Chaboo artist Brendan Budge has sent me some progress photos.  I wish my  last name alliterated and was a verb like his.  I could be Ken Kick, Ken Kindle, Ken Kayak, Ken Kidnap, Ken Kow, Ken Keep, or Ken Kibitz. Heres some education: Kibitz means “To look on and offer unwanted, usually meddlesome advice to others.”

Talking chaboo with Brendan I told him about part of my original concept for the chaboo was to create a good design with high quality materials which is simple and thus affordable to the average person.  He really liked that and wanted to create a reinterpretation in his style which followed those principles.

I cant wait to see the completed pics.  Ive been bugging Brendan to show me what it looks like done but he wont even BUDGE.  Haha- get it?

I had the chance to go to the opening last wed at the Mark Woolley gallery featuring two chaboo artists, Amy Ruppel and Evan B. Harris.  The show was to feature their individual work and also some collaborative pieces they did.   I had never seen their work in person nor met them before so I was psyched to go.

The arrangement was such that you could see each artist individually and the collaboration in the same space.  Amy’s work on the left and Evans work on the right.  In between those two was the series that they collaborated on- Amy did the rabbit and Evan did the flora into the wax around it in this example.  The work was… well it speaks for itself- beautiful!  The energy that collaboration can create was really showcased here and encouraging for me.

It was great to meet them and get an insiders scoop on their process and inspiration.  We talked briefly about their chaboo ideas.  Amy wants to do something with thick pieces of felt and Evan wants to build and paint a ship motif onto a chaboo.  Ambitious! Im in! Their enthusiasm for trying something new is awesome.

The show continues through Feb 28 at the Mark Woolley gallery.  Check it!

I’ve been playing around with octopi, squids, and octopus-human creatures
for awhile now and I knew that’s what I would do with my chaboo as soon as
I thought about participating in the project. The interest stems both from
the amazingly odd structure  of the creature (read: fun to draw) and how
that relates to the perception of strange/not-strange.

The octopus-human creation first came about when I was given the
assignment to somehow depict an “other”. My first idea for that project
was “monsters”. I wanted the monsters to be labeled as such, but I also
wanted them to appear completely normal at first glance. In many of the
drawings I did for that assignment, the tentacles appear almost hidden to
suggest that what makes someone a monster isn’t always obvious, or
immediately known. I wanted this to suggest a questioning of our own
normalcy. Is a tentacle really a stranger body part than a set of toes? I
wanted the work to provoke thought about why we designate some things as
odd and foreign, and others as normal and acceptable.

We’re all monsters, you know?

Just had a special photo shoot for chaboo artist Maren Jensen today because she is leaving soon to go back to Clark University in Worcester, MA.  In one of the great mysteries in life that is pronounced WOOSTER like WHOOT WHOOT.

Photographer Joe Mansfield and I took her to the footbridge across the railroad tracks next to my shop.  There is no shortage of grungy looking locales near there.

It was supa cold and windy up there!  She had this poofy red down jacket on but we made her take it off because it dominated the shot.  I offered my grey hoody that I wear for work but she declined, braving the wind and cold in short sleeves.  Trust me it was freezing.   My hoody must have really not appealed to her!

Way to sacrifice for Project Chaboo Maren.  Thats the spirit!  Can I get a WHOOT WHOOT!!?!!

Good news.  I have secured FREE BEER through Widmer Brothers for the Project Chaboo show.  Ya- you heard the magic words!  Now that I have everyones attention…  I NEED HELP!

We need a venue for the Project Chaboo show.  We have 40 chaboo artists and we can expect a crowd of 500 or so.  We need 3000-4000sqft of exhibition space, ideally one large room.  Id like to rent a space for a night with a flat fee so the artists dont have to pay commissions.  Date: sometime in March

Please contact me with any ideas/suggestions/connections you may have.  This project is possible through everyones contributions!