Defying Gravity in Mascotdom

Many parents have told me that their children beg to go to the museum so that they can wave a flag on the Rex parade.....and be led out of the museum.

The daily Rex Parade is the gentle way to lead children and adults through the Children's Museum and out the door at closing time.

We are the ones who make the big, rainbow bellied Dinosaur.
  

Rex is a mascot engineering miracle.

The law of gravity is a law that usually wins. Rex's tail defies gravity. It takes a lot of engineering to defy gravity.

Mascots as Community Organizers

Where does community spontaneously happen? Where do we bump shoulders with strangers? Where do we just get silly!

When we're in the presence of a mascot, that's where!

Where mascots are, a community emerges. People gather. 

Roche Diagnostics - Accu-Chek Peforma insulin meter at diabetes camp in Venezuela

It doesn't take great talent, superior intellect or an educated eye to joke, to have fun and to pass the time of day in the presence of a mascot. When a mascot is around we have a reason to connect.

A mascot is the perfect, goofy and generous host.

While we may think a mascot is merely a marketing tool, really, a mascot is a hand extended in community. 

Any organization that puts in the long hours of imaginative, strategic planning, design collaboration and dollars into a mascot program is really holding out their hand in joy, trust and community.

Girl Tools

In my tool rack, we have bunches of hammers---ok, 2 or 3 and a mallet, but in the swirl of mascot-making hammers, screwdrivers, scissors, rulers get lost, hide under fur, get involved w/ the velcro, sidle up to the sequins.

Several years ago we made some Glamor Hammers for special, hard-working clients. They were hammers, with spray painted gold heads, bunches of sequins and feather boas. One of the hammers found its way to the tool rack. For a few months, the Glamor Hammer was the only poundy thing we had. Its pretty, but not tough---but it still pounds, I think.

The World Serious

Phanatic in NYC

I'm torn. Who to root for in this Wold Series (or as my father calls it, the World Serious), the Yanks or the Phillies?

I grew up in NYC, got married in NYC, my first daughter was born in NYC and I went to my first game, a Yankees game, in the Bronx!

Before going to my first Yankees game, I had been to bunches of plays on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway. I had spent hours hanging out with friends at the Museum of Modern Art and I had gone to see art & performance pieces in galleries in SoHo (way back in the day, when there were galleries in SoHo).

In NYC, there is a sense that keeping track of the Art Scene is like watching a contact sport. There is an ever-changing roster of players, there are minor leagues and major leagues.

When I started watching the Yankees, I saw them as characters in a play, or an art performance. I have maintained that Sport-as-Art-Performance sensibility.

Oh gosh, I can sense you sports guys cringing!

...and I make mascots.

Who do I root for?

The Phillies have a mascot. The Yankees don't.

Both teams have great characters and great costumes. Both teams have a sense of drama.

Hmmm...hard to say.

It's a great World Serious.

A Really Good Looking Tomato

Its the Year of the Tomato at the Indiana State Fair.

...and the Indiana State Fair is the quintessential State Fair for this urban girl.

I always have a pork burger from the pork producers and some vanilla ice cream from the dairy people. I check out what the 4-H-ers are up to.

I have learned that poultry are exotic birds and that horses are really big!

This year is going to be especially grand because AvantGarb made Stewie the Tomato mascot for RedGold. RedGold is in the Farm Bureau Building.

The State Fair starts on August 7th!

Yum!

Muscles & mascots

For a long time we had the cover from a muscle magazine on our wall. The big story was "6 Ways to Bulk Up".

The AvantGarb 6 ways to Bulk Up:

1. Foam
   
2. Foam
   
3. Foam
   
4. Foam
5. Foam
   
6. Foam

We call our muscled mascots: WonderBoys, Pec Boy, Fabio Chest, Miracle Man, Super Man and Ohmygoodnesslookatthosemuscles Guy!

Here's one of our muscled mascots, JAWZ. IUPUI's* mascot. He's pretty popular!*Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis---quite a name!

It's
AvantGarb TV

In an interview @ AvantGarb's studio, I talk about the how, where and why of mascots and a bit of how the heck i got into the mascot biz!
Enjoy!