What started out as a wacky, fun idea for two sisters has turned into a community art and master's degree project. A year ago Lucie Slone Meyers asked her sister Anne Allen if she'd like to collaborate on an art car, just to drive around town and in parades.
"She was inspired by other community art cars throughout the country," said Allen. "It was kind of a subculture."
But as Allen started poking around on the Internet, she learned that there was a more formal Art Mobile movement that started in the 1950s with a museum taking its mission on the road to rural communities. Others have followed, and this fun pastime developed into art with a purpose.
The change in focus was a natural for Allen, an elementary level art teacher. Now in her sixth year at Tates Creek Elementary School, the ArtMobile has become an interactive project for some of her students. A handful of them helped Allen and Slone Meyers decorate the 1982 Oldsmobile Cutlass Classic station wagon, while others have been the beneficiaries of its new mission.
"I'm going to be taking art into neighborhoods, raising awareness, and getting parental involvement so it makes art more meaningful and creates conversation in the home about art," said Allen.
One of her first outings was in May at the Living Arts and Science Center. The idea is for the car to serve as art itself, but also to house, transport, inspire, and initiate art.
"At the Living Arts and Science Center I had a student art show on the side of the car and used magnets to hang artwork all over it," said Allen. "Then we used the back of the car as a studio and brought out tables where they could do art." Her future plans include pairing up with area artists to take their work on the road to schools or non-profit groups. In that scenario, the car would transport and display the artist's work, then Allen and the presenting artist would work together to develop a hands-on project that would reflect the style or medium of the visiting artist.
The idea appears to have legs, and wheels. Allen earned her Master's Degree from the University of Kentucky this spring with the ArtMobile as her creative project.
"I'm using it to enhance my curriculum," she said. "It's pulling [my students] out of the neighborhoods and into the art scene and that's what it's all about."