Creating Back to School Memories for the Next Generation
Back-to-school event review!
It starts with the commercials on TV about school supplies and clothing deals, welcome letters from new teachers about back-to-school night, and the changes in the weather that remind us the 2021-2022 school year is quickly approaching. Do you remember the feeling of being a kid growing up with your favorite school supplies from the 70s, 80s, or 90s?
Now it’s our turn to watch our children and grandchildren create the same memories and feelings about back to school. But this year back to school is going to be even more special than we remember! Students, families, and staff will be coming together to build their community for the upcoming school year after a year of being apart. Countries all over the world start the school year with different traditions to create memories and build their communities.
Back to School In Germany
Since the early 19th century Germany has loved to make back-to-school sweet! The most important tradition is on the first day of school for each child to receive a Schultüte. Translated, it means “school bag” but it’s actually a cone-shaped package with school supplies and treats for the upcoming school year. Either the school gives them to the children or parents can purchase them at a local store.
In Russia
“Day of Knowledge” is how Russia starts the new school year. It’s not just for students either! Students and parents gather outside of the school and give teachers colorful bouquets of fresh flowers and students receive a colorful balloon in return!
In India
In India, the first day of school is called Pravesanolsavam. Children receive special presents to mark the occasion. One of the most popular gifts besides school supplies is to receive an umbrella because when the school year begins, it’s during the monsoon months.
In the United States
Now booking back-to-school events!
Back to school in the United States fills our calendars with busy schedules of college move-in day, freshman orientation, back-to-school night, after-school programs, sporting events, fall festivals, welcome week, homecoming dances, and more! Capturing these moments after a year of unprecedented times is more important than ever because many went without any physical memories of the previous school year.
As an event planner, we suggest adding a Goofy Faces artist to your event to capture memories and create laughter. Everyone will receive a keepsake that they can have forever. Whether you want an individual picture or you want to do a group picture, we’ve got you covered!
The cost of our artists varies on the type of artwork, the number of guests, and the time frame. But don’t let that deter you. Goofy Faces excels in school. For more information visit goofyfaces.com/contact/ or call 248-652-8910. We installed an easy-to-use wedding artists cost calculator on our Goofy Faces Website. Feel free to visit our site for more information in regards to booking an artist!
No matter how you’re starting this school year, with in-person or virtual learning, it’s important to create a tradition that will give the children exciting memories when starting a new school year.
Don’t just take it from us, here’s what some of our amazing Goofy Faces clients have said about our artists!
Angela from Southgate, Michigan said. “Both artists were amazingly talented and genuinely nice people. We enjoyed having them at our event and would hire them again in a second.”
Elisha R. said, “Our artists arrived early, began early, and even stayed late to make sure everyone who wanted a picture was able to get one. Thanks!”
Lastly, J.D. from Lawrence, Kansas said, “We were absolutely in love with our artist. She was fast, friendly, and efficient. We received many requests to bring her to our future events and the fee was extremely reasonable. I would book from Goofy Faces again in a heartbeat!”
4 tips to help you get the right artist for your entertainment.
If you’re planning a party, or you’ve been asked to help with the entertainment for an event, and you want something people will remember, hire a caricature artist or face painter. Your guests will definitely be entertained, and they get to take home treasured memories in the form of a unique piece of art of or on their face!
Here are some tips to help you make the best choice. (more…)
We Love to Draw in the D!
We’ve had a whirlwind few weeks of drawing in the Motor City this summer so we thought we’d share all of the exciting events we’ve been a part of so far this season.
Bark in the Park
The Detroit Tigers held another Bark in the Park on June 25th at Comerica Park during a Tigers’ home game. Once again, Goofy Faces was hired to draw FREE caricatures of pets with their owners. This event was sponsored by Pet Supplies Plus and it was a howling success!
Hockeytown Draft Party
The Detroit Red Wings brought in Goofy Faces to light up their draft day party with both event caricature art and face painting. Hockey fans were thrilled by both the draft and the art!
