The First Two Critter Cubes



The opposite of immovable, these cubes are meant to be turned!

For 2011, and hopefully longer, the The Graham Johnson Cultural Arts Endowment (GJCAE) Community Present will be the Critter Cube Stories. Teacher and creator, Ian Sands, is beginning to construct 30 Critter Cubes and Critter stories to be displayed in Wake Forest, N.C.



The Critter Cubes are cubes with colored graphics that can be turned over and with each turn a new story begins. The project is intended to be interactive with the community and encourage verbal and written expression using the stories created by the arrangement of the cubes.



The Graham Johnson Cultural Arts Endowment has financed the first 4 Critter Cube Stories and in 2011 plans to encourage further development of the project throughout the surrounds of Wake Forest.



In addition to the critter displays, the GJCAE will work with the community to provide coloring books so children can craft stories. Prizes will be awarded for the most original, creative, or best story lines improvising with the critters.

Two Cubes...



The Critter Cube Project will soon move from test phase to production with the completion of the first two cubes.

18" squared and weighing in at 16lbs each, these Critter Cubes will be the first in a series of 30 cubes as part of a public arts project sponsored by the Graham Johnson Cultural Arts Endowment ( G.J.C.A.E.) in Wake Forest, NC.

Critter Cube Movie Montage



You know that part of the chick flick about half way through, when the girl gets a date with Mr. Right but she just can't figure out what to wear? The fun music starts and we watch a montage of the girl standing in front of a mirror with her sidekick looking on as she tries on 5o or so dresses?

None of them are right. In fact, some are down right awful. Then just when all hope seems lost, she tries on the final dress and it just clicks...

When they make the movie about my life, and Johnny Depp has the staring role, there will definitely be a music montage of me making these cubes. One is two big, one is two heavy, one looks like it was put together by a drunk with a sledge hammer....

but just when all hope seems lost....

Critter Cube Test Pilot



Here is the latest test pilot Critter Cube. This cube is 2'x2'x2' and constructed out of lightweight plywood. The cube is light enough for an adult to move but still heavy enough to withstand strong winds or theft minded villains.



The nice people at Lowe's Home improvement sliced the plywood into 2'x2' pieces. All I needed to do was nail the boards together.



Next, I gave the box a good coating of white paint.



The concept behind Critter Cube is that 6 cubes would stack together to form a story. I.e. one box would have 6 different heads, another box would have 6 different bodies. Since this box is for demo purposes, I painted one of each of the 6 box illustrations on the 6 sides of this single box.... Confused? :)



Finally, I gave Critter Cube some much needed color. I'm really happy with Critter Cube. My only concern is that it might be a little too heavy to move easily. I'll weigh it tomorrow. At any rate, this cube came out much better than the fiberglass boxes I tried earlier and less expensive to manufacture.

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This is what I do when I go to meetings...

Here are the notes I took at yesterday's all arts staff meeting..

Critter Book on Amazon!




How it works...

I drew the pictures, you write the story. To help you out, each page contains a brief writing prompt to offer some direction. You can deviate from the prompt as little or as much as you want... After all, it's your story.

You could write the entire story by yourself. However, if you really want to have some fun, share this book with other people. Take it to school and pass it under the desk. Your teacher will never know. Even if you do get caught, what teacher could get mad at you for passing around a writing prompt?



(Critter Book is out of this Atmosphere!)

Another great idea is to leave it in a coffee shop so the patrons can write in it. I'm sure the coffee store owner won't mind. Plus, think how much more fun the story will be if it's written by people jacked up on caffeine!

You might have noticed this book is in black and white. That's sort of boring. It would be a lot more colorful if you colored it. I'm sure crayons or markers would work fine.

Lastly, you'll notice some of the faces are left off the critters. That's so you can add your own expressions to go along better with your story.

Get you copy of Critter Book today!!

Ian Sands
M@KE @RT!

Ian Sands Portfolio



A portfolio of some of my recent projects. For more info and more projects, please stop by the Zonkey Street site...



Vintage 21 exhibit. The Yeti is over 6 feet tall. This was a great show with all but one piece selling.



