Toy Army Tuesday - Traveling Circus

Hi everyone! Today I have something very exciting to share with you all - the Traveling Circus (show opening) by Circus Posterus at Rotofugi.

WARNING: This is about to get geeky.


For those of you who don't regularly tune in to my blog the Circus Posterus Collective is a group of (my favorite) artists. Their home base/gallery - the Stranger Factory is located out in Albuquerque, New Mexico, making it very difficult for me to attend any of their shows. Over the past few years I have tried attending a handful of their shows and workshops but unfortunately my plans have always fallen through. Thankfully, my dreams came true when CP decided to have a show at Rotofugi - my local designer toy shop and gallery.


(Wall of work by Amanda Louise Spayd.)

I was beyond excited when I got word that CP was headed to town! It was my first time attending one of their shows, and even more exciting was that a handful of the artists were going to attend the opening - of course I had to be there. I have been a member of "The Sideshow" which is their fan forum/chat boards just shy of one year and I have been using it to keep on top of news in the CP world as well as meeting fellow fans. The CP forum is a bit like family, I swear, next thing I knew I was being invited over to a fellow boardies home to have dinner with some other boardies as well as with the artists!! I went back and forth that entire week debating if I should go or not, thankfully, I mustered up enough courage and headed over there. Everyone was so nice and down to earth, it was so surreal. I still can't believe it happened.


(Work by Kathie Olivas & Brandt Peters)
(Work by Stephan Webb.)
(Work by Valency.)
(Work by Ferg, Travis Louie, and Brandt Peters.)
(Work by Jen Musatto and Travis Louie.)

The morning of the opening - Saturday, February 15th - my room mate and I camped out in front of the store at 5am in the lovely -6 degree Chicagoland weather and waited for the store to open at 11am so that we could be the first two people to receive tickets to purchase art from the show. Haha. It was a bit overkill, but I wasn't sure what to expect. The next person to show up in line didn't arrive until 8am. I thought my room mate was going to kill me. By the time the doors opened only 8 people were standing in line - I honestly regret nothing.


(Work by Chris Ryniak.)
(Work by Shing Yin Khor - Sawdust Bear.)
(Work by Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters.)
(Work by Joe Scarano.)
(Work by Time Lee.)
(Work by Stan Manoukian.)
(Work by Katie Carillo.)

I am continually blown away by the work these artists produce. It was nice to inspect each piece in person for a change as opposed to looking at them from fellow boardies photos in the forum. I have to make it out to one of their shows in New Mexico some time soon.


(Work by Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters.)
(Work by Amanda Louise Spayd.)
(Work by Shing Yin Khor - Sawdust Bear.)
(Work by Valency.)

I fear this post is becoming borderline overwhelming so I will stop for today. In upcoming posts I will break down the pieces by artist and give you more information about them. For more information about each piece please visit Rotofugi's Gallery - I will re-update this post later with the title of each piece, honestly, I am just up way past my bed time at the moment. As for today - I just wanted to give you a glimpse of what the opening was like. These last few photos with the artists are my personal faves.


Kathie Olivas and I.

Amanda Louise Spayd, Fiddlesticks (my Dust Bunny!!), and I.

Chris Ryniak, Brandt Peters, and I while being photo bombed by Amanda :]

For those interested: the show runs from February 15th through this Sunday, March 9th. Oh, and click on any of the images above to see more shots from the show!

Until next time! Have a great day everyone.