Surprisingly, Erica McCullough had never really been into art until she got to college. It was there  that one class sparked her interest.

“I didn’t take art in high school,” the 26-year-old Dacula woman said. “I just kind of took a class in college just to see, and it just turned into my major.”

She graduated from the University of West Georgia with an art degree in 2012. And while she currently is a customer service associate for Delta Blinds Supply, it hasn’t stopped her from pursuing her hobby and passion.

That is evident by her recent participation in the Gainesville Bus Shelter Art Project.

The Bus Shelter Art Project is the installation of 15 pieces of art on bus shelters in the community by the city of Gainesville and Vision 2030 of the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce with help from the Quinlan Visual Arts Center.

She said she was pleased with being selected for the Bus Shelter Art project.

“It’s one of the best feelings to get acknowledged for something that you did,” she said, noting she will apply to few shows in the future.

McCullough’s work is usually inspired by her travels, so her pieces were a natural fit for the project.

“I have family all over the country and the world,” she said. “I go and visit them a bit and that’s been a lot of the main points in my artwork. Since my art is traveled-related, it just seemed appropriate.”

Her specific piece chosen for a bus shelter in Gainesville was originally an art project for school featuring paper airplanes.

“It was a smaller piece of a larger installation that had hot-air balloons and was about traveling and the cycle of it and trying to move around,” she said.

Although this is the first time McCullough has put her work out in some time, she plans to continue with her art.

“I plan on going to grad school,” McCullough said. “I’m going to apply before January, before the deadline.”