art cars – Retirementally Challenged

In a recent Thursday Doors post, I highlighted our visit to the Arizona mining town of Jerome. We had been there a couple of times before and we enjoyed another opportunity to poke about the quirky community perched on the side of a hill.

In south-eastern Arizona – almost to the border of Mexico – is another fun and funky old mining town called Bisbee. Over a period of almost 100 years, Bisbee produced around 8 billion pounds of copper. Silver, gold, lead, zinc and manganese were also mined in significant quantities. Similar to Jerome, after the mining interests pulled out (the last operation ceased in 1974), artists and hippies started moving in, attracted by the inexpensive real estate and wide-open scenery.

As a wanna-be artist and hippie at heart, I love these types of communities. At home and on our travels, we see too many big box behemoths, interchangeable chains, and soulless strip malls. It’s nice to visit a place that values out-of-the-ordinary and one-of-a-kind. Bisbee had been on my want-to-see list for a while, so I was happy to finally make it there.

It’s pretty easy to get around Bisbee on foot, as long as you don’t mind a few hills. Most of the shops, restaurants, and art galleries can be found along the main street so once we parked our car, it didn’t move until the next afternoon when we left town. Our hotel was in an old building (all buildings in Bisbee are old) but it was the nicest room we stayed in during our 2 ½ week road trip.

Between the historical buildings, street murals, galleries, and colorful town folks, there was a lot to see and photograph in Bisbee, including a few doors… in fact one of Bisbee’s slogans is Be Inspired. (I also saw a bumper sticker that read “Bisbee… like Mayberry on acid” but I’m going with Be Inspired).

A garage owned by someone who worships motorcycles, I guess.

Bisbee’s Cochise County Courthouse is a prime example of the Southwest regional variation of the Art Deco style.

A beautifully patinaed gate and stairs leading to an artist’s home, no doubt.

Bisbee is known for its Art Cars and we were happy to spot one close to our hotel. Nearby Douglas, Arizona has a entire museum dedicated to this artform.

This faux painting of a staircase was behind an actual door in an art gallery.

After many years of hearing about Bisbee’s rich history and thriving art scene, I was thrilled to finally see it for myself. It really is Bee-utiful!

Please check out Dan’s blog to see some more Thursday Doors… and maybe link a few of your own.

My car is boring. It has the standard four wheels, hood and trunk, and interior with front and back seats. It is dark gray. Big whoop.

I saw my first Art Car many years ago in the parking lot of a local grocery store. I was on my way home from work and, since it was winter, it was getting pretty dark. In my hurry to get home, I might not have noticed the car except that it was all lit up – both inside and out. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera with me, so I wasn’t able to take a picture of the chassis-mounted Christmas confection.

Several months later I was thrilled to see the car again, parked on a frontage road. This time I had my phone, so I was able to snap a picture. It was daytime, so it didn’t have the same magical quality, but I was pleased to capture its wonderfulness nonetheless.

I’ve seen a few Art Cars since then and have discovered that they are an actual “thing”. A simple search on the googles results in tons of information, including amazing images, locations of Art Car parades, and instructions on how you (yes, you) can create your own Art Car.

Wikipedia defines an Art Car as: “a vehicle that has had its appearance modified as an act of personal artistic expression. Art Cars are often driven and owned by their creators, who are sometimes referred to as “Cartists”. Most car artists are ordinary people with no artistic training”.

Maybe many of these cartists have no formal artistic training, but they do have an abundance of creativity, a playful spirit, and the desire to share their masterpieces with others. This VW van, below, was on display at a local Tiki celebration weekend.

My latest Art Car encounter occurred just this past week. As I was out running errands, I saw this glorious vehicle out of the corner of my eye and had to stop. Not only was I able to see another of these cars up close, but I had the pleasure of meeting Jesus Garcia, the cartist, and all-around good guy. He was nice enough to spend about half an hour with me showing me his car and patiently answering all my questions (“Why did you decide to start decorating your car?” “What do you use as adhesive?” “What was the first object you placed on your car?” etc, etc, etc.).

Hard to miss coming at you in your rearview mirror.

The elk on the saw blade started it all.

The interior is as crazy as the exterior.

I will almost certainly continue to own conventional cars. Introverted me rather likes driving around without attracting much attention. I also try to avoid dings and scratches that mar the surface. On the other hand, I love that not everyone is just like me. I do so very much appreciate people who view their autos as very large blank slates begging to be decorated. I am grateful that they have the creativity and courage to pick up that first piece of whimsy and glue it to their car.

Tag: art cars

Buzzing around Bisbee

GratiTuesday: Whimsy on Wheels