Baltimore Trip Part 1: Art Cars At Artscape

I spent last weekend in Baltimore with my wife and our friend Judy. My main reason for the visit was to attend Otakon, a large anime convention. The artist for one of my upcoming comic books, Missy Pena, had an Artists Alley table at the show, and this was my first chance to meet her in person.

Gynn and I also planned on doing a lot of sightseeing in Baltimore. In addition to Otakon, Baltimore's Artscape festival was also happening. On Friday night, we went our separate ways. Judy attended the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's performance of Disney music. I went the the convention and got registered, and Gynn headed to Artscape.

Actually, it didn't quite work out that way. Gynn was given incorrect directions and ended up wandering around Baltimore's Little Italy. I did make it to Artscape, and got a good look at a group of art cars.

What's an art car? It's a car that has been modified into a work of art. You can find out some basics on art cars at the Wikipedia article here.

In the meantime, here are some pictures to give you a better idea of what an art car is.

I loved the wood structure on this one:

There was even an art-motorcycle, dressed up as a rocket!

Some people seemed to love attaching hundred of things to their vehicle. This one was the Music Car:

And the Camera Van:

But the most spectacular was the Brass Van:

Here are some closeups to see the details.

I wonder what kind of mileage this thing gets? :)

We saw the art cars again on Saturday morning when they parked at the American Visionary Art Museum, and our visit there is the subject of my next post.