This year’s Blow-Out features more out of town cars than ever. From Kansas, CHEWBARU, a Subaru covered in dental plates and paraphernalia, is a crowd favorite every time. STINK BUG, a VW bug from Florida covered in cigarette butts, will make its first appearance at SACBO. They will join cars that have traveled from up and down the West Coast, from southern California to British Columbia – and just around the block in Fremont. Also making a first time appearance is the YARN CAR, “as seen in Reader’s Digest,” by Tim Klein. This car features more than four miles of yarn.

The art car artists themselves are always happy to explain the ways and wherefores of their work. Phil Teller, creator of the Cyberdyne 1000 Transporter, says, “How do you make an art car? That’s easy. Buy a cheap car and chop away everything that isn’t art.” Materials used to make cars displayed this weekend include old computer parts, fridge magnets, river rocks, paint, personal accessories, animals, plastic toys, and more.

“Seeing a single art car is one thing, seeing a whole bunch together is really a trip” says Don Ehlen, driver of the fish covered Volkswagen, the Aquamobile.

“Art cars are the ultimate in accessible Public Art, says local artist Kelly Lyles. Ms. Lyles’ “Excessories Odd-yssey,” – a Honda Mini-van covered with women’s fashion – is her daily driver. She shares some of the benefits of driving an art car: “It deflects road rage, and gives strangers something to talk about. Besides, it’s easier to find in a parking lot, just look for all the gawking people.”

June 17 – 19, 2011

Register for the Seattle Art Car Blowout online here

Please join us for the 14^th annual Seattle Art Car Blowout held in the Center of the Universe during the Fremont Fair – Solstice Parade and Pageant, June 18^th and 19^th, 2011 (with an energy-packed kick-off party the night before, Friday June 17^th).  We are talking succulent sustainable Seattle at its best!  You owe yourself this!

The Solstice Parade kicks off with hundreds of colorfully painted cyclists as over 100,000 citizens line the route!  Then the parade washes into a Craft Fair giddy with stilt-walkers, political activism, and life-affirming skits all non-toxically wrapped in a living ribbon of Giant Puppets, Colorful Human-Powered floats, Salsa Marching Bands and Belly Dancers!

You make the Seattle Art Car Blowout unique.  Register your intention to come!  Registration gets you:

• Adulation of thousands
• Friday kick-off at Kim & Steve’s fantastic shop: Close Enough Engineering
• Reserved display space at the Fremont Fair from which you may vend (no fee)
• Prime seating for Solstice Parade (Saturday 11 AM)
• Saturday evening Salmon BBQ
• Sunday morning Donut Joust and Art Car procession through Seattle
• Accommodations in a hotel, spare bedroom, or better yet a comfy couch!
• Up to 100% gas money reimbursement for out-of-towners
• Closing night party at the NW’s testament to rock & roll, the Feedback Lounge

We reserve a huge parking lot for the Art Car Zone at the fair.  We want to feed you all weekend; so an accurate headcount is essential!  Please register ASAP!  We encourage you to Donate $25 or whatever you can afford, but please register now even if you don’t donate now.  If you cannot register online, then you can print and send your registration through the mail with an old fashioned check for $25.  You can mail us a check or use PayPal using the Donate button on this page and it is tax deductible!  We are a 501 c3 not-for-profit under the umbrella of the Fremont Arts Council.  If you’re financially strapped, don’t let that stop you.  We want every ArtCar to participate!  But you gotta register so we can make space to show off your unique vision to the world!  It’s your time to shine!

Join your tribe of fellow CARTISTS from around the country!  Come be inspired, admired and celebrated!  We look forward to seeing you and yours in person…

Yours truly,

Local News | Drivers, art your engines: Show for odd autos comes to Fremont | Seattle Times Newspaper.

By Marian Liu

Seattle Times staff reporter – June 2010

Fake eyeballs, rainbows, shoes and plastic soldiers — that’s what art cars are made of.

This weekend, more than 50 wildly decorated cars from all over the nation and Canada cruise into Seattle’s annual Art Car Blowout. Now in its 11th year at the Fremont Fair, it rivals Minneapolis as the second-largest show in the U.S., behind the hub of the movement — Houston — where 300-some art cars parade the streets every spring.

