When you see a discarded car tire on the side of the road, you probably see an object of industrial waste. It is challenging to recycle car tires because they do not break down and take up significant space in landfills. However, American sculptor Chakaia Booker sees an opportunity to work with this material to create massive abstract art pieces.

Over the years, Booker has created several sculptures out of used car tires. Some of her exhibitions in 2026 include Weighted Balance at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art and the Finding Awe program at the National Gallery of Art.

National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., Museum purchase: Members’ Acquisition Fund. Photograph by Lee Stalsworth. © Chakaia Booker

Anatomy of a Tire

For Booker, it is not just the abundance of car tires that fascinates her, but also the material’s physical properties. Car tires contain vulcanized rubber, steel belts, fabric, and a tread pattern.

To work with the materials in her sculptures, Booker utilizes various heavy-duty industrial tools to cut the rubber. She uses shears and utility knives that eventually wear down after hours of sculpting. Booker also tears the rubber layering away from the steel mesh that defines the tire’s structure.

The tire’s physical properties require an incredible amount of strength and skill from the sculptor. This craft requires physical strength to complete the pieces.

Chakaia Booker,

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It’s So Hard to Be Green, 2000, rubber tires and wood, Courtesy Artist Chakaia Booker & David Nolan Gallery. Image by Peter Vanderwarker. © Chakaia Booker

Wear and Tear

Like painters use different brush strokes to add variety to their work, Booker uses various types of tires for her sculptures. The artist sources tires from repair shops and car scrap yards, favoring bicycle, tractor, and truck tires of different sizes.

Booker is drawn to the different textures the tires exhibit from the various makes and models of the vehicles they came from. For example, a tire from a construction vehicle will have a different texture from a tire from a family sedan. Additionally, the wear the tires have endured on asphalt will affect their texture. A tire that has traveled thousands of miles may have a smooth, gray appearance, while another that retains its original tread may look different. The variety of textures allows the sculptor to create visually striking sculptures that stand out as masterpieces of wood carvings or exotic plants.

A Mirror to Our Industrial World

Tires are the foundation of the industrial world we live in. They allow our cities to connect, goods to be transported, and the economy to thrive. However, they are also an environmental nightmare, as they are the used tires that our cars produce.

By incorporating these industrial symbols we create in large volumes, into her sculptures, Booker forces people to pay close attention to the environmental problems we create. Sometimes, innovation does not require creating a new material. Looking at the millions of tires our cars have produced, our sculptors can find the unique texture within the rubber.