nebraska. His chosen medium is a black pen and a blank piece of paper.  Hank has created and drawn many characters, most notably Chap Clapper, Cube Cat,  Octo-Pig, Cock-a-Doodle-Doofus, and The Bean Series.  Hank is a 6^th grader and is currently working on unlocking the third galaxy in the seventh world of Super Mario Galaxy Two. Hanks parents, Nancy and Paul Novak, are now regretting a dollar for dollar match they have promised Hank and his twin brother for anything they earn on their own, encouraging them to be entrepreneurial.  It seems Hank’s artist stipend will be going much farther than the other artists.

As the City of Omaha works toward completing a new Transportation Master Plan by the end of 2011, “Omaha Underground” imagines a mass transit alternative to the existing automobile dominated transportation infrastructure shaping much of the Omaha landscape, with an underground metro often found in larger metropolitan areas such as London, Beijing, or New York. The proposed layout of distinct subway lines mimics several of the existing transportation corridors servicing the Omaha area, with an emphasis on providing greater connectivity to the first and second rings of suburbs where existing mass transit opportunities are in greater need.

Oriented east-west top to bottom with the Missouri River and Council Bluffs at the top of the map, the graphics are contorted, sublimating proportional accuracy for the sake of fitting the banner format and emphasizing Omaha’s east-west direction of growth.  Although a subway system is somewhat of a fantastical transit dream for a city the size of Omaha, the notion addresses edges and peripheries and the WHOLE metro region as an interconnected system, as subways often do.

Red Line – Dodge Street Corridor Stations and Cross Streets: North Main Street (Council Bluffs), North 35th Street (Council Bluffs), 13th Street, Joslyn, Midtown Crossing, UNMC/Saddlecreek Road, 50th Street, Dundee, Memorial Park, 72nd Street, Children’s Hospital, 90th Street, Westroads, 120th Street, 168th Street

Pink Line – Cuming Street Corridor and Loop Stations and Cross Streets: North Downtown, Creighton, Dundee, Western Avenue, Creighton Prep, Blondo Street, Underwood Hills, 96th Street, Westroads, Happy Hollow, Town Park, 84th Street, St. Mary, Crossroads

Cyan Line – Leavenworth / Pacific Line Stations and Cross Streets: 13th/Leavenworth, 36th Street, 42nd Street, 50th Street, 60th Street, Elmwood Park, 84th Street, 90th Street, Happy Hollow Country Club

Blue Line – 13th Street Corridor Stations and Cross Streets: North Omaha, Eppley Airfield, Gallup Campus, North Downtown, 13th Street, Old Market, 13th/Leavenworth, Henry Doorly Zoo

Green Line – Saddle Creek Corridor Stations and Cross Streets: Adams Park, Bemis Park, Creighton Medical Center, Leavenworth, Field Club, MCC

Purple Line – 50th Street Corridor Stations and Cross Streets: NW Radial Hwy, Metcalfe Park, Underwood Avenue, Dodge Street, 50th Street, L Street

Orange Line – Midtown Loop Stations and Cross Streets: Ames Avenue, Western Avenue, Memorial Park, 60th Street, Holy Cross Field, Stinson Park, St. Mary, 84th Street, Country Side Village, West Dodge Road, Underwood Hills, Keystone Drive, North 72nd Street, Benson

Yellow Line – 72nd Street Corridor Stations and Cross Streets: Maple Street, Blondo Street, Crossroads, West Center Road

Geoff DeOld is a partner at DeOld Andersen Architecture (DAA), an architecture and design practice in Brooklyn, NY. He received his Master of Architecture from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and located to New York City in September of 2001. Prior to forming DAA with partner Emily Andersen, he was an Associate Principal at STUDIOS architecture in New York City where he contributed to several notable and award winning projects.

Geoff formed DAA with Emily Andersen after collaborating together on several projects addressing the suburban landscape and the role architecture and design might play in an otherwise generic environment. The firm is currently engaged in several projects including showrooms and offices for a fashion company in the Fashion District, and two streetscape / urban design projects in the Bedford Stuyvesant community of Brooklyn.