Yelp! Party
Goofy Faces had an artist on-site drawing live eSketches™ for a huge party sponsored by Yelp! at the Boathouse on Belle Isle. The “Nauti by Nature” event was a benefit to support the Boathouse renovation fund.
Freedom Boat Club Summer Kick-Off
The Freedom Boat Club is nationwide organization that allows its members access to boats from coast to coast, without boat ownership or maintenance! They held a Summer Kick-Off event at Sindbad’s in Detroit and we were there drawing caricatures for guests. WLLZ’s own Doug Podell broadcast live during the party.
The Detroit Fireworks
Once again, UAW-Ford brought in a couple of Goofy Faces artists to draw & entertain school groups and guests during the Ford Fireworks Festival at the UAW Program Center in downtown Detroit
Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau
The DMCVB booked 2 Goofy Faces artists to draw caricatures of guests from the Society of Government Meeting Professionals while they attended a party taking place at The Fillmore. Guests from across the country got to experience the best that Detroit and Goofy Faces has to offer.
UAW-Ford Safe Overnight Summer Camp
UAW-Ford hosted a Safe Summer Camp experience at Riverside Marina over the 4th of July weekend with fun and educational outdoor activities. Goofy Faces was hired to provide 2 caricature artists to entertain happy campers with their kids.
Goofy Faces books events nationwide and is proud to provide art & entertainment in our home town of Detroit, MI.
Consider adding event caricature art and/or face painting to create a more memorable experience at your next private party or corporate event. Learn more: https://goofyfaces.com/events/
Last November I attended ISCACON24 which is the annual convention for the International Society of Caricature Artists. I have been going for over 10 years. One of the highlights is a VIP reception for members to mingle with the guest of honor. This time, the guest speaker was Jason Seiler who is a phenomenal painter and artist from Chicago. He decided to do a digital painting demonstration during the reception. Projected up large on a screen was the caricature he was painting while members socialized and drank over the 3 hour reception. Jason interacted with members as he painted. They asked questions and the artist would respond, all while painting a guest who was ecstatic about being painted by him. The atmosphere was very unique and enjoyable. It was from this experience that I came up with the idea to offer a similar service for cocktail receptions, corporate events, fundraisers and other related functions in which an award-winning artist could paint a guest or host while engaging with attendees during the event. Think of it; as an added feature to your hi-end event, an award-winning artist sets up and does a live painting of the host, guest-of-honor or a winner’s favorite celebrity which can then be used for a charity auction once it is finished! 7 months later, we have put the finishing touches on our brand new service with our new web page featuring 6 incredible artists who you can now book for your function anywhere in the U.S. or abroad. I am very excited about this new service and I am looking forward to seeing what these artists can do for our clients. Check out the page and Let me know your thoughts!
I am very happy and relieved to report an update to my previous post about my close friend and great artist, Glenn Ferguson. As many of you already know, Glenn was viciously attacked by another artist at Universal Studios on New Year’s Day. Glenn was stabbed in the side of his head with a pair of scissors near the caricature stand that he has been drawing at for over 20 years. It took over 5 hours of surgery to remove the blades from his brain.
All of us in the caricature artist community were horrified when we learned of Glenn’s situation. Glenn is highly respected and greatly loved by many of us who share his trade of drawing caricatures for a living. A few of us organized a GoFundMe campaign to help offset all the costs and lack of income that Glenn was enduring while he is recovering. People from around the world have reached out with support and donations. So far, we have successfully raised over $67,000!
Miraculously, Glenn regained conscious a couple weeks later. However, that was only the first step. He has had a tough road since then. The injury affected his vision, speech and the vital functions that most of us take for granted daily. He was unable to understand what people were saying to him. He couldn’t walk. He didn’t know how to speak. Imagine waking up and not even knowing who you are. That’s exactly what Glenn experienced.
