Art Showing - The Acorn Eatery & Bar

The Acorn Eatery & Bar, located on Crown Hill in Seattle, specializing in Italian food and drink, is showing 12 of my paintings until mid July.
Address:
9041 Holman Rd NW
Seattle, WA 98117
(206) 297-0700
Hours:
Mon-Thu. 4:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Fri. 4:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sat-Sun. 4:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Map

NX-1337 Flame Thrower Art Car - SS Alpha Fox

NX-1337 Flame Thrower Art Car

NX-1337 Flame Thrower Art Car in action

by jurvetson
Don't know much about the NX-1337 Flame Thrower Art Car but It seems to be at every event. Its also the vehicle featured on the Maker Faire Button every hear so cudos to you NX-1337 Flame Thrower Art Car owner. Hopefully I will see you in about 9 hours and find out more about you.It sorta looks like a meter maid car out of a star treck movie or something. When you park your star ship illegally in dock 54 you get flamed.

Body and Light

Oil on canvas panel, 22" x 28"

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Rock the Bike a Pedal Powered Music Stage by Fossil Fool

Paul the Fossil Fool's Bike

by xtracycleinc

Paul the Fossil Fool is the only MC who can rock a mic while he rides his bike. He is the inventor and producer of the Soul Cycle, an on-board audio system for bikes and the Down Low Glow, a neon lighting system that he designed and built. I met Paul two years ago at my first Maker Faire, where I saw his incredible bike for the first time. Last year he organized Rock The Bike a human powered music stage and this year will feature 10 local bands. Hey paul do you think I have enough links up for you? See you this weekend

Video from Last Years Rock The Bike

Scraper Bike - By Tyrone Stevenson Jr

Photos by Jacob Fenston



The scraper bike was birthed in Oakland by Tyrone Stevenson Jr., a 20 year old. AKA Baybe-Champ Da Scraper Bike King/Creator/Inventor. The idea came from cars that ride in Oakland called scrapers — basically an old model car, such as a Buick, that's painted a custom color to match the bright rims that are so big that they scrape the inside of the wheel well. Stevenson and his friends took those aesthetics and applied them to bicycles, fitting large wheels on small frames.The movement went viral when a video about scraper bikes when up and went global with 3 million views. Tyrone is right now working on getting his own store front and working in is his community to help keep the youth out of trouble and in a positive frame of mind.

"The Scraper Bike Movement seeks to capture the creativity of youth living within dangerous communities. It gives them a positive outlet that is fun, educational, and promotes healthy lifestyles. The Scraper Bike Movement offers youth a sustainable group of peers that is positive and motivating. They want to expand and enlighten young people's perspective on life through fixing and painting bicycles. Our goal is to support youth entrepreneurship and cultural innovation. The Scraper Bike Movement has been around for about 5-6 years and is now starting to get exposure worldwide."

-Tyrone Stevenson Jr

The Scraper Bikes will also be at this years Maker Faire

Looking up

Master, placid are
All the hours
We lose,
If, in losing them,
Like in a vase,
We put flowers.

(fragment of a poem by Ricardo Reis, aka Fernando Pessoa)

Tommi Toija, the author of the above sculptures, has an exhibition at the Institut Finlandais in Paris until the end of June.

Mercedes Pens Art Car at Maker Faire 2009

Mercedes Pens Art Car a Art Car Fest

Costas Schuler aka The Pen Guy is a graphic designer, artist, motivational speaker comedian, husband and proud father of three beautiful girls. Life has always been interesting but never quite the same ever since he started working on his Mercedes Pens Art Car now covered in 10,000 pens that was inspired from reading a book called "Art Cars" by author Harrod Blank. Now that the car is pretty much done he has set his sights higher and want to collect a million pens in the next five years to make more pen art.

Lunapillar Mutant Vehicle - Human Transport at Maker Faire

Lunapillar Mutant Vehicle

The Lunapillar is a mobile kinetic sculpture created by Jeff and Lisa Hannan insired by the whimsy of recycled and found materials. This mutant vehicle will transport groups of people around the Maker Faire this weekend in comfort and bliss, I can't to get my ride in style.

