She affixed the paintings to her spring-studded car, which she has transformed into a pun on wheels and a rolling reminder called Hope Springs Eternal. Heller relates all of this on a sweltering April afternoon as she stitches tiny springs into an elaborate halter top in the shade of her car, which sits on the asphalt roof of a Houston parking garage. Jan Elftmann, who has just pulled in from Minnesota, covered her pickup truck with more than 10,000 wine corks. Mike Dellinger, a high school art teacher from Dallas, prefers mixing his media. Regardless of whether car artists simply want to express themselves, like Dellinger, or make a point, like Heller, their creations travel a two-way street.
Art cars bring art to people as much as they bring people to art.
And as an artist, you don't have to rely on the audience coming to you, it's going to be seen. Blank, who covered an old Dodge van with more than 1,700 cameras and operates the few that work by remote control to capture pedestrians' reactions, estimates that there are now between 300 and 400 art car artists scattered around the nation. Together, they are reclaiming a corner of the culture by celebrating human creativity, outing art from museums and galleries, and playfully shaking things up. Jan Elftmann, decked out in her cork and naugahyde ball gown holds an umbrella, smiles serenely, and waves from her perch on the back of the cork truck. Heller's Hope Springs Eternal prompts smiles and hoots from the soggy crowd, as does just about every other rig rolling by.