Historical September 2014 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Jellyfish, cats, ghosts, and superheroes filled the offices of the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council on Saturday August 9.
The reason?
A workshop in which kids aged 5 to 13 were invited to make stuffed toys of their own design.
The inspiration for the design for stuffies was the over-sized sculpture of blue pants that can be found outside Bill Christman’s art studio on Kingsbury, visible from the Community Council office and Four Corners Park.
Each of the dozen children who attended was given a coloring sheet and asked to imagine what might belong on top of the blue pants.
The array of ideas on display was remarkable – a testament to the creativity of kids, an attribute that tends to be lost somewhere in the journey toward adulthood. Those drawings were then used to create a unique stuffed toy.
Each child chose the fabrics from the available selection, adding eyes and other features as desired. Local textile artist Kathy Lynott, who had sold her stuffies at the Wintermakrt in December 2013, ran the workshop.
As Lynott helped kids refine their ideas, she was aided by two friends who used sewing machines to stitch up the toys.
The final step – simultaneously the messiest and the most satisfying – saw kids filling their toys with stuffing and fully bringing them to life, before handstitching the very last section. At the end of the morning, some of kids stood next to the neighborhood landmark – the oversized pants sculpture outside the art studio – to show off their soft-toy creations.
The event was organized by the Skinker DeBaliviere Arts Council, supported by a grant from the Regional Arts Commission. Special thanks are also due to the Community Council staff for promoting the event and allowing their office space to be overrun with kids and stuffing for the morning.
Original photograph caption
Children with stuffed creations beside neighborhood blue-pants sculpture. Individual names not printed.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September 2014.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2014_09.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