Hennepin Crawler by Krank-Boom-Clank

Hennepin Crawler at Burning Man

Hennepin Crawler at Handcar Regatta 2008

This four wheeled pedal powered monster is called the Hennepin Crawler and created by a group called Krank-Boom-Crank . They are a kinetic industrial arts collective located in Santa Rosa, CA, who made this giant mutant vehicle from about 90% recycled material, such as:

• Discarded lawn furniture
• VW Bug & antique Cadillac parts
• Old wooden furniture
• Industrial culvert pipe & aviation wire
• Plenty of old bike bits
• Other minor found parts

Maker Faire 2008 - Vehicles , Art Cars and More

Whirlygig Emoto - Battery Powered Steam Punk Electric Scooter

More photos via flickr

Tom Sepe is the creator of Whirlygig Emoto Art Bike, a Battery Powered Steam Punk Electric Scooter. And if you think that's a mouthful, lets break it down for you one piece at a time. Yes this is a scooter that looks like its steam powered but in fact runs on a couple of batteries. Its also made to look like something made in the early 19th century around the Victorian era called "Steam Punk", look it up because its too long to go into it. Tom is also a multidisciplinary artist, performer, video editor and chef who also worked on Draka the Dragon, a 140-ft Flaming Metal Dragon, and The Runamock Fishvan. He also does custom fabrication work that can be seen in clubs, restaurants and private homes throughout the Bay Area. Check out Whirlygig Emoto in action.

Lego Jeep Art Car - On the road again headed to Maker Faire 09

LEGO Jeep at Maker Faire almost done

by bonniegrrl

LEGO Jeep Art Car with climbers

by Paula Wirth

LEGO Jeep Hood Close Up Art


I cant believe I have not posted the famous Lego Jeep Art Car on ACC. Here in all its glory entertaining kids of every age, who are all over it having fun. Legos are for everyone and Kevin Mathieu creator of the Jeep Lego Car has apparently not left his inner child behind. How awesome it is to be able to just pull over any time and play with your legos. Those famous Bay Area traffic jams seem less insane now that the lego car is on the road headed to this years Maker Faire.

Hand made bikes of a very unusual nature

Office Chair Bike

Wood Bike

Drift Wood Bike

Wood High Wheel

Compact Bike

Triangle Bike

Scooter Bike

photos via woodenbikes.com

Tom Kabat is a former serious cyclist who still loves bikes. An engineer, 30 year bike commuter and bike tourer (Trans America 1976), Tom was inspired to build bikes after seeing other great home built pedal machines at Kinetic Sculpture races and a wide variety of antique bikes on display in museums. I had the weird pleasure of riding on a few of these bike at the maker faire last year and trust me, they don't ride like a "regular" bikes. But the beauty of these strange contraptions is that you get to see your life flash before your eyes over and over again. Once you get the hand of it then you are free to ride around maker faire as much as you can take. I know I am going to try it again this year.

Neverwas Haul - Self-propelled 3-story Victorian House

Neverwas Haul at Burning Man



Its the week before Maker Faire and I want to dedicate this week to all the cool art vehicles that will be attending. The first is the Neverwas Haul a self-propelled 3-story Victorian House inspired by the works of Jules Verne. Its made from 75% recycled equipment and materials. It measures 24 feet long by 24 feet high and 12 feet wide and is built on the base of a 5th wheel travel trailer. It was created and designed by Shannon O'Hare, and will be appearing at this years Maker Faire in San Mateo California. Whats amazing about it is that it is mobile as you can see from the picture above. You can also go inside and be instantly transformed into another world.

Flower Art Car For Sale - Plenty of Grass, Plants and a Running Waterfall

Flower Art Car For Sale

Flower Art Car For Sale Waterfall Close Up

Flower Art Car For Sale Waterfall Close Up - via

Wow, this Flower Art Car definitely takes best of flower show, a Ford Torus that was for sale last August in North Hollywood. It has a running waterfall, real live grass, plants, flowers, tiki torches, and a interior fish tank. Apparently its a great rental for the movie industry, business promotions, and parties and has received some media attention in the local news. When buying an art car its always good to have had media attention and have built a good reputation around town. The more famous the car the more you can expect to pay.

PETER MAX

"Mistah Kurtz, he dead"

Like Andy Warhol and LeRoy Neiman, Peter Max was a talented, hard working illustrator before he became a pop culture phenomenon. He studied for years with the great teacher Frank Reilly at the Art Students League in New York and learned the skills of a serious artist.

In 1963, Max was selected to paint a jazz record cover. The young and ambitious artist worked hard to finish the project on time, but his art director was less than enthused. Max begged for a one day extension and started over with a totally different approach.

He dug deeper, stayed up most of the night, and produced the following cover which won a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators for the best advertising art of 1963:

One look at this lovely picture tells you that Max was an artist who had what it takes. Note how the highest contrast and the sharpest focused lines are right on that piano keyboard where he wants to direct your attention. Beautiful.

A few years later, Max hit the jackpot with his "Cosmic" art style, which became wildly successful in the 1960s. His trademark psychedelic look soon adorned everything from perfume bottles to airplanes. Max sold millions of posters and limited edition prints and became immensely wealthy.

Max enjoyed the celebrity lifestyle. His personal chauffer drove him around Manhattan in Max's custom designed Rolls Royce. He painted Ringo Starr's piano and performed exhibition painting on the white house lawn. He was featured on the cover of Life Magazine.

