Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Pez Dispensing Totems ONLINE CLASS!!!


My Pez Dispensing Totem class is heading online.  That's right, I've retired it this workshop from the teaching circuit so now it's heading to your homes January 13, 2013.  Here's the class description:
In my toy collection I have about a hundred PEZ dispensers, ranging from Gandalf the Grey  to Darth Vader.  The problem is that the collection is getting smaller...the reason being is that I get tempted to alter them into strange goody giving totems.  I try to avoid using the really good ones but...sometimes...it can't be helped...and a Sponge Bob Pez must be sacrificed for the sake of art.  So grab a handful of Pez candy dispensers because we are going to transform them into in the most unusual ways.   I will show you how to deconstructed, reconstruct, paint, and weirdify these little bits of pop culture.  And you want to know the best thing...they will shell out sugary treats when your done.

Stay tuned for more info soon...and a commercial.
Sign Ups Begin: 11/16/12




Saturday, October 13, 2012

Synchronistic Santas

Well, as it turns out I'm not as clever as I thought.  Many of you are familiar with my cyclopian creations, and you may have seen one in particular I made a few years back that I called "Santa Clops"
....a name I thought was quite original...In fact I'm doing a class with this character in the title in at the Art Clinic in Solvang CA this December 1 and 2. 

Well... guess what...unbeknownst to me... Santa Clops was invented about twenty years ago by a fellow named Gig Wailgum.   
Gig has recently published a book that features the exploits of this single sighted Santa entitled: A Visit From Santa Clops or The Fright Before Christmas.  Here is the book description:
"A Visit From Santa Clops or The Fright Before Christmas is a monstrous take on the holiday classic The Night Before Christmas. In this new adaptation, Santa Clops, the beastly one-eyed cousin of Kris Kringle, stops by a slumbering family's house on Christmas Eve to put some coal in the stockings of the children that live there."

You want to know the really weird thing, is that I was unfamiliar with Gig's character, yet...there were some really fascinating similarities...when I was creating my little assemblage dude, I was imagining him to lead a group of nasties called the Polar Opposites from the South Pole.  As it turns out the Santa Clops character in "The Fright Before Xmas" is also from the South Pole with a sleigh driven by penguins (nice touch by the way)


I had a shark/skull dude sleigh:

Now I've only just met, Gig, though, not in person, and he is currently living in Connecticut...which is where I just left only a week ago.  Bummer that I only just made his acquaintance...it would have been great to have met for a coffee or a beer.   I'm sure two cyclopian inspired guys like ourselves would have had plenty to chat about.  Hopefully, next year...when I'm back in CT for Art is You.  

I humbly bow to cleverness of Mr. Gig Wailgum.  Nice job...wish I beat you to the Santa Clops idea...but huzzah for you!  

Check out Gigs website here:
http://www.gigwailgum.com/
Check out Gigs book here:  
http://www.santaclopsbook.com/


Perfect gift for Xmas...bwa ha ha!