Photos of my Art Car “Sparkle Ark”
The Story of “Sparkle Ark”
June 1997: My parents drive this ‘88 Toyota Corolla, then plain silver, across the entire country as my RISD graduation gift. No self-respecting RISD graduate could leave a car this boring alone for long…the transformation begins when my dear friend Jasmine, a fellow RISD grad in Jewelry Design, introduces me to the most amazing place for all things costume jewelry, Wolf E. Myrow, Inc. in Olneyville. I’m like a kid in a candy store, pardon the cliche, and buy my first batch of gemstones and a tube of epoxy. I begin to adhere the acrylic stones to just the trunk of the car with no real plan, letting the colors tell me where they want to go. At this point the whole thing is very conservative, and discrete: from most angles one would have no idea there was anything unusual about this Corolla. A few months later I visit my hometown of Oakland, California and encounter an amazing ArtCar Artist named Ron Dolce who has this unbelievably beautiful VW Bug covered entirely in stained glass. Besides being inspired and encouraged by the outrageousness of his car, I also get some very helpful advice including what NOT to use on my developing art car, namely the acrylic stones I had mistakenly bought which would apparently fade in the sun over the years. He also suggests 100% Pure Silicone Caulking as a great, flexible and lasting adhesive (Again, I had mistakenly chosen an epoxy which would turn brittle and flake off over the years. With a car, you want it to last through all kinds of weather…) Anyway, I return to Rhode Island rarin’ to go, and some neighborhood kids help me pick off every last plastic gemstone from the trunk in preparation for the glass gems I plan to buy. When I return to Wolfie’s (as it’s affectionately known), I discover to my shock that the glass gems are like 3000 times more expensive and HEAVIER than their acrylic counterparts. “Oh well, who cares” I say, and proceed to plunk down my ENTIRE week’s paycheck on a nice array of foil-backed gems. Over the course of the project I must have spent several times the actual value of the car itself… As you can see by the photos, I had a lot of fun with the project, working on it gradually over the next 5 years. In and around the abstract and decorative designs I would work in animals and objects symbolic to me or my loved ones. The most memorable image to me is the United States Flag on the passenger side rear door, which represents the fact that I was out working on the car on the very morning of September 11th, and only found out because a neighbor came out and alerted me. By this time the car was getting quite a bit of attention, and was easy to find in any parking lot because of the crowd that would inevitably gather around it. The bejewelling was so fun and therapeutic to me that it led to my doing other public projects, such as “Sparkle Spud“, the giant Mr. Potato Head sculpture I encrusted with plastic (hey, I was on a budget folks) gems for a Rhode Island tourism campaign. He was on display in Newport and later at the Skating rink in downtown Providence. He was even selected to represent all the RI potato heads in the national exhibition “City Critters” at the Lincoln Zoo in Chicago. But I digress…Back to the Art Car. I drove it all over until February of 2003 when it got hit by a joyriding car thief right outside my home at 4 in the morning. Miraculously, not much of the artwork was damaged, just the driver’s side mirror and front wheel were crunched and rendered the car undriveable. So it sat on our lawn as a giant sculpture for the next few years, growing weeds in the engine as I continued to adhere gems to it here and there. Finally I sold it to a fan for a small sum, with the arrangement that they would tow it off my miniscule property and onto their considerably larger land in nearby Mass. I have permission to go work on it whenever I please, but since having two kids I just haven’t made it over there. Deep in my heart there is a longing to complete Sparkle Ark, and maybe if possible even to resurrect the old clunker so it can once again bedazzle the streets of Rhode Island, providing amusement to bored commuters stuck in traffic jams and inspiration to kids who think cars are only a means of transportation. I’m sure God will make a way. The dream lives on…