Make Mobile
The Make Mobile or Hacerimóvil is a new project of The Hart Street Makery that seeks to take the creativity, learning, and play of the makery onto the streets, especially amidst a global pandemic. This 27 foot Ford E-450 was a shuttle bus for the Akron MTA but now it's becoming a mobile art studio for kids!
@Make.Mobile
Help us make the Make Mobile a reality!
You can support the project by purchasing an item for the bus from our wish list or by donating to the GoFundMe. Thank you to the Weaver Chapel Association of Wittenberg University, Good Shepherd Lutheran of Springfield, OH, and Christ Lutheran of Old North Dayton for donating resources and person-power to this project. A special thanks goes to the Wittenberg students who scrubbed down the whole bus and gave it a primer coat of paint.
Bus Exterior
This bus will be a driving chalkboard, ready for kids to cover it in art each day! We need your help purchasing the chalkboard paint for the final coat on this bus. We're also installing RV gutters to collect rainwater for the handwashing sink (see below). The bus will also be lit up with outdoor solar lights. Click on the links to take you to our wish list.
Bus Interior
The bus will have storage and activity areas inside. We're installing an RV sink to help wash hands, clean off brushes, etc. This sink will even be replenished by rainwater collected by the exterior gutters. We also need art supplies to stock the bus! Click on the links to take you to our wish list.
Hey, it's me the Make Mobile. I'm really something special so I've decided to chronicle my transformation from old run-down transit bus to beautiful new art studio--on wheels!
Here I am just minding my own business, sitting at the Akron MTA parking lot, when all of a sudden a bunch of crazy people are kidnapping me! Let me back up the story a bit. I used to move people all over the city, but suddenly that stopped and I just started sitting around day after day. I know I wasn't the bright shiny bus I used to be, but I still have a lot of life left in me. Anyways, I was minding my own business one day, when out of nowhere a couple people jumped on board and started driving me. They took me farther than I've ever gone before, halfway across Ohio to Dayton.
As soon as I got to Dayton, those crazy people started messing around with my insides. Gross, right? Before I knew it, my seats were sitting outside on the pavement! They left just one seatbench, I guess for just a couple passengers. They also started taking out my security cameras and all my old signs from the busline in Akron. TBH, it felt kind of good to have my load lightened.
This is the weirdest thing so far. Somebody cut a whole in my back! What's that about.
Alright, I'm okay. The hole is filled in... with a door! Custom made and everything. Now people and supplies can jump on board from the back too. The door even opens with my big back window so I can take in some giant loads. Nice.
Okay, now this day was really crazy. They drove me across town to this church and then a bunch of college students started gathering around. I was pretty freaked out at first, but then they got some soap and sponges and started a bubble bath for me. I haven't felt so clean in years! Inside and out, they cleaned me up. But it didn't stop there. They freaked my out by grabbing some big roles of paper and a bunch of tape and started covering all my windows! They even covered my headlights and taillights. I was basically blind! I heard them start shaking a bunch of cans and then the spray paint started. It was a little soon in our relationship for some body art, but once they peeled off that paper and tape, I was into it. My grungy white exterior had been traded for a sleek black look. Black is beautiful!
I thought my new black coat was already pretty great, but it got even better. I had heard those college students talking about a chalkboard and I was like, "alright, I guess a nice little chalkboard inside would be nice," but they all had something else in mind. Those crazy drivers from the beginning busted out these cans of thick black paint and gave me another coat. Now I am 27 feet of jet black chalkboard, stretching ten feet up on both sides and the back. I even have a chalkboard hood and fenders. I'm starting to get it now. I'm the work of art and the canvas. Kids can chalk me to their hearts' delight and when the rain washes me clean, I'm still beautiful underneath.
The artwork continues. My windows have an awesome new look. On one side I say "MAKE" and on the other side I say "HACER." I think they're calling me the Make Mobile or el Hacerimóvil for all my Spanish speaking friends. I'm looking good and feeling good. They've even added an amazing logo to my big back window. I am a proud member of the Hart Street Makery at Christ Lutheran Church in Old North Dayton.
...