Hilton Head’s new Loggerhead Express brings art and poetry with an island vibe

Art on wheels

Story by Carolyn Males

Starting this month, if you’re traveling along U.S. 278 or hanging out in popular spots from Shelter Cove Town Centre to Coligny Beach Park and beyond, you might catch a glimpse of Hilton Head’s new Loggerhead Express. 

One of The Breeze’s free seasonal trolleys on this South Island route now sports a “canvas” of the island’s iconic loggerhead turtles across its body. Here we see them making their life journey from Hilton Head to the Sargasso Sea and the Azores in waters vibrant with aquatic life: corals, shrimp, octopus and sea grasses. 

Local artist Mira Scott of MiraMira Studio provided the spark to bring this rolling gallery into motion. Renowned for her graphic-style paintings of area fauna and flora with their strong lines and bursts of color, she reached out to Natalie Harvey, Director of the Office of Cultural Affairs for the Town of Hilton Head Island, and Brian Sullivan, Executive Director of the Lowcountry Regional Transportation Authority, earlier this year.

Last fall Bluffton had vinyl-wrapped a Palmetto Breeze bus with artwork by Lindsey Spears. That project, a collaboration between the Town of Bluffton and its Public Art Committee with Palmetto Breeze Transit, was now ferrying passengers along its main route. Its moniker “The Bluffton State of Mind Bus” was as colorful as its exterior — a lively pattern of blues, greens, yellows and oranges depicting crabs, oysters and other Lowcountry images. You couldn’t help noticing this mobile “mural” and discovering something about the area.

And that concept is what’s behind this new Hilton Head Island venture. With a projected 2.8 million-plus visitors this year, attracting more riders, both visitors and residents alike, to hop on the Breeze’s 24-passenger trolley would relieve some congestion along popular island routes and free up space at parking lots, says Sullivan. 

What’s more, Natalie Harvey points out that this eye-catching seascape on wheels “combines our local environmental concerns, local art and poetry to tell a story and create an awareness of our conservation efforts.” Scott, who is also co-creator and illustrator of the children’s book, Myrtle the Loggerhead Turtle, offers another insight. “The way you change the world is through children. And if you get on a vehicle that presents itself as happy, kids engage. When that happens, parents do too, and they all become better stewards of the environment.” 

Poetry in motion 

Now settle into one of the trolley’s wooden bench seats. You’re in for another treat. Take a break from your phone screen, and look around. On the transport’s interior panels and dividers, you’ll discover wisps of poetry by 12 local poets from the Island Writers Network. “I chose poems that were kind of breezy,” Elizabeth Robin, the guiding spirit behind this mobile anthology, says, laughing at the cheeky pun. But that’s a perfect description for these short musings that lift you out of the everyday and send your mind wandering.