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

Saturday, August 6, 2011

National Night Out

TAKING BACK THE STREETS, That what I'm talkin' bout.
Gwen Overturf Spangles A Street Pimple!

I have been taking a mini sabatical from Tire Art, this last month.
I just got done teaching a cartoon camp at the Arts Center, which was alot of fun.
And before that I did some painting of puppets and sets for PaperHand Puppet, which was also fun (and looks to be a great show, opens this weekend).
I have also been heavily involved with the Siler City NC STEP Leadership Team, whose work I might describe another time. It has really been exciting and worthwhile to work with this group of people, and we have some really important projects brewing on the horizon.
Now is a very important time, when we choose which projects to persue. It is just a really exciting time to be in Siler City, inSPITE of all of the economic problems we face. It is still a wonderful and diverse community, and in some ways, I think our struggle brings us closer together...



This certainly felt to be the case last Tuesday, when we had our National Night Out.
This is an event put on jointly by the local police force, and (downtown) by a few local nonprofits, namely the El Vinculo Hispano, Chatham County Together! and the Arts Incubator.

We had a really nice blend of a little different folks downtown that night, and I was really pleased with the ease with which all of the groups intermingled, which hasn't always happened here, historically.
Everything was peachfuzz!

My band, Zambamboogee, was going to play, but that didn't quite work out, for better or worse. So we did have some good tunes from Mano, an awesome dance performance by the El Vinculo Youth Group, Face Painting,  Street Painting, Pinata Busting, Fire Hose Showers, and contests, including a cake eating contest, which I contested in for the first time (but was not triumphant, perhaps because, as usual, I wanted to have my cake and eat it too...)
Sitting back to taste the cake.
Mmmmm, chocolaty....

I also got to sit in an do a cameo with the El Vinculo Face Painters, whom I have been working along side for several years now, and was a pleasure as always.

Its funny. Our band could have added something to this event. But, you know, we Really didn't need to!
It was a really nice event, and for me, it WAS very nice to get to 'sit back, and enjoy this cake' that is this community. Amen.
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