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

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

A Rookery Of Tredknests




Well, as I mentioned, I've really had a blast developing a brood of different subspecies of tredknots, from the motherload that I just recently hatched for the Festival For The Eno.
In the last post, I shared a few of the new Dragon's Eyes that I fashioned for the Festival.

Next up is tredknests, and then maybe I'll move to Tirariums.

The trednest was originally developed, as kind of a hybrid with a dragons eye, as a piece for the Burrito Bash Fundraiser Auction for the Haw River Assembly at the recent Pittsboro General Store. I wanted to create something that had some of the riparian wildlife magic to it, that you might find along the majestic Haw River. The result was the first tredknest, which featured a winding knot of orangy yellow Kenda bike tire, coiled sereptitiously around a 'knest' of on glassy babymoon hubcap egg, nestled into a purple feather boa.
I really felt like this hit its mark, and was relieved when then Events Cooridinator accepted it at the last minute for the fundraiser (God Bless Germane!).
I was then thrilled, when Ken Moore, builder and co founder of UNC Botanical Gardens bid on the piece, and when my very good friend Diane Swan made the final bid. I had, in fact had Diane in mind as I rushed to create the piece (knowing she and her partner Scotty Young would be at the event).
I could just see it resting on their porch in Bynum. And shore enough, fate it be!

The next development for the tredknest occured when Jimmy and Audrey Shwankle happened in to my studio, one 3rd Friday Art Walk, in Siler City.
Audrey had a brother who was a  trucker, and got married in Las Vegas, and Audrey wanted to give him an Wedding present.  They were really taken by the tredknot form, and asked if they could commission an artpiece incoroporating the form for a wedding gift.

 So I got to work, and what I came up with is now what is known as the tredknest.
Like the original, this involves a tredknot of bicycle tire, with a mirror buried within a knest of feathers.
However, for this, I traded the babymoon out for a smaller rear view mirror. There are some other contraptions involved, but I can't really talk about those here (trade secret).

A new addition though is a backing, of reclaimed cardboard, foam rubber and upholstery fabric.
As I mentiioned in the post about Dragon's Eyes, this backing really helps to finnish out the piece, and adds another element of depth of character to the piece.

I was extremely pleased with this particular batch of tredknests.
This particular tredknot form is quite tricky to master (as the beads of the tires rarely want to behave, to allow a graceful form). But have made in the neighborhood of 50 of these forms now, my skill level increased, to yield a much higher success rate.

 And additionaly, through this experience, of what works and doesn't work aesthetically with this line, I have honed into what I consider to be some pretty exquisite pairing of tire, feather and fabric.
Humbly, I would say unto thee that I think this gradual heightining of skill and aesthetic sensibilities shows in this years collection.




Strawberry Milk Knot 
(a true Bessie)
The idea for this knot began, as is often the case, with the tire.
For some reason, these white wall tires knots always remind me of a the black and white jersey? cows that I see in Chatham County. So I have come to call these knots "Bessie'"s.
I made the first Bessie for my friend Tessa, which my girlfriend Carrie at the time commissioned for her. It suited her so well, and she seems to adore it (it hangs in her bathroom, which I think of as a compliment, coming from a woman). Tess is a really strong woman- an activist, who helps lead/teach some community gardening education classes in Siler City. I wanted to make another one of these bessies, to honor Tess, for another strong woman out there.



The strawberry milk bit was an afterthought (I just had this dotted red upholstery fabric laying around).
But what a deliscious afterthought!



SAFARI KNOT
Perhaps this one is a little kitshy, but what's wrong with a little kitsch?!
It was that leapord print fabric I tell ya, these fabric backings are causing kitschy wild things to happen around here! But look how it brings the whole thing together, willya? 






PINK THANG / PALM BEACH KNOT
That hot pink feather boa has been sitting in my closet for yeeahs, yeeah's I tell ya, 
waiting for its moment in the sun.
Well, its day has finally come. 
Phassined to one hellluva knot, and finished with a cool minty blue/green derriere, 
this tredknot is to die foa!
I'm caught between being embarrased to hang this in my booth, and swooning over it.
Palm beach aside, or not, against that burlap background, you've got to admit, Palm Beach and all, its pretty exotic.


Mallard Knot
On maybe a slightly more mature note, but no less exquisite in my eyes, 
is this distinguished tredknot.
I remember a movie I saw several years ago in SF, called Birds in Flight, which followed birds on their migrations on what were at times perilous journeys.
One very touching scene was of a group of beautiful ducks who were making their way through a polluted landscape of Eastern Europe. You couldn't help but feel and pull for these brave and beautiful creatures, as they made their hurried way through the darkened, sooty skies, and through slick, polluted once marsh- waters. You also could notice their sense of vital urgency, as they tried to get through this doomy chapter of their journey as quickly as possible.
So anyways, this knot is perhaps a small tribute to those ducks. 

I think that this one I am going to have to set aside for a gallery in Asheville that I have been talking with.




PURPLE HAZE KNOT
This here is one wicked knot. So much so, that I am not quite sure that its interior does the knot justice yet.
However, I do think the purple does it right, and 
For me, this has a bit more fierce and masculine energy to it. While I like the purple, I am considering trying a new color, maybe a yellow, orange or lime green. 




YET UNNAMED KNOT
One of my very favorites of this series was this one, whose name has not yet revealed itself to me.
For some reason, it just strikes me as straighforward, matter of fact, and utterly beautiful.
I guess that I could say that, to me this piece strikes a perfect, and enchanting balance 
between strength and femininity.
 It reminds me a little bit of an once upon a time love of mine.
Maybe I will name her Tila.




 Here are few more close ups of Palm Beach Knot, just cause its so... glamorous!
(the shape that you see reflected in the mirror at the tredknests center is a tiresphere called "Sphere for Charles Woodsend" that was hanging above where I was photographing the knot. I had never witnessed this piece from this angle, pretty neat!)