Art Cars Take Shape At Several SBISD Schools

Wilchester Elementary Art Specialist Stephanie Walton last weekend brought home one of the more coveted Art Car awards – First Place for Outstanding Art Car. Walton received a trophy and $1,500 for her car “Simply Charming Dragonfly Car,” a car she calls her “daily driver” and done a few years ago while she taught at Northbrook Middle School.

Stephanie Walton's Simply Charming Dragonfly Car won First Place for Outstanding Art Car.

It can be somewhat amusing – or jarring – to see a car painted like a mural, or decorated like a collage with all sorts of items attached, maybe adhering to a theme, or maybe not.

And so it is with Art Cars, those Houston-centric automobiles that are expressions both of their drivers and of a city that’s unique in so many ways. Houston is a serious place where business gets done yet is home to such distractions as the Orange Show and the Art Car Parade.

Many Spring Branch ISD students were treated Thursday, April 6, to a preview of Saturday’s downtown parade as several Art Cars participated in separate “drags,” with several cars created by SBISD students.

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Memorial Drive Elementary created an “Emoji” Art Car. Wilchester Elementary celebrated “50 years of Wildcat Pride” with its car. Spring Forest Middle created a “Flamingo Fancy” car, in conjunction with Nottingham Elementary’s “SpikeBikes.” At Meadow Wood Elementary, students decorated remote control cars as Art Cars. Cornerstone Academy created Art Cars from shoebox-size cars, and was one of the stops on the drag.

Also at Wilchester, preK students converted cardboard boxes into Art Cars and did their own version of a “drag” as they paraded in front of the student body, convened outside for the motorized drag. Teachers said it was a fun way for the younger students to feel like a part of the Parade while providing an outlet for creativity.

The SBISD drags take separate routes – one north and one south, stopping at selected schools along the way. At Wilchester on Thursday, students eagerly inspected the Art Cars in the drag, which included the Spring Forest car and Wilchester’s own car as well as several other Art Cars.

Special thanks this year to the SBISD Police Department, who picked up escort duty for the Art Car drags.

The Art Car Parade is Saturday, April 8 at 2 p.m. The parade route is downtown, along Smith Street.