It was indeed a “dark and stormy night” on Wednesday during Art Walk, but that didn’t stop the masses of people from attending Designers in Toyland, a custom toy show presented by AIGA Jacksonville.
Inside the space at 229 North Hogan Street, hundreds of people gathered to see the custom toy work of over 80 extremely creative and talented artists. Many of the toys displayed in the show were available for purchase, with a minimum of 25% of each sale going to The Big Fun Box, an organization that provides activity kits to children required to be in the hospital for extended periods of time.
Each artist was given a month to design a custom toy. There was only one requirement in order to submit a piece to the show: design a toy unique to you as an artist — from scratch, by adding to an existing toy, or by designing a blank vinyl toy. The collection of toy entries were, to say the least, mind-blowing, ranging from plush hand-sewn piggies to custom engineered yo-yo’s to entire doll wardrobes to “Humpty” the Potatohead, the list goes on. Many of the toys sold, raising over $700 for The Big Fun Box. (There are still toys available for sale. If interested, check out the Flickr set or contact hello[at]aigajacksonville.org)
Attendees sipped Bold City Brewery beer, while watching live toy painting by artists John O’Brian, Clay Doran, Brian Gray and Chad Landenberger and enjoying tunes provided by Urban Jacksonville and DJ Squints.
Needless to say, the show was a huge success! The positive feedback has been very encouraging, and we are looking to do many more collaborations like this in the future. Stay tuned!
A special thanks goes out to our sponsors: The the artists of 229 North Hogan Street, Duval Destroyer, Tommy Armageddon, Urban Jacksonville and Bold City Brewery. Another special thanks goes out to the artists who participated in the show and donated to such a great cause, as well as everyone who had a part in setting the show up.
We are very excited about the future. Look out 2010!
Check out photos and videos from these fine fellows:
– Karen, vice-president
