The Nest and The Toad

Welcome to the

Art Car Page about

by Bobbie Pires

About Bobbie Pires:

Check out Bobbie's Video Biography from the 2020 Virtual Houston Art Car Parade.

Bobbie Pires has always been an artist. She's mostly worked in mixed media which has worked perfectly with her fascination with artcars. She has had artwork shown in various galleries in Boston, San Francisco and Oakland as well as Vermont and Maine.

In the 1990's she lived on the North Shore of Massachusetts and had two artcars. Then her creativity got redirected when she moved to California. Her husband, Kurt, introduced her to Burning Man. For several years she worked with Kurt and an assortment of campmates to create different projects for Burning Man. Some of those took shape as moving art: quadracycle-driven art vehicles that incorporated a fire element.

When Kurt and Bobbie decided to pack up their collies and lives to live fulltime traveling the US in an RV, it didn't take long before her instinct to express herself came out as yet more art vehicles. She first decorated the interior of the RV (or Nest) and then, while they traveled, worked on the exterior and eventually the Mini Cooper (The Toad) which they tow behind the RV.

They've brought both vehicles to the Trinidad CO Artcar Parade, the Victoria TX Artcar Parade (by invitation), and of course, the granddaddy of all artcar parades, in Houston. At the Houston 2019 parade, Bobbie won first place in the Daily Driver category receiving a trophy and a thousand dollars prize money.

Please follow Bobbie on Facebook and/or Instagram to keep up with any news of The Nest and The Toad!

Rattled Reverie: Bobbie Pires Art (Facebook)
rattledreverie (Instagram)
My old art page (web site)

Are you sharing awesome photos of The Nest and Toad on social media? Please use hashtags like these so we can find you:

#artcar
#thenest
#thetoad
#artRV
#aRtV

General ArtCar Information:

Houston Art Car Parade sponsorded by The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art
Houston Art Car Parade Wikipedia Page
2019 Victoria Artcar Parade sponsorded by Five Points Museum of Contemporary Art
Art Car World in Douglas, AZ
Art Cartopia in Trinidad, CO
Preeminent Artcar artist and art teacher Rebecca Bass's Facebook page of the Heights/Reagan High School Art Car Class

Frequently Asked Questions:

How long did that take ya?: Well, I don't punch a clock nor work all the time. That said, the RV has been in process since 2017 and the car was started in 2018.
What kind of glue do you use?: It's Permatex 80050 Clear RTV Silicone Adhesive Sealant often bought in Packs of 12 from Amazon!
Do things fall off a lot?: No, I chose the right glue.
What paints do you use?: Paint markers and Rust-Oleum mostly.
Are you hippies?: Umm... no.
What's all that in the RV's front window?: Those are souvenirs from our travels.
How much weight did all that add?: There's about 170 pounds of glass on the RV; we're not sure about the car.
What's the textured part of the car made out of?: sKratch architectural sculpting medium (by sKratchworKs) with paint and a rubber coating.
What are the vehicles?: A 2001 Fleetwood Storm 30H and a Pepper-White 2005 Mini Cooper.
Do you really live and travel full-time with these vehicles?: Sure do! We've been on the road since May of 2014! You jealous?
Why did you do this?: Because I'm an artist. People don't visit museums and galleries often enough. Artcars bring art to the people.

Art Car Books and Videos:

Wild Wheels by Harrod Blank: Amazon Prime Video; Book; DVD
Art Cars by Harrod Blank: Book
Automorphosis by Harrod Blank: Amazon Prime Video; DVD
Driving The Dream by Harrod Blank: Amazon Prime Video
Weird Wheels by Harrod Blank: Amazon Prime Video 12 Episode Series