“It’s a really supportive community here,” said Kelly Lyles, the event’s coordinator. Unlike in some cities, the Seattle exhibition isn’t juried. “So the guy who slaps house paint on his car … to the professional sculptor are totally welcome.”

The term “art car” is very broad — encompassing everything from custom paint jobs to glued-on doodads to oddly-shaped chassis; one car coming to Seattle this week looks like a larger-than-life red wagon.

Usually folks get into making art cars for fun, often using old vehicles, said the “King” of the art-car scene, Harrod Blank, who’s coming from the Southwest to this year’s Blowout. He has more than 500 art-car enthusiasts in his database and estimates many more are involved.

“In a way, it’s shaking up the status quo of the automobile,” said Blank, who has documented the scene in books and films. “It’s what we think the car should be — more fun, more colorful, more expressive.”

It’s certainly an extension of Lyles’ personality. She affectionately nicknamed her art car “Excessories Odd-yssey” and covered it with a variety of shoes, purses and jewelry. Among other things, the hood sports a magnetic paper doll.

The 53-year-old painter from West Seattle first got into the scene when she was looking for a car 20 years ago. She was going to buy a used Subaru but opted for a Ford Pinto instead, with fewer miles.

“I was mortified to be seen in it, so I decorated it like a horse, glued little horses on it,” said Lyles.

“I custom-painted it with brown and white spots like a pinto pony, with horse hood ornaments, a cowboy and Indian diorama in the back. The blinkers played ‘Love Me Tender.’ ”

Some art cars can be driven, but others don’t even run. Blank, for example, had to tow his car (covered with random objects and called “Oh My God!”) behind a minivan.

But for longtime exhibit participant Leith Zeutenhorst, her art car was a welcome diversion. Years ago, after she was diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancer, she made her mother’s 1982 Ford Futura into a rainbow art car named “Joyride.”

“I was so happy to come out of the hospital and see my art car,” said Zeutenhorst, a 54-year-old artist from Camas, Clark County. “Now I take my friends to their mammogram appointments in my car.”

Her 88-year-old mother was at first horrified to see what happened to the car, but saw the effect it had on people.

“I guess it’s just a happy car,” said her mother, Nada Jarvis. “It makes people smile, and be happy. It offers good transportation, too.”

“It’s fun, it’s not just any car show. There’s always something new and unusual to see” notes Amber Boorman of Vancouver B.C., driver of “Machisma”. A black 1970 Oldsmobile augmented with two-foot tall fins and 3-D flamed paint job.

“Art cars are accessible to everyone, it’s public art available on the road and not in private galleries,” local artist Kelly Lyles explains. “Both kids and adults get a kick out of them.”

It’s named the EXCESSORIES ODD-YSSEY (note name in jewelry on the side). It’s only about 1/2- 2/3 done, I just jumped in w/ out much of a plan & just started gluing, but at some point of course want every square inch of white covered w/ either purses, shoes (on top, ideally flashy ones, often kids dress-up since they have wider heels for glue), belts, sunglasses, gloves, etc. And jewelry, jewelry, jewelry. I wasn’t thinking about how much it would take, so any donations are welcome! The front is me as a Paperdoll (I took from an existing 1950′s one & modified, but even making chest smaller & waist bigger it’s “in my dreams!”)  w/ magnetized outfits. One of the ‘shirts’ was stolen within 2 days.
The rain & cold has slowed my progress a bit, but I’m having fun w/ a theme dear to my heart (more so than leopard spots, I’m reveling in colour again vs all that brown & black of Leopard Bernstein, now happily ensconsed in a Museum in Arizona.

Google has been busy taking photos along roads in various cities around the country. Basically they just drive along every road, in a vehicle with a panoramic camera mounted on the roof. You can see these photos in Google Maps, using the “Street View” feature.

Alas, my art car wasn’t parked out front when they drove past my house here in Dallas. If I’d only known they were coming!

But up in Portland, this art car fleet was on display: Reverend Charles’ house, w/ OUR LADY OF ETERNAL COMBUSTION, JESUS CHRYSLER, THE DANGER CAR, etc.
(Under the little photo of a house, click “Street View”, and then rotate the view around. You probably need high-speed Internet access for it to work well.)