Ask around aboutPeeps— the sugary marshmallow treats that go into many an Easter basket this time of year — and love-‘em-or-hate-‘em opinions form as fast as those that greet the enduring (and, some might say, equally indestructible) Christmas fruitcake.
But the reception now greeting Peeps on display at theRacine Art Museumin Wisconsin is “over the moon,” says Lisa Englander, the museum’s director of guest relations. “When groups come in, we have to stop the children from running. They’re just so excited.”
“And then,” she says, “about 10 percent of the people that come in say, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?'”
This year’s13th Annual International Peeps Art Exhibition— on viewonline, or in-person through April 23 — displays 162 entries, most from Wisconsin and Illinois but also from states as distant as Massachusetts and California. Artists who range in age from 3 to 90 submitted works that include paintings, quilts, photography and ceramics. Some are interactive; at least one is motorized.
But it’s the ones that incorporate the actual marshmallow that stand apart, prompting a gentle cautionary note to visitors that reads, “Please do not touch or eat the works of art.”
The inspiration for the show was as novel as the show itself.
“I was depressed,” Englander says of the moment she dreamed it up. “It was in the bleak winter after the holidays, and February, March in Wisconsin is bleak. And I walked into an aisle of my local drug store and saw all this kind of spring color. And that’s when I came up with the idea.”
“At first, I thought it was going to be scandalous, because it’s the ‘Peep Show,'” Englander adds. “We had to work our words around that. So it became family-friendly.”
That first year drew about three dozen entries. The number on display in later years has topped 200. Puns predominate. (“Hare-Do,” “Candy Warhol,” “Give Peeps a Chance” and, of course, “Peeple” magazine, to name a few.)
Lisa Englander with the Racine Art Museum’s Peeps exhibit.Jeff Truesdell
Is there a pun Englander hasn’t seen? “Leaning Tower of Peepsa — I’ve never seen that,” she says.
But wit counts for a lot.
“One year we had two versions of thePsychoshower sceneexecuted in Peeps,” Pepich adds. “Hitchcock shows up somewhat regularly.”
“What I felt was wonderful about the Peep proposal was, we’re not an ivory tower,” he says, “and this sort of makes it very clear to the public.”
Glass artist Amanda Cosgrove Paffrath, of Racine, has participated almost every year, and makes the glass Golden Peeps awarded to curated winners in each of three categories: adult, young “peeples,” and family/group/organization.
“It sort of takes the hoity-toityness out of art,” she says. “It’s a fun, whimsical way to get people like me, who are working artists, to work outside the box of our normal realm. And I think for other people, it gives them an opportunity to play with an object you could buy at Walgreens and turn that into something that’s going to be on exhibit in a world-renowned museum.”
“Especially during the pandemic, this has become my therapy,” Ferron says.
Why photography? “Because photographs don’t get mushy,” he says, “and they don’t melt.”
Says Englander: “There are people who work with Peeps as a medium aside from the show. I didn’t know about this. It’s a whole cult-y thing.”
The call for entries goes out each fall, with submissions due March 31; about 90 percent are walk-ins.
“We don’t take everything. We can’t,” says Englander.
Size matters; one rejected piece was more than 4 feet long.
And apart from horror films, other themes do emerge. In 2016 Trump portraits — “some were pro and some were con” — were a thing.
“Those were really good,” says Englander.
Tributes to Ukraine made their appearance this year.
“I always get asked, ‘Has this been done?'” she says. “And I say, ‘Well, it’s been done, but you’ll do it differently.'”
It’s a matter of consequence that food is prohibited as an element of the displays — which only begs the question, what is a Peep anyway, apart from a creative building block?
Englander doesn’t eat them. Neither will Paffrath, the glass artist.
“I’m not a huge marshmallow fan,” says Paffrath. “But I buy them for my kids’ Easter baskets every year and the kids love them.”
“I’m more of a chocolate than a marshmallow eater,” she adds. “But I’m not a hater.”
source: people.com
