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His Itinerant = Artist=20 Project is a way to inspire his work, but = also to=20 get art into the hands of ordinary people = who=20 otherwise cannot afford it. Mott shows one = of the=20 paintings he did at the = Keefer's

Anne = Sherwood/Christian=20 Science=20 = Monitor

Itinerant artist will paint for a = bed and a=20 meal

Jim Mott's cross-country odysseys are = an attempt=20 to barter art =E2=80=93 and hang it in the homes of = everyday=20 people.

By=20 Ray Sikorski | Correspondent of The Christian = Science=20 Monitor

from the = October 16,=20 2007 edition

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Bozeman, Mont. - = Modeling=20 himself after Odysseus, landscape artist Jim Mott has = set out=20 on the Great American Road Trip. He has boldly = declared that=20 his journey will be virtually free of monetary = exchanges, and=20 he will depend only on his wits and his paintbrush to = weather=20 his journey's vicissitudes. He has taken it upon = himself to=20 redefine the nature of art, travel, money, and = hospitality in=20 an age increasingly defined by individual insularity. =

The only thing is, Jim Mott is terrified of what = he's=20 doing.

"I don't like travel," the Rochester, N.Y.-based = artist=20 confesses. "I'm scared of adventure."

But that's the whole point, he concedes. "I'm at = the mercy=20 of all these things I can't control. It stimulates a = lot of=20 creativity, a lot of productivity. It makes me rise to = the=20 occasion."

Mr. Mott is on the second cross-country tour of = what he=20 refers to as the Itinerant Artist=20 Project, in which he embarks on a road trip and = offers a=20 small oil painting in exchange for two to four days of = room,=20 board, and friendly conversation. On his first tour, = in 2000,=20 Mott says he traveled nearly 10,000 miles through 23 = states=20 over the course of two months. Since then, he has made = several=20 smaller journeys, through western New York, New = England,=20 Maryland, and Arizona. He chooses his hosts = beforehand, making=20 contact through word-of-mouth, e-mail chain letters,=20 entreaties on his website, and a classified ad he = places in=20 The Nation magazine. He now has created over 300 = paintings=20 during his travels.

"It's like a productivity machine," he says, = explaining=20 that he'll create more paintings in one to two months = on the=20 road than he'll do in a year or two at home.

On Sept. 18, Mott flew to Seattle and picked up a = '98 Chevy=20 Prizm he bought for $3,800 over the Internet. He's now = driving=20 the car along a northern route, eventually to end up = back in=20 New York around Halloween.He spent his first nights at = an=20 artist's house in Issaquah, Wash., where he traded a=20 6-by-9-inch oil painting for room and board. Further = down the=20 road, in Sandpoint, Idaho, Mott upped the ante on a = host's=20 guess of the number of paintings he could complete = during his=20 stay.

"I said I could do five," Mott recalls. "He said, = 'No way,'=20 so I did seven."

Other than the one painting he gives as a gift to = his=20 hosts, Mott sells some of the paintings he makes, = typically=20 for $300 to $500. But mostly he prefers to keep the = collection=20 intact for a possible traveling exhibit =E2=80=93 and, = he'd really=20 prefer not to use money on the trip, except for gas. =

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Itinerant artist will paint for a = bed and a=20 meal

Jim Mott's cross-country odysseys are = an attempt=20 to barter art =E2=80=93 and hang it in the homes of = everyday=20 people.

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