Students from Michel Belknap's eighth-grade art class work on Kate Warren's art car outside of Dalewood Middle School.The only problem with her vehicle, Kate Warren says, is that it can't fit through the drive-through at McDonald's.
Warren drives an art car, nicknamed "The River Otter," a 1974 Toyota Chinook camper that has been painted and enhanced to represent the Scenic City.
At the top are two mounds, in shades of green, to represent Lookout Mountain and Signal Mountain. Down one side flows blue, signifying the Tennessee River. The other includes train tracks, hearkening back to the days of the Chattanooga Choo Choo. The front of the car is, indeed, made up to resemble the river otter for which the automobile is named.
Warren is the founder of Art 120, a nonprofit organization seeking to celebrate art, teach transferable skills to urban youth and engage the Chattanooga community in the artistic opportunities available to them. She is the energy behind the Scenic City Art Car Weekend, a part of the HATCH Festival.
HATCH - which stands for History Arts Technology Cultural Happenings - takes place around the city April 12-22. The Art Car Parade is scheduled April 14 and will proceed from Cowart Street to Main Street on Chattanooga's Southside.
Warren said there will be about 10 cars and an as-yet-unknown number of art bikes in the caravan. Art 120 is raising money for an urban art bike summer program, in which young people can learn to rebuild and decorate bicycles. Participants will be traveling here from Houston, Kentucky and Florida.
One local participant is Wendy Tippens, whose multicolored vehicle draws instant interest on city streets. She calls it "The Love Van."
"I had a Nissan Quest," she said. "It was so boring."
So she painted it and added stones and sparkles inside and out. Doing so, she said, was highly therapeutic. "I think all of the world's problems can be solved through art."
In preparation for Scenic City Art Car Weekend, Warren has been traveling around to area schools, inviting students to help her decorate it. They have included bottle cap motifs, gemstone patterns and mottled spray-paint