What is Art*o*mat®?

What is Art*o*mat? Created by Clark Whittington in 1997, Art*o*mat® machines are retired cigarette machines that have been converted to VEND ART! For only $5 you can collect paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, jewelry, glass, mixed media and more -all the size of a pack of cigarettes. There are over 100 active machines in various locations throughout the country. "Mat," the machine featured in this road trip blog, was the first Art*o*mat® hosted in Washington state in 2005 and now "MAThilda" is proud to be the first machine hosted in New Mexico, debuting in February 2013.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

How We Load/Unload The Machine

Here's a little info about how we engineered the contraption that helps us load and unload Mat from the Toyota Sienna minivan:
We fashioned two furniture dollies together with carpet-covered 2x4s. This dolly thing (Laird says we should name it "Parton" -get it?) fits snug on the back of Mat and stays put with two hefty blue ratcheting packing straps.

We put a rubberized carpeted doormat inside the minivan with slack hanging over the bumper to prevent scratches. Mat rides in the minivan on his back with wheels out towards the hatch. With the both of us lifting we can heft it up and in and back out again, but boy, is it heavier than we'd remembered! Right around 200lbs we're guessing.

Today was our pre-road trip loading and unloading "tech rehearsal" and we did 3 dry runs at 3 iconic Tacoma landmarks for our "Farewell to Tacoma" blog post. It went rather well, with no slips or drops or oopsies. We learned that a flat parking surface is a must and that no rain is the way to go!
5 more days till we hit the road. Woo Hoo!
Mat is packed, ratcheted to "Parton," and ready to roll!
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3 comments:

  1. Judy B.February 18, 2012 at 3:33 PM

    If you travel to Boone, Iowa, please stop by the coolest new coffee, pastry shop in town. It is called The Good News Room. They might
    even want to take on the Art-O-Mat, only with
    down-home Midwest art for five bucks. My surprise from the BKB Art-O-Mat was a PEWTER SALTINE CRACKER, and my Boone, Iowa, friends loved it. Sorry to see BKB and the Cool Art
    for Five Bucks leave Tacoma. Have a FABULOUS road trip! Judy B. from Gig Harbor

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tom OwensFebruary 18, 2012 at 7:01 PM

    We are the delighted cracker-owning Iowans.

    It was given to us at Christmas.

    A CHRISTMAS CRACKER! May all of us have Art-O-Mats in our future!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Road Trippin Art*o*mat HostsFebruary 22, 2012 at 10:30 PM

    Thanks for the tips, Iowans! Unfortunately, we don't think that we'll be headed that far north but we really appreciate the comments :)

    ReplyDelete

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