Fortunately, the wonderful therapists worked with Glenn in the hospital for weeks and were surprised at how quickly he responded to treatment. They had never met nor worked with someone like him before. Being an artist meant that his brain is wired a little differently than most people. And the therapists were learning a lot from Glenn while helping him recover. Glenn progressed well enough that the hospital discharged him ahead of schedule and sent him home. Now Glenn is working with his therapists from home several times a week. He is learning to read again. He still gets tired easily and he has no peripheral vision in his right eye. But the Glenn we all know and love is alive and hasn’t changed regarding his personality. That is a huge victory!
It’s incredible to think that only 45 days ago, Glenn was clinging to life by the smallest of odds. I am as blown away with his progress since then. Glenn has been overwhelmed regarding your compassion and support. As I mentioned before, Glenn is really one of the good ones and apparently greater forces than ours appear to agree. Keep up the great recovery, Glenn!
I consider myself to be extremely fortunate. I make a comfortable living doing something I really enjoy doing on a daily basis. I get to create. I bring smiles to thousands of people every year. And aside from the occasional unsatisfied customer or perhaps an extra long gig that is too close to a DJ speaker, my profession is very low-risk, high-reward. As many of you know I am also a member of the International Society of Caricature Artists. It’s a trade association of caricature artists from around the world. It’s membership is around 500-600 artists and many of us have been involved for years. We are an extended family to one-another.
One of my closest friends that I met through ISCA is Glenn Ferguson. We both served as board members for 6 years. When I became president, Glenn was my vice president. We got along so well over that time that we became best buds. Even after we finished serving on the board, we keep in touch. He’s been to Michigan several times and has drawn with me at the Art & Apples Festival near my home. My family has visited with him and his wife, JoAnn near his home in Orlando. Glenn is an extremely talented artist who manages the caricature concession for Fasan Arts at Universal Studios, Orlando. He’s been there bringing smiles to visitors for decades now. Not only is he a very popular artist with guests but he is greatly admired among the artist community as well. In addition to serving on the board, Glenn has won more awards at the annual convention, ISCACON, than any other artist in history, including the top award of Master of the Year. Besides being an outstanding artist, Glenn has got to be one of the nicest guys I have ever had the pleasure to know. He encourages other artists, he is mean to no one and he has the patience of a saint. He also has a great sense of humor. In short, Glenn is one of the good ones.
On the morning of New Year’s Day 2016, Glenn Ferguson was attacked at Universal Studios, where he has drawn thousands upon thousands of caricatures over the years for tourists. He was viciously stabbed in the side of his head by a disgruntled co-worker and had to undergo a lengthy emergency surgery that lasted more than 5 hours. Glenn’s prognosis remains unclear–what has immediately become clear is how many people are pulling for him, a testament to how many lives Glenn has touched.
Right after celebrating their first wedding anniversary, his wife JoAnn is now facing the fallout from this attack–it will no doubt contain many bills from doctors and hospitals (even with insurance, copays and deductibles add up) and a long road ahead involving rehabilitation and recovery time. We all hope and pray that Glenn can make a full recovery, but there will no doubt be many hurdles to overcome since Glenn has suffered a traumatic brain injury.
Several of us who have known Glenn through the caricature community have set up a fund to help, which JoAnn will be able to access as bills mount. If you already know Glenn, I am certain that you have already donated or you are about to soon. If you do not know Glenn, please watch the video I included to get a sense of the kind of guy Glenn is. The world is a much better place with him in it and with your help, hopefully he can recover so that he can get back to his drawing table and delighting people once again.
Recently Goofy Faces ventured across the border into Windsor, Canada to help out at Windsor Regional Hospital’s annual fund-raiser called Hats on for Healthcare. This event raises money for different local, healthcare-related needs in the Windsor-Essex region of Ontario, Canada. This was the second time that Goofy Faces was hired to draw caricatures at this event on February 11th. 
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