Award-winning whimsical and imaginative designs by eleven young artists paired with 3D representative models created by students at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSU-DH) and reproduced artworks are on view at the Petersen Automotive Museum, October 30, 2021 through March 27, 2022. Ranging in age from 6 to 15 years of age, the featured artists are past winners of the Toyota Dream Car USA Art Contest.

Petersen Automotive Museum Hosts “Fly Higher with Toyota Dream Cars” Art Installation

Using advanced fabrication equipment and techniques such as 3D printing, student technicians from CSU-DH’s Fab Lab of the Toyota Center for Innovation in STEM Education crafted physical representations of the award-winning youth drawings. Using the “Engineering Design Process” (a series of steps that engineers follow to find a solution to a problem) and working in consultation with the young artists, the students researched, proposed, tested, improved, and created their 3D physical interpretations of the young artists’ “dream cars.”

Nine of the eleven youth artists were the winners of the 2021 Toyota Dream Car USA Art Contest. One of these artists also received the first Petersen Prestige Award (“Fly Higher with Toyota” by Jery Chen). The remaining two (“The Dragon Learning Car” and “Flourish and Rebloom”) were selected for the pilot phase of this project and were winners from previous years’ contests.

Featuring seven 3D models, the 40-sq-ft display in The Petersen’s Rob and Melani Walton Discovery Center also includes printed reproductions of all eleven contestants’ original drawings accompanied by a video of the model-making process.

The seven 3D models are:

• “Disinfection Vehicle” by Xinyu Yi, age 6, Wellesley, Massachusetts
• “Fly Higher with Toyota” by Jery Chen, age 14, Montverde, Florida
• “Flourish and Rebloom” by Celine Lee Min, age 15, Bellevue, Washington
• “Gadget Toyota Car” by Hahrin Vivian Chiang, age 7, Santa Monica, California
• “Ocean Eco Car” by Brendan Park, age 10, Los Angeles, California
• “Saver of Earth” by Reena Fu, age 10, Diamond Bar, California
• “The Dragon Learning Car” by Yohann Lee, age 7, Studio City, California

Large-scale reproductions of four other cars are also displayed:

• “Dream Car That Makes Glaciers” by Junyoung Kim, age 10, Fairfax, Virginia
• “Magical Bubble Car” by Chloe Hyoleen Kim, age 14, Issaquah, Washington
• “Pure Water Vehicle” by Lea Haeun Shin, age 6, Los Angeles, California
• “Saving the Future” by Olivia Hur, age 12, La Crescenta, California

Also on view is the 2021 Toyota Corolla from John Elway’s Crown Toyota, which is wrapped in artwork by previous contest winners. For details about the car, read our recent story here.

The Toyota Dream Car Art Contest is one of the world’s largest art contests for children. Since 2004, nearly 6.2 million children from 100 countries have answered the call to imagine the future of mobility by creating their “dream car.” Now in its eleventh year, the U.S. contest inspires creativity in budding young artists from three age groups: Category 1 (4-7 years), Category 2 (8-11 years), and Category 3 (12-15 years). Environmentalism and a healthier, happier planet were common themes represented by the works of this year’s nine national winners, whose “Dream Cars” are represented in this installation. To enter the 2022 Toyota Dream Car USA Art Contest, visit www.ToyotaDreamCarUSA.com.