Art Buggy

Well yesterday was a good day. It was a beautiful fall day. Cool enough for long pants and a jacket, but the sun had a nice warmth to it, making it so you had to roll the windows down in the vehicle so as not to get too hot. I wasn't sure if I was going to post this or not because I don't like revealing too much personal info about myself on the internet. But, the heck with that for now...
I belong to a new group called Make:Philly. It is a group of "makers" (artists, engineers, crafters, hobbyists, etc...) who enjoy a magazine (I've talked about before) called MAKE magazine. Well, Make:philly is the first real group to start up and I'm proud to be a part of it. Well, yesterday (Sunday) was the worlds first ever Art Buggy Race! Why? I have no idea... that doesn't really matter does it. If you ask "why" about most art, there isn't much of a reason for it. So this was something that I decided to sign up for and give it a go. I created my art buggy out of scrap wood and mostly found parts. I had originally worked out an "ink delivery system" using an old mustard squeeze bottle, but later decided to scrap it for a store bought magic marker. It was simple and more efficient than my own home built marker. (BUT it did work). I created a cart approx 4'x6' (including the handles) that had a cross bar upon which I hung several mini-sharpies and one giant poster marker. The markers hung from a string, and when you pushed the buggy it would swing the markers thus creating art. We (A group of about 5 other buggies) gathered at a park in center city Philadelphia and raced around a fountain. We were then judged on several criteria (buggy itself, the final art produced, and the speed of winning the race, and a "crowd favorite"). I made it past round one, and onto round two, to finally lose. It was a fun time and I really enjoyed hanging out with other creative people and doing something plain old "Crazy". I enjoyed the building process too of actually making something original in design to a working model. I have a new found appreciation for zip ties too. Ranks right up there with Duct Tape. I have a ton of photos and will probably be posting them to my filckr account. The Worst part about the whole thing was the fact that I had recruited a friend of mine to actually run for me. I am VERY out of shape and have not ran since about the 7th grade! Well, just my luck, he hurt his back the day before the race so he had to back out. So it was up to me. I felt embarrassed to get out there and "run" which quickly turned into a fast walk. But, What else could I do, so I sucked it up, and proceeded with my fat head held high :) I hope the one person who was video taping the event is kind to me in the editing process.

And on another note...
I found this cool post today on youtube... pretty amazing what this guy has accomplished.