Arts Council starts ‘Baby, You Can Drive My Art!’

The Doña Ana Arts Council (DAAC) is looking for a few good cars.

Borrowing a line from a 1965 Beatles song and changing only the last word, DAAC is revving up a new program called “Baby, You Can Drive My Art!”

DACC is seeking donations of drivable vehicles – with living-in-the-desert-necessity air conditioning that works – that a local artist can paint and DAAC can sell at auction, said DAAC Executive Director Greg Smith. That hope to begin with one car donation this summer, Smith said.

Once a vehicle has been donated, DAAC will ask a local artist to paint the car, using his or her own unique designs and talents. It will then be sold at auction during a popular DAAC event like the annual Renaissance ArtsFaire, with half the sale price going to the artist and the other half going to DAAC, Smith said.

“Cars are such a basic element in our modern lives, and we have some very talented artists whose ‘canvases’ are the surfaces of automobiles,” Smith said. “This seems like a fun way to promote art in a very visible way in our community. This is one of the ways we can underscore the way art here helps our region stand out.

“Many of us remember the photos of the unique Rolls Royce John Lennon had back in the 1960s,” he said. “The Arts Council is not looking for quite so elegant a motor coach, nor are we expecting quite so flowery a theme in paint. What we do hope to see rolling around our community is a vehicle that is from here, of here, about here.

“To identify the car with DAAC, it will come with a DAAC front (license) plate,” Smith said. “License plates will also be available for purchase through DAAC.

Later this year, Smith said DAAC will unveil an Arts Council restaurant selection program and an art-placement service.

The DAAC Arts and Cultural Center, 1740 Calle de Mercado in Bulletin Plaza, is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Call 575-523-6403.