Plushie galore
St. Louis' Crammed Organisms show puts the emphasis on plush
By Ellen O'Donnell
Published: June 15th, 2008 | 5:30pm
When Kerry Flaherty, a plush artist and toy designer – and friend of mine – was rallying the troops to go to St. Louis, Missouri for an art show she was a part of, I was the first to express interest. The Crammed Organisms Show – billing itself as the world’s largest plush show – was our June destination.
We arrived at Starclipper Comics and were soon greeted by Suzanne Shenkman, the marketing/PR force behind the event. The back gallery of the store was decorated with over a hundred samples of plush creatures. The theme was Fairy, Folk and Fable, and I felt a bit like Captain Kirk surrounded by tribbles both cute and menacing. David Wolk, owner of the Cranky Yellow shop and organizer of the show, explained that the idea came out of a desire of his to stage a large show in the area, involving the good folks of the St. Louis Craft Mafia.
“This event (or the idea at least) had been brewing in my head since around 2005,” David explained. “So let me assure you that it feels great to finally have it come to fruition. I started thinking about a massive collaborative show after seeing the really amazing work coming out of the lowbrow art scene. I really wanted to be a part of something that crazy and strange! I kept a pretty loose goal in my head and set to work to acquire the resources, network, and courage to get it done.”
And why not plush? Along with friends Angelo Stege (who wrote the whimsical yet apocalyptic back story to the event), Cate Anevski, Laurene Franco, and Robyn Fabsits, they worked for six months to hold a call for entries, judging, lock down the venue, and sort through all of the critters. The show will run in four different independently owned venues over four weekly opening nights through the end of June, with each show giving a different flavor and feel of the independent St. Louis scene. At the comic store they featured a build your own plushie booth for a donation of $15, which was most fun for this amateur artist.
For such a massive undertaking, I was curious about the marketing plan – which basically turned into a nice internet buzz that self-propelled itself. Although Suzanne sent releases out to over twenty craft-friendly websites, and got blurbs in St. Louis Magazine and the St. Louis Beacon, the interest was probably more dependent on a viral grassroots effort and the conversations that arose from David and Angelo’s own campaign. Posting curious comments on theneedle.org, which involved the back story of a young man being inspired to hold a plush show because of a scientifically-based worldwide conspiracy and outer space rift, David said the most effective thing they did was actually “piss people off.” Anything that works, eh?
Myself, all I needed was to see the plethora of plush creatures featured on their delightful website. Over two hundred artists from ten different countries applied, and the entries were whittled down to about a hundred and thirty. From dirty girl plushies to giraffe heads and even a giant stuffed beanstalk with Jack atop, I loved each and every creation. Add to that the friendliest people in Missouri, and I was hooked. Long live the plushie!
Issue #35
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