Scifest 2008 - Where it all started.

In 2008, the Saint Louis Science Center won out over several other institutions to bring the annual Cheltenham Science Festival across the pond. The festival mascot was this mannequin head with glasses. I wasn’t a fan, but since this was our first year, we were obligated to use the art that would be recognizable to people who already knew of the festival. 

The 2008 festival was a success and in 2009 we took ownership of it. The organizers, however, still wanted to use the head as the mascot. When I suggested that we maintain the iconorgrapy of the head, but alter it’s appearence each year, they were very supportive and left it up to me to come up with a style.

I used the opportunity to try out some printmaking. 

2010

The festival was a hit again and the art was well recieved. As I started looking for inspiration for 2010, I came across some beautiful cut paper art blogs and I knew it was something I could do. 

I pulled tons of inspiration and did hours of research. The festival organizers were thrilled with the idea and gave me the reigns and much more responsibility.

So I started cutting. At first it didn’t go well; in fact, it was a disaster. I could see the vision in my head and I knew from my research what was possible with paper and I knew that if they could figure it out, I could too. 

So I started cutting. At first it didn’t go well; in fact, it was a disaster. I could see the vision in my head and I knew from my research what was possible with paper and I knew that if they could figure it out, I could too. 

After a few sleepless nights, a couple of screams in the car and one nasty slash from the exacto knife, the good stuff started to reveal itself.