Welcome to my world of zany art projects! The following is a collection of oddball projects done over the years, some for special occasions, others for pure joy. Some of the pieces below are better than others, and almost all are collaborative efforts, which is as they should be. I thought it was important to put them on display in the hopes they inspire the imagination and get those creative juices flowing.
This portfolio is dedicated to my mum, the Queen of Quirkiness, who used the whole world as a canvas for creativity.
Mom taught us all never to settle for the ordinary. She could barely restrain her imagination. As kids, we never just made Jack- O-Lanterns–we always went over the top at Halloween. This is still true nowadays.
Pumpkins Politico
Growing up we couldn’t have dessert until we ate our vegetables. Now, if ever I even attempt to have dessert, I feel so strange without first having a carrot or two. A similar reflex developed with the creation of snow creatures. I’d feel weird making a normal snow man, as if afraid my mom would find out.
University of Chicago Phoenix
The same thing goes for sandcastles.
My Sister and the Sandy Mermaid
But it’s not just a guilt complex. Pumpkins, snow, and sand are fantastic media and only require a bit of imagination.
Two years ago, my friend Ben took the year off from school. We made a pumpkin version of him in his absence. About half of the people who saw it loved it. The other half were rather creeped out by the likeness.
Ben the Pumpkin
Last year, I wanted the movie Wall-E for Christmas really badly. I had a bit of an obsession:
Snowy Wall-E and Me
Similarly, this year, I had a new obsession with Up, so we painted a mural and made a cake.
Up mural
Up Cake
Through strange circumstances, we actually ended up making two of these cakes.
Up Cake Up Close
The cakes are kind of a big thing in my family. My sister started a business making cakes. Check it out at thecakeawakening.wordpress.com. I recently helped her out with an order for a WWII British Spitfire airplane cake.
Spitfire Cake
The family cake tradition actually started with my great grandmother who made cakes in the shapes of trains for birthdays and lambs for Easter. My mom continued the tradition and always made fantastic cakes for birthdays and the Fourth of July. She passed on the obsession. 2008 was the only year we didn’t enter a cake for the Independence Day competition.
Patriots of the Caribbean
Shrek for the Green Party
Fireworks there must be
This was for my buddy Danny, who is a fabulous pianist:
Danny's birthday cake
This was for my buddy Maggie before she headed off to the Peace Corps in Macedonia. Disclaimer: She’s really into pineapples and Disney.
Maggie of Macedonia
Speaking of Disney, this was a Christmas present for a most beloved Lion King fanatic:
Lion King Headdress
Lion Headdress 2
My mom got our first video camera the year I was born. The craziness began when she dressed up as Julia Child and did a parody cooking show in which she carried baby me in a sling on her waste made Betty Crocker boxed brownies one-handed. She called it “Julia WITH Child.” It wasn’t long after when we kids got our hands on the camera. We probably have hundreds of hours of footage. It was the best toy in the world. We still think so. Here is our latest and greatest production of which, though far from perfect, we are extremely proud:
When friends get together, they can pull off some crazy stuff:
Jungle Chiditarod
No doubt this requires explanation. Urban iditarods are a rather fascinating phenomenon in which city folk carry on their own version of an Alaskan iditarod sled dog race by toting a shopping cart full of food drive items down an urban street dressed up according to the theme of choice. Two years ago, we had a jungle theme. I’m sure my buddies REALLY appreciate me posting this picture. Mwa ha ha.
A few days after this extravaganza, we decided to relive the moment in cake form for Kim’s birthday:
Cake Chiditarod
Cake Chiditarod 2
There is more to come! Sit tight!
