Help Fund The Rusty Iris !

What is The Rusty Iris?

The Rusty Iris is an interactive, mobile art venue whose purpose is to unite, heal, and inspire. Rusty does this by inviting our community to build something beautiful together, over and over. To this end, she is and continues to be a roaring success.

Who are we?

The Rusty Iris is the brainchild of Kirk and Wendy (Kdub), husband and wife, creative powerhouse duo.

Gathering over 50 artisans, artists, videographers, photographers, painters, electricians, plumbers, metal-workers, media artists, carpenters, designers, accountants, CEO’s, teachers, healers, helpers, dancers, and visionaries, KDub and their amazing crew are transforming a school bus into a 3-dimensional canvas of steel on wheels.

Where we’ve been

Rusty is in her 2nd year of construction and she has already been…

A school bus

"Co-Elaborate" a photography exhibit

Jackson-Pollock-style-free-for-all painting

Paint-by-numbers mural

Camp-out slumber party tent

VIP lounge

Walk-through time-capsule

Immersive art Garden of possibilities

Fine Arts Exhibit: What We Find

We celebrated the end of Phase I on October 7 with Rusty’s Fiery Fundraiser at IX Art Park. We celebrated beautiful lighting, 8’ iris petals, flaming lanterns, an upper deck, and a Fine Art Exhibit takeover entitled “What We Find” by Elizabeth Swider - our photographer, historian, and accountant. Bad Hat Fire Troupe and Tet’nus entertained the crowd with 3 performances while attendees won spectacular prizes from local businesses. We gratefully raised enough money to get us moving on to the next step.

Where we're going

Phase II officially began on January 14 when 47 people helped remove the back ⅔ of the bus body Amish-style and positioned the newly constructed pièce-de-résistance - The Orb. It was an inspiring experience of community, collaboration, and inclusion and it will never be forgotten.

Between now and Tom Tom Festival (4/17-21), we will finalize the structure of this mobile art piece: upper deck in the rear atop the orb, a lounge within the orb, and a catwalk linking the front and back decks. We will have more lights, more fire, and sound sound sound!

Once the structure is finalized, the art begins. 16’ aluminum irises will accompany 5’ steel irises, intricately designed wall-mounts, fiberglass petals, crafted tables, bars, benches, and artistic nooks and crannies. 16’ reeds running the full height of the bus will tie it all together with giant propane fire-poofers lighting her up in style.

We love a deadline so here are some dates for you!

April 19 & 20 - Tom Tom Fest - Bad Hat Fire and Rusty host the family stage - downtown C’ville - free!

August 3 - Rusty’s Ready to Roll - Final Fundraiser and Party to celebrate Rusty’s final expression - IX Art Park - suggested donation $25 (kids 5$)

This is a Community Project!

robbakerphotography.net

Before we go again saying how much we love and appreciate our team, let us say - we want you on our team. The beautiful thing about large projects is that everyone’s role is of vital importance. Some can spend every weekend working on a bus and some can only enjoy the view; some can weld and some can sew; some can type and some can lift; some can paint and some can pound; and some can fund.

We need crowd-sourcing funds.

We have a 4 tiered approach to funding this awesome project: large donors, fire performances, sponsors, and crowd-sourcing.

We need to hit the 6.5k mark on this fundraiser through small donations from people like you. That's 200 folks at 15$. We can do that! It just takes a little enthusiasm. Those who fund this project are just as elemental as those who build this project. Thank you for considering!

Please donate. Please share. Please spread the love. AND if you know of a patron of the arts, if you know of a business that may sponsor our August 3rd event, if you know an event who might enjoy fire performances and a flaming long-horned art-car, please send them our way.

This GoFundMe closes after TomTom so hop on!

And now, that gratitude (my fave)

SO MANY PEOPLE have made this project dance. We have absurdly skilled and professional artists, thinkers, and doers. Each time a need arises, a master of their craft steps in with enthusiasm and knowledge.

Our Builders and Artists have included Forrest Walker, Rob Breckenridge, LadaMetal, V.Gabore, Nick Little, Ayden Cousins, Rylie Peacher, Sly & Fly, Jeff Dobrow, Vicky Dobrow, Rob Baker, Katie Duncan, and Cara Dimassimo.

Our Administrative Team consists of Elizabeth Swider, DJ Hill, Adele Kuntz, Jessie Collins, Willow Lynch, and Janelle Ellis.

Major praises to Elizabeth Swider and DJ Hill for almost all our Photography and ALL our YouTube content. Y'all are AMAZING!!!

Our Sign-up and Show-up Team is vast and has included The Wizard, Lala, Adrienne, Jaima, Ginger, Michelle P, Dave, Janelle, Meghan, Vicky D, Dylan, Alex, Kahlil, Durty, Andreas, Dylan, Benji, Collin, Dawn, Marty, Preacher, Free, Juniper, Rodney, Jack, John, Paul, Ruthie, Amy, Parker, Jax, Eddie, Ewa, Alan, Cody, Levar, Olivia, Joya, Neighbor Jess, Billy, Melissa, Eric, Sam, Kathryn, Eddie N, Ryden, Tom E, Tom D, Noogenesis, NeverNot, Vogel, FatBug, Wypich, Doc Jim, Jojo, Forrest’s sister and mom, Elizabeth, Tracy, Keith’s brother, and a couple people I never met but saw and appreciate :-)

Bad Hat Fire Troupe and Tet’nus Art Car have been our whimsical and entertaining investors - donating almost ½ of our financial needs thus far. THANK YOU to Vicky, Dave, Java the Hunt, Jess, Mel, Kahlil, Teter-Totter, Jaima, Dylan, Jessie, & Ayden for your flow and friendship.

We sincerely thank our business partners and sponsors for their contributions and collaboration. These folks include:

IX Art Park, Tracey & Friends of John Conard, Sir Wiggy Inc., Reef Clem, Matt the Man, Monticello LLC, Custom Ink, TomTom Foundation, Fardowner’s Restaurant, The Scrappy Elephant, J-Team Auto, Five Star Painting, The White Lotus Eco-Spa and Retreat.

Thanks for enjoying the ride and may we see you very soon!