Come with me on a voyage through time. It is now one week ago: October 12th, 2007. You are getting ready to go out, and you happen to live in Seattle. You think, “Hey, I want to see some awesome, fun plush art tonight!” I am here to help you find what you seek: the 2007 Plush You! show at Schmancy (and its neighbors) is the third year it has been organized by the intrepid Kristen Rask. This year, the show is buoyed by the release of the book based on last year’s show, Plush You!: Lovable Misfit Toys to Sew and Stuff. It open(s/ed) October 12th and runs through the beginning of next month. Get out and see it!

My contribution this year is from a time long ago, when man and mammoth roamed the earth together. Otto and Orville are a mammoth rancher who do some experimenting to create… MammothMammoth! This year, the tags I made for the beasties were actually a micro-comic, just 8 pages long.

In other past news, traveling further into the past all the way to an October 8th release, I contributed to the 4th round of SpeakerDogs, organized by Ben the Illustrator. Download, cut out, and create your very own Piggy Back Beast!

And don’t forget to go all the way back to Labor Day weekend, and enjoy the collection of chickens, goats, and walking beef from the 2007 Minnesota State Fair. Sadly, no photos of the fried cheese curds. Mmmm, squeaky!

Okay, show’s over! Return to the present. LIVE IN THE NOW!

These are cute and horrifying at the same time. They are inside-out teddy bears photographed by Kent Rogowski. (via BoingBoing)

Which reminds me, I don’t think I’ve linked up the plush books I contributed to. Plush-o-Rama: Curious Creatures for Immature Adults came out last November, and Plush You!: Lovable Misfit Toys to Sew and Stuff will be out this coming November. I’ve contributed not just work, but also instructions for making your own plush critters in each book. Enjoy!

This is one of the busiest fallls I’ve ever had. I guess grad school will do that to you, but then I went and made it even more complicated by scheduling a solo show! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

This Friday, October 13th, half of the MFA graduate students here at UNC are having an Open Studios night at the Hanes Art Center. It should be a fun night, and for many of you it will be the first time you get to see the new students’ work.

Also on Friday, Wootini is opening its Potluck show. The scheduled artist for October cancelled on the gallery, so they invited local artists they may not have worked with to bring in anything they had. I got a sneak peek the other day, and there is some cool stuff showing up. One woman sent in this wire sculpture that was stretched over with pig intestines. It’s actually quite beautiful!

Next month, my first solo show, Playground Rules, will also open at Wootini. I’m getting closer, one piece at a time, to feeling really excited about this show. I’ve got some family arriving for the opening, and more family showing up for Thanksgiving, so they can see the show in-person. I’m feeling the love.

And finally, at the end of November, a book I contributed to will be released. Ask for Plush-o-Rama in your local bookstore starting November 28th!

(and if you are in the Seattle area, don’t forget to go check out Plush You! at Schmancy Toys, up through the beginning of November)