We Love(D) Vinyl

The WE LOVE VINYL show has its last day today at TOMODACHI in Rosedale MN. The opening reception had a whole heap of people coming to see the Munny on show raising hundreds for charities Imagine No Malaria and Keystone Community Food Shelf.

"Panda King" my second Mega Munny (and second King design) will be on display at TOMODACHI.

"Gorilla"

"CEO"

"Beneath the castle Walls"


SOLD: "Yellow Sun Tiki" submitted for the silent auction.

For more information and a bunch more photos take a read of this Patch article by Jeff Roberts.

WE LOVE VINYL

A short while ago I joined together with a group of Minnesotan artists and TOMODACHI store in Rosedale, MN to form an arts group called "TOMODACHI ARTISTS". I would have told you sooner about it but I have been busy preparing for our first new art show using vinyl figures as the canvas base. The show is called "WE LOVE VINYL" and runs from today (09/17/2011) until October 2nd. If you are around come along to the opening reception from 4pm-7pm.

I have three Munny, two mini Munny and a MEGA Munny (complete with keychain Munny earring) on show with (and are you ready to have your mind hole blown?!?) another 80 (yes, count 'em 80!!) Munny and from over 20 artists. Boooom!

A couple of bits about it on line :
Kidrobot's (KRonikle) blog
Rosevill Patch article


YOU WANT A FORMAL INVITE? YOU GOT ONE....

Greetings from Tomodachi Artists!

We are happy to announce that our art show, “We Love Vinyl,” will open on Saturday, September 17th. We would be honored if you’d join us for the opening reception from 4–7 pm.

“We Love Vinyl” is a celebration of do-it-yourself (DIY) vinyl toys. DIY toys are an exciting, new type of collectible pop art that allows artists to work on a three-dimensional canvas. The featured DIY toy for this show will be Kidrobot’s Munny. We’re planning on having pieces from over 20 artists!

The reception will have prizes, music, refreshments, and a chance to meet many of the artists. There will also be a silent charity auction and several pieces at the show will be available for purchase. The charity auction will run from September 17–19, with all proceeds going towards Imagine No Malaria. Current art majors and alumni from Hamline University are working with us to create these pieces. We are also donating a portion of all gallery sales to Keystone Community Food Shelf. This non-profit organization works to help families dealing with hunger and homelessness in the Twin Cities area.

Tomodachi Artists was founded by Tomodachi as a non-profit art organization in the spring of 2011. As a group, we are dedicated to helping grow a Minnesota-based, but nationally connected, artistic community. Tomodachi Artists also works to improve the lives of our fellow artists through programs and events, help them gain greater exposure with regular gallery shows at Tomodachi, and provide them with unique opportunities in the art community.

We hope to see you at our opening reception! If you have any questions, please email us at info@tomodachi.us or call us at 651-631-1777.

SWEET MARTHA!!!

This weekend I went to the Minnesota State Fair and sampled the sweet corn ice cream (with bacon toffee sauce), deep fried cookie dough, Beer Margarita, Pork Chop on a stick and I may never eat again. In the salt/sugar hang over I was reminded that I actually submitted a piece to the State Fair Gallery earlier in the year.....it wasn't selected but is currently on display at their overflow show at the excellent space at Hopkins Center for the Arts.

Having a piece rejected or not accepted is pretty tough especially when you think of the time spent on it. At first I was disappointed, the traffic flowing through the Minnesota State Fair is pretty epic, but then most people don't really go to the fair for the art, right? Right? Say "right"! RIGHT!
The Hopkins Center for the Arts on the other hand? All about the Art lovers 100%....right?
The piece I did showing the building of a fair favorite, Sweet Martha's Cookies sold on the opening night of the exhibition.

Elf Bot

Macy's is getting the design for it's next Thanksgiving Day parade float via artist submissions. You had to first go online, find the location where a vinyl elf would be hidden in a Macy's store, get a password to give to the clerk, get the elf home, decorate it, photograph it and then submit it via Facebook, hope it gets selected in the final 85, hope it gets voted on via Facebook, hope it wins so that Macy's rush the design off to be made into the actual balloon for THIS YEARS parade! Hard work. Especially as most of the Macy's staff I encountered had no idea about the project and disputed they should give me anything for free just because I was standing in the young women's section (the location on the day I went to claim my elf) saying "Sweet Potato" (the daily password). I was not arrested however and managed to design this is an Elf Bot.


















The actual vinyl elf itself was quite restricting in that it already had the facial features of a large nose and tiny eyes. I recast my eyes with clay making them larger and more cartoony, lining them with silver to show the metallic qualities. I toyed with painting the whole character in golds and silver and having a real "tin man" persona but it didn't really fit with the Macy's theme (which was requested in the guide lines). The digital front display and the jet pack were made from my reliable friend Crayola Air Dry Clay. The fire that was coming out of the jet pack had to be removed when I submitted the piece on Macy's Facebook page and the picture had to be inserted into their elf shaped cookie cutter submission process (the legs were cut off a bit when I did this)

The submission process has now finished and what I can only assume to be real elves, are whittling down the submissions to 85 which will be displayed online via Macy's facebook page to be voted on from August 30th 2011. So go vote for an elf bot so I can be in New York for Thanks giving.....which is part of the prize by the way....I would send you a post card! Promise!

Obsession

This weeks Illustration Friday topic is Obsession. This little sketch was done in between playing on my phone......I forgot to erase the pencil marks as I had to go back to defeating weird little green pigs with annoyed spherical fowl.

Meet Some Friends of Mine......

I am going to be at the 2011 Comic-Con in San Diego!!!..................kind of.



I was one of fifteen artists selected by artist Ron English from thousands of applicants from all over the world to appear at the South Park Exhibit at Comic-con 2011 in San Diego, CA. My piece....imaginatively titled "Bus stop" will be hanging next to original pieces by artists including Kathie Olivas, Lindsey Way and Naoto Hattori and also by the creators of South Park themselves.

As well as the art show fans will be transported into the world of "South Park" as they walk into the 15,000 square foot Ultimate Fan Experience located at 450 2nd Avenue (at 1st Ave. & J St.) just outside of the San Diego Convention Center). The "South Park" Year of the Fan Experience, a free and open to the public event, commemorates the series' 15th season. The festivities kick off with a "South Park" themed parade starting at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 21 at 5th Ave. and K St. with the venue officially opening at 1:00 p.m. and running through Saturday, July 23.

Unfortunately, the whole thing happened a bit too fast for me to be able to attend (I found out yesterday after arriving back from two weeks in England and Comic-Con starts this Thursday......in 1 day, 17 hours, 19 minutes and 21 seconds actually, according to the count down on the South park website as I write this) but it is still awesome to be part of it.

All of the pieces can be viewed online at the South Park Studios website.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

This weeks illustration Friday topic is ASLEEP. Which from the look of my blog updates of late seems to be all I was doing.....I was doing stuff though....I WAS!
I had a ton of ideas for this weeks subject which while i didn't have time to finish this week (its my wedding anniversary, thanks for asking) I think I will be using in other projects.
The above picture was a lot of fun to do and the first thought i had....There is something too damn cute about it though that always bugs me so I quickly just did the following little sketch reminding people that it isn't always good to fall ASLEEP.