Art On The Move. Growing up in Yonkers, I always rode the bus. Having my critters on the side of one was really cool!



United Arts provided a grant for the completion of this billboard which sits on i40 in Duplin County. It's all about promoting the arts!



This is a commissioned piece based on an original piece that was in the first Moosifesto show!



This piece was a prototype for an idea i had called the Float Parade. The concept will be to float pieces of art across a water way.



For Ice Eggs, we froze over 25 food coloring filled water balloons and create nest out of sand and seaweed.



The Lost Critter project in Apex. We created 500 critters and hid them around town..

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Critter Cubes

I'm working on an interactive public art project through the GJCAE for the town of Wake Forest, NC.

The Critter Cube Project will provide 6 to 9 interchangeable cubes similar to the boxes I created for the Interactive Room for each participating business. I might need as many as 60 or more cubes!



Only thing, these boxes need to stay outside so they need to be constructed out of something more durable than cardboard. I knew I wanted to make the boxes out of fiberglass but I never worked with the stuff before. So I took a ride over to my favorite art supply store.... the Home Depot.



I purchased resin, body filler, fiberglass cloth, and gloves! I read several places on the net where people have substituted fleece or used it in conjunction with the fiber glass. I decided to rip up an old t-shirt.



This stuff stinks! I need a mask! These fumes can't be good for me. i think I'm losing brain cells....



I mixed the resin and applied it with a paint brush. The shirt used a lot more resin than the fiberglass.. but the fiberglass cost more than the shirt... i'll need to see how they come out once they are dry and decide which way to go.



The fiberglass seems to be coming out how I envisioned. But the shirt is pretty because it's orange :) Once these dry I'll try to sand them down and paint them white. Stay tuned...

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Critter Book at the Publishers



Critter Book, an interactive book that let's you write the story, is at the publisher and we are awaiting our proof copy!

How does it work? I drew the pictures, you write the story. Each page of Critter Book contains a brief writing prompt to offer some direction. You can deviate from the prompt as little or as much as you want... After all, it's your story.

Critter Book Artwork Done!



Here is how Critter Book will work... I drew the pictures, you write the story.

To help you out, each page contains a brief writing prompt to offer some direction. You can deviate from the prompt as little or as much as you want... After all, it's your story.



You might have noticed this book is in black and white. That's sort of boring. It would be a lot more colorful if you colored it. So get ready to break out your crayons!



Lastly, you'll notice some of the faces are left off the critters. That's so you can add your own expressions to go along better with your story.

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Take Me Home and Make Me Your Art!

My art is never caged!



The 2010 Art History class had a reunion at the NC Museum of Art yesterday. I took along one of my critters to show them. Unfortunately, I accidentally and totally by mistake left it in the parking lot.



When we came back from touring the museum, the critter was gone!



I guess maybe because written on the critter were the words, take me home and make me your art, that whoever found him thought they should take him home and make him their art.

I hope he found a good loving home!

For more interactive art -->Zonkey Street!!

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A Better Critter Book



I think I have a better critter book idea..

Instead of the guestbook type of book.. I'm going to create illustrations and self publish a book (as seen here). On each page there will be a simple writing prompt.

I.e. The first page might read, "Once, there was a zonkey...." And then I will include a b/w illustration of a zonkey.



The idea is that the viewer has to finish writing the prompt for each page. In the end the viewer completes the story.. So each book is different.

Plus, since the illustrations are black and white, it's a coloring book!




Plus plus, I'm going to leave some faces off the illustrations. This way the writer has to draw the expression on the characters!

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Critter Meets Lin Oliver



Critter fancies himself to be the mascot of Children's Lit. bloggers. He has been visiting Children's lit blogs since 2009. So far he has been to California, Montana, North Carolina, New England, Korea, Texas, Illinois and the Virgin Islands.



Recently, Critter's Travel Agent took Critter to the Society of Children's Books Writers & Illustrators National Conference in LA. There he got to meet Lin Oliver.



For now, you can keep track of Critter's travels on his FaceBook page. When Critter returns from all his travels he will be auctioned off for St. Jude.