Saturday evening, just about suppertime, I made my way to Mayfest and the Blue Dome Arts Festival. I was hoping to get a good look at the artists and car lovers displaying their Art Cars. I was also hoping they’d be wearing coordinating costumes…and some of them were!

To my left is the Cow Goddess and Betsy II. She was probably the best Art Car Ambassador they could have asked for; she praised her fellow art car enthusiasts and plugged Harrod Blank’s film “Automorphosis“.

Sweet Betsy II is a lego covered le Baron with a Holstein interior and paint job. Small ranch scenes with friendly cows are mounted on the hood and trunk of the car. A rubber hose is the base for the swinging cow tail. In her youth, the Cow Goddess had a much loved pet cow. She decided to honor her cow by decorating her car with the white and black spots. Sadly, the car was in an accident. She did not give up on the car art. Today she drives around, yes it’s her everyday car, in Betsy II.

The Cow Goddess has an entire closet of cow and western themed costumes. The costumes and other art pieces can currently be seen at The McKinney Avenue Contemporary in Dallas. If you’re in the area, stop by to see her Rhinestone scooter, bovine couture, and other art works. She says, “My art encompasses both the subtle and the insane with the intent to entertain.” That’s my kind of gal.

Unfortunately, the artists thought it was suppertime too. Many of the owners and creators of these incredible works were off eating or exploring the festivals. Luckily for us, da Kuntry Pedlur, from Nebraska, was around to make sure everyone enjoyed their evening. I talked with his wife Pam for a few minutes while he proudly showed off the bells and whistles to smiling visitors. The story goes like this: Many years ago they went to a fair. At this fair was a man with an old country car and this man and his car caught Rich’s eye. He was hooked. He told his wife he would have a car like that someday.

He bought the yellow frame car and built up the decorations himself. They travel around to fairs and events, scaring people with their hidden skunk, and showing off their overalls and calico. They are an absolutely delightful couple. You can see the glee in his eyes when he honks a horn or kicks a sexy leg. His hobby became his art.

Art Cars come in many art forms. Some people display their collections on their vehicle. Others grab their paints and treat the car like a canvas. All of the cars I saw were incredible. One in particular caught my eye: Shuttlevan. One fan of the space program decided to make a tribute from a 1996 Dodge Caravan. The website takes you through each step in the design, paint, and construction of the awesome art car.

The thrusters were amazing. The artist created a control system for flashing red and orange strobe lights and a fog machine. It’s hard to express how cool this looks live. On top of the Shuttlevan sits some speakers that add the real Shuttle’s sound effects. Being the space junkie I am, I can’t help but love this Art Car a little more than all the others.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Harrod Blank’s many Art Cars and his contribution to the Art Car community. He brought the Camera Van and Pico de Gallo to this festival. In addition, his film “Automorphosis” was showing at the Circle Cinema. The film chronicles years of his experience creating Art Cars and the lives and creations of other Art Car lovers. A few of the cars featured on his website Art Car Agency and seen in the film were at the event: California Fantasy Van, Aero Car, and the Mondrian Mobile.

There was the Brickmobile, the Yellow Submarine, and many more in my gallery. Watch this video of the Sashimi Tabernacle Choir because a still photograph just won’t do:

See more Art Cars at youtube.

A big thanks go to my Dad for accompanying me and taking some of the photographs.

I think I missed a few of the displayed cars. If you were there and I missed you, feel free to send me a link or photograph.

What do you think? I like to think of car art as costumes for cars. Art cars are an artistic expression at its most mobile. Do you have an Art Car?

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Tags: art cars, cow goddess, Harrod Blank, kuntry pedlur, shuttlevan

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Events, costumes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.