Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 6, June 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Art Cars to return to Fremont Fair

By JAMES BUSH

Just as the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano every March 19, the arrival of Summer Solstice Weekend means the Art Cars are coming to North Seattle's Fremont neighborhood.

More than 65 decorated vehicles from across the U.S. and Canada will make the trip to Seattle to spend both days of the Fremont Fair (Saturday, June 19 and Sunday, June 20) parked for the amusement of fairgoers. The Seattle Art Car Blowout will also feature a Sunday morning caravan from Golden Gardens Park in Ballard to the Fremont Fair via Seaview Avenue Northwest, Northwest Market Street, and Leary Way Northwest (the art cars depart the park at 11:15 a.m.).

Phinney resident Josh Keller has just a short drive south to meet up with the art car gang. A couple years ago, he spent 170 hours repainting his two-door Mazda with Moorish motifs based on those he found in a National Geographic article. "I was paging through the magazine and thought 'That would look really great on a car,' " he says.

Since then, Keller has followed the art cars to such cultural capitols as San Francisco, Vancouver, B.C., and Brier, with an appearance at the Everett Hot Rod Show to boot. "We were the bastard stepchildren of that event," he jokes.

What makes a person transform their means of transportation into an artistic statement? In Keller's case, it was the combination of the peeling paint on his aging Mazda and the influence of two friends with art cars of their own. "It was good to have that sort of inspiration around," he says.

Art cars are often created around a person's interests, such as the hydroplane fan who turned his car into a tribute to his beloved loud boats. "There are people who simply have an obsession and it gets transferred to their car," says Keller.

L. Kelly Lyles, co-producer of the Seattle Art Car Blowout, drives a snow leopard Subaru nicknamed "Leopard Bernstein." The car has ears and a tail, a leopard face in full roar on the hood, and an assortment of big cats on the hood and roof.

But, different as they are from one another, art car owners have one thing in common, says Keller. "They all have a goofy sense of humor."

Organizing the nation's third largest art car event has one major drawback, notes Lyles. Getting autos to events means raising money for gasoline: a tough challenge given the recent soaring gas prices and the distance some car owners have to travel; the Seattle Art Car Blowout will feature cars from California, Oregon, Kansas, British Columbia and even Texas. Anyone donating more than $200 to the cause (Seattle Art Cars is a registered non-profit organization) will be invited to ride along in the Sunday caravan (to donate, call 937-2058).

Colorado native Keller moved to Seattle nine years ago, after ditching Arizona on the grounds that it was too hot. "The day that it hit 100 degrees for the summer, I was in my car leaving," he says. "I came up here and thought I'd at least stay the summer, and I haven't left."

A French teacher at Madison Middle School, he used to drive his art car to school on a daily basis. "Now I drive it on the weekends and when the mood strikes me," he says.

Keller even got his kids in on the art car action during his stint at Whitman Middle School, when he led a group of sixth-graders in decorating a friend's 1983 Toyota.

While not a professional artist, Keller says he's "constantly making something: whether doing photography, block prints, sketching."

He's especially looking forward to the art car caravan. "Every day kind of seems like a parade when you have an art car," he says. "But with 20, you really stop traffic. Or, at least, turn heads."

Should you consider taking the plunge and creating your own art car? Why not? "Car makers have been marketing the idea that your car is your identity," responds Keller. "If you take that at face value, why would you want a beige, two-door sedan?"

The Seattle Art Car Blowout will be held on the Fremont Fair grounds on Saturday, June 19 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sunday, June 20 from noon to 6 p.m.

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The Fremont Fair is located at Fremont Avenue North and North 34th Street. (Note: Proceeds from the fair benefit the Fremont Public Association, a nonprofit social service agency that operates a food bank and other programs to help those in need. Fairgoers are encouraged to donate a dollar when attending to help fight poverty.)