SVC has partnered with KEXP to announce the 2017 Steamroller Smackdown poster theme: Where the Music Matters. Steamroller Smackdown, where teams of top artists and design firms from around the Northwest print oversized posters from large carved out linoleum sheets, inked and steamrolled printed instead of a printing press. A fixture of Seattle radio, KEXP radio has grown from its beginnings on UW campus into a nonprofit arts organization with a devoted worldwide listenership. All the while, the station has championed regional music as part of its mission. The goal of this year’s poster theme is to celebrate local music and its importance in our lives. They might also examine the many ways we listen to music, the resurgence of analog formats like vinyl and cassette, and the role of music in building community and promoting activism.

Like the mystical energy depicted in chakra charts, experiencing music charges our bodies, minds and souls with life-giving current. Northwest music powers our ‘core’, invoking potent emotions that transcend physicality to produce a melodic state of bliss; a “Sweet Euphoria” like the Chris Cornell song in which the tangibility of the human body is elevated through dream-like metaphysics. Music is meaningful to us because it’s integral to the artistic health of our community but even more so because it nourishes and enlightens our whole beings.

The poster was received with great praise and excitement from both KEXP and School of Visual Concepts which was later featured at the KEXP public gallery in Seattle along with other local designed poster participants.