Max now had complete artistic freedom. No more deadlines, no more unreasonable client demands, no more unappreciative art directors. He could just look within his heart and paint whatever he found there. His fan base would buy anything with his signature on it. He began making his signature bigger and bigger.



The funny thing is, as his signature got bigger, his talent got smaller:





The artist who started out as a sharp minded and keen eyed competitor became artistically flabby. Here is his painting entitled "I love the World," depicting an angel embracing the planet.

Without the benefit of anyone to challenge or reject his work, Max sank deeper and deeper into a morass of narcissism. Here are some official facts about Max from his web site:

He loves to hear amazing facts about the universe

Peter's early childhood impressions had a profound influence on his psyche, weaving the fabric that was to become the tapestry of his full creative expression.

This new style developed as a spontaneous creative urge, following Max's meeting with Swami Satchidananda, an Indian Yoga master who taught him meditation and the spiritual teachings of the East.

In the 1970s, Max gave up his commercial pursuits and went into retreat to begin painting in earnest....

[I]n October, 1989, Max unveiled his "40 Gorbys," a colorful homage to Mikhail Gorbachev. Prophetically, a few weeks later, communism fell in Eastern Europe....

Max could be forgiven for his nutty philosophy, but when he gained the freedom to say or do anything, his art clearly suffered.

Where oh where is that art director who once told Max to go back and try again?

Artists and critics chafe at any restriction on the artist's freedom. In fact, it seems that illustration is held in lower regard than "fine" art mainly because the illustrator's vision is subject to restrictions from some client or art director. There is some truth to that criticism, but Peter Max demonstrates how the lack of restrictions can be just as hazardous to the quality of art.

In my view, Peter Max, along with Andy Warhol and Leroy Neiman, are good examples of artists whose work was spoiled and made rotten by excessive freedom. Today's fine art scene offers many additional examples of artists whose self-indulgent work has little relevance or value outside their own cloistered circle. When the world provides resistance to an artist (whether in the form of a deadline, or a client's specifications, or poverty, or totalitarian censorship) it can have a beneficial effect on the art. As the old proverb says, "the wind in a man's face makes him wise."

Artistic freedom can help or hurt art. But if great art can be produced in a prison cell or a concentration camp, it's silly for the fine art community to suggest that it can't also be produced within the constraints of a commercial art studio.

Wooden Art Car Called Gunner By Incredible Sculptor Michael Cooper

Wooden Art Car Called Gunner By Michael Cooper


Gunner Top View

Gunner Wooden Wheel Close Up

Gunner Pipe Close Up


Gunner Rear Disk Brakes Close Up

all photos via Michael Cooper Sculptor

This wooden art car called "Gunner" was created by amazing sculptor Michael Cooper who resides in Sebastopol CA. It was created in 2007 and made up from 65 different types of hard wood. is 120"x60"x39" and is owned by a private collector in Napa CA.

Not only does he live just down the street from me but I took my first 3D art class in college with Michael Cooper who inspired me to take more classes for the next four years that lead me into Graphic Design. He also encouraged us to start keeping art journals and 19 years later I have completed 23 of them.

Any ways Michael Cooper is simply amazing in the way he is able to combine wood and metal to create art that is simply mind boggling. I look at his works and cant for the life of me wrap my wind around his ability to twist and bend wood and metal in such a way. His art defies the laws of nature and has somehow tapped into a parallel universe where wood and metal naturally look this way.

Gunner is just one of the many pieces he has created and has been doing this since 1968. His portfolio is a must see, but we warned, give yourself plenty of time to browse and then come back for a second and third look. I guarantee you will never get tired of looking at his art.

Thanks Michael, its an honor to have you here on Art Car Central:)

Discordia Art Car - Beautiful flamming car at night

Discordia Art Car in the Night

Discordia Art Car in the Day

Darrick Servis aka "D-Rock" is the creator of the Discordia Art Car seen here with lit propane powered mantles. During the day time the car looks a like a mass of tangle of wire mess, and thus the name Discordia. But at at night when its lit up, this art car is totally transformed into something else. Its no longer confusing to look at, but the glow of the light makes it peaceful and beautiful to look at. I have seen Darrick's art car at all the Art Car Fest here in the SF Bay Area and at night when he lights her up, becomes the best place to hand out.

Darrick is a man of many talents ranging from audio recording and programming, to open source programming, automobile mechanics, and music. A self-described tinker, he is well-versed in computer use, programming, HTML and database use as well. He has been involved with local radio station Davis KDVS since 1990.

In Sacramento, he may be best known for his collection of art cars which include Discordia, Whipped Cream and Other Delights, The Refridgerator Car, and The HorseCow/Brickhouse/Hellouts Caddy. Sometimes he plays with The Hellouts.

text via SacWiki