Welcome

Ahoy Matey, and Welcome to REPTIRE, an intermittent ‘ship’s blog’, chronicling the slow rise in the South Easterly skies of Reptire Designs; a studio that designs and crafts always artful, and sometimes useful THINGAMABOBS from old Indian Cucachou, aka ReTired Rubber.

Down Below, Ye shall find a permanent 'flagship post' marking the Maiden Voyage of Reptire Designs.

And below that, in the ‘hull’, can be found more recent posts chronicling the daring new adventures of Reptire Designs, dashed with small bits of whimsy, spotted pickerel, local color, and lizard lore..

In fact, on the right, in pale purple, ye shall find the Captain's Log’s Table of Previous Posts, which ye can peruse by year, month, and title to ye hearts content.

If ye haven't gotchyer sea legs yet, My Pretty, Ye can take a gander at our website at www.reptiredesigns.com, to get a proper Landlubber's Introduction.

Thanks for stopping in, I do hope you enjoy your visit aboard this ship! HARHARHARHAR.......

Sincerely, Travius Von Cohnifus

Captain, Founder, Indentured Servant, Rubber Alligator Wrestlor Extraordinaire a' this here ship.

enter the treadknot

Welcome
On September 26th, 2006, I launched my tire art/design business, Reptire Designs, with a solo exhibition of my artwork in The Green Gallery at The Scrap Exchange Center for Creative Reuse, in Durham, NC. For many reasons, it was a night that I will always remember, and I am grateful to Laxmi (my girlfriend at the time) and Edie (my mother, still) for dutifully documenting while I shmoozed, so that I may now shmare a taste of the evening with anyone who was not able to attend...



On a cool but lively autumn night-before-Center Fest, a stream of friends and curious strangers trickled (like pebbles through a rain stick) through the forest of odds and ends (that roost at night in The Scrap Exchange), out into the warm light of the back savanna, a scene utterly glopped with bizarre rubbery hybrids. Tentative and curious, the visitors craned their necks, nibbled, pecked, stood back, moved in closer. From the walls, glassy mirror eyes gazed back through black unblinking eyelids, while beneath the visitor's feet, in a steamy drainage cistern, a mortal drama unfolded. Primordial forms, with no eyes at all, sat puckered on stoops. A cascade of glittering steal droplets formed a curtain, to which clung a colony of tiny tire knotlettes.

Vito D., a long-time collabator down from the Asheville area, caressed the warming air with his Strange Little Folk music. I bobbed and I flit, and at an increasing clip-someone must have opened the faucet a bit....for soon I was swooning, I just about lost it! As the evening progressed, to my delight and amazement, 'family' from Durham, Chapel Hill, Pittsboro, Hillsboro, Siler City, Asheville, and Fresno all made it! From the Cohn Clan to the Steudel Clan to the CFS Clan; from the WWC Clan to the Duke Ac Pub Clan to the SAF Clan; from the Bike Shop Clan to the Ninth St. Clan to the Scrap Clan... and every one in between, guys, they were all appearing before my stunned, blinking eyes. While I spun and I splayed, Vito now played-CHURNED- up a torrent of gritty ditties; while a staff volunteer (Brandon's a photographer, I swear) whipped up pitchers of Mango Lassies. And The 'Scrap Exchange girls' worked the door, the counter, and the floor, going "cha-CHING!", cha-CHING!","cha-CHING!".!.



By the end of the night, hundreds of friends, acquaintances and had-been-strangers had poured in, poured over the work, and partaken in, what was for me and my art, a monumental communal feast. And on top of it all, I got to place many of my preemies in hands that I love and trust, and in several instances, hands that fit them like gloves. What a privilage to be able to connect with people this way. Heading into the turbid seas of small business, I can confidently say that if I drown tomorrow, I am at least blessed today with the memory of (as Vito later put it) one authentically good Durham night.



Thanks to all of you who were there; in body and/or spirit.





Reclaimed-wood Builder and Reptire Collector Howard Staab enjoying magwi knot at the Scrap Exchange

Reclaimed-wood Builder and Reptire Collector Howard Staab enjoying magwi knot at the Scrap Exchange
I can't think of anything more rewarding for an artist than to see someone interacting with their artwork. Photo by Laxmi Haynes

Sammy and Dannette contemplate

Sammy and Dannette contemplate
Photograph by Laxmi Haynes

Cascade Colony of Knotlets

Cascade Colony of Knotlets
They would go with your jacket, would they not Claire?

Laxmi Resplendent

Laxmi Resplendent

Mavis In The Mist

Mavis In The Mist
Photograph by Laxmi Haynes

Tire Amazement

Tire Amazement
Photograph by Edie Cohn

Thursday, July 14, 2011

A visit from the Chatham County Bureau of Tourism

Today, I got a very special visit from Mrs. Neha Shaw, our one-woman office powerhouse, here in Chatham County. I have recently had the pleasure to meet Ms. Shaw through both of our work the Siler City Merchants Association, and I have continually been impressed by both her professionalism, candor and vision.

It was a real treat to get to introduce Neha to the Reptire Design Studios and Showroom today. She seemed to delight in the mysterious ambiance of the space, in its many nooks and corners of eclectic tire amazement, which was satisfying to an artist like myself, especially coming from a tourism professional (with exceedingly good tastes) like herself.

Mrs. Shaw also brought with her a cache of Great Ideas!
One that she sold me on particularly deftly, was to set up some kind of an art making experience that visitor's could have with Reptire Designs.
I have to admit that while I was initially dubious and suspicious, in the course of discussion, she somehow turned me around, and after some serious brainstorming around the topo-tire coffee table, we devined a pretty neat plan!

On 3rd Fridays, (beginning in Novemember) I will host worm sewing parties at the Studio. Visitors form out of town, perhaps staying the night at Celebrity Dairy's Bed and Breakfast, can come in and 'tie one on'!, to old Tyrius!

At my last 'Verm-Sewing Verk Party' back in September of 2010, we had a great time sewing up Tyrius in preperation for his YOGA SPECTACULAR at Reuse Conex. There, Pro Chatham County Together! Counselor Extraordinaire Gwyn Overturf marveled at what an enjoyable, relaxing and really quite therapeutic activity worm sewing is.

And it is absolutely true! The repetitive motion of hand sewing these two fabric rings together, (with jumbo sized, curved upholstery needles and heavy duty fishing line) to create a long, bendy, human-sized glowering tube, with alternating stripes of black, orange, white, pink and yellow is a unique and special experience indeed!

(It also sort of brought a lot of very special in my life together, so too, it seemed to emminate the residual warm and hearty aroma of community building in my own personal collective memory, at least. There is something about doing small repetitive handi-tasks together around a table (or fire), that seems to tap into some part of our brains, somewhere back there, when we spent a lot of time doing such things (sewing fishing nets, sails etc....
Definitely some 'Stitch and Bitch' potential here..)

As Neha suggested, wouldn't it be wonderful for a visitor to get to step beyond that veneer of buying an artist's crafts, and get to step into their space, their gloves, their process, for an evening, and help to create something of lasting shock value!

I think it sounds awesome!
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