Local Love

LOCAL LOVE | I pride myself on trying to find unique gifts, especially for birthdays.  I love it even more when those gifts support local artists.

Earlier this year, I fell upon a story about two artists living in a cool space by the Plaza (full story here: At Home with Grace Townley and Spencer Lott).  Grace is the goddaughter of Fred Rogers (yes, Mr. Rogers) and Spencer is a puppeteer.  I was immediately intrigued so I visited his website (here) and shot off an email to inquire about a birthday project for my girlfriend.

What followed was truly one of the most fun projects I've ever worked on, and what Amanda now refers to as the "best gift I've ever given her." 

Spencer Lott is an artistic gem -- and he was a pleasure to work with.  He asked for photos, details about us, things we like to do, personality traits, etc.  From those, he successfully turned our family into funky finger puppets housed in a vintage airstream.  He also included a hand-drawn family portrait that included every single detail I'd given him. The outcome far exceeded my expectations.  Neither of us like to have photos of ourselves displayed in the house but we now consider this our family portrait and proudly display it on our mantel. 

If you're looking for a cool gift, check out Spencer's work at www.misterlott.com.  He lives in KC, but is happy to work with people out of state, too.  Whether it's a family of finger puppets or a stuffed animal for your kid, Spencer has ideas that remind you what gift giving is all about.