LAWRENCE WEINER BUTTONS UP

Lawrence Weiner was a central figure in the formation of conceptual art in the 1960s and today is one of most important living artists whose work often takes the form of typographic texts.

Square buttons designed by Weiner are pictured here and designed for the Bronx Museum.  The artist writes to Busy Beaver Button Co. founder and button enthusiast,

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR NOTE & MANY THANKS FOR THE QUALITY OF THE PIN THAT WE HAVE MADE TOGETHER. BUTTONS, BADGES, TEMPORARY TATTOOS ARE A VIABLE MEANS OF PLACING ART WITHIN SOCIETAL CONTEXTS HAVING NO REQUIREMENTS OTHER THAN A PATCH OF SKIN OR FABRIC TO ATTACH TO AS A SUPPORT STRUCTURE.

I THINK BUTTONS ALLOW PEOPLE TO IDENTIFY WITH WHATSOEVER IS ON THEIR SURFACE & THEREFORE I LIKE THEM. ART IS SUPPOSED TO EMPOWER PEOPLE & THE AESTHETICS THAT THEY STAND FOR.

BEST REGARDS
LAWRENCE WEINER

Click here for the Lawrence Weiner video data base.  Click here for a wonderful video featuring artist.  Click here to visit Busy Beaver Button Co. and have a nice day!

Printer’s Ball Buttons Up

Printer's Ball emoticon juxtaposed with a die cut letterpress poster on a 2.25-inch button.

Busy Beaver Button Co. juxtaposed words provided by Poetry magazine with salvaged letterpress posters provided by the Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts to make a limited edition of 500 letterpress 2.25-inch buttons for the Sixth Annual Printers Ball in Chicago.

The event, which this year takes as its theme “Print Loves Digital,” is an annual celebration of literary culture founded by Poetry magazine and other independent Chicago literary organizations.

What better way to express the theme for the free event than buttons?

Celebrate at the Sixth Annual Printers’ Ball located at at The Ludington Building on the Columbia College Chicago 1104 South Wabash Avenue on Friday, July 30, 2010 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM. More info here.

Each one-of-a-kind button is available to the first 500 attendees of the Printer's Ball

Paying for College Buttons Up

Khloe uses 1.5-inch square buttons as a wearable business cards at local events

Logan Square resident and Edward Jones financial adviser Ms. Khloe Karova approached Busy Beaver Button Co. at the Green Ideas panel with the need to share her message with buttons.

Design Service setup an “I Heart Logan Square” square button for her that will be put to good use this week.

A financial adviser, Ms. Karova is leading an informational seminar about various college savings plans on Thursday, July 29, 2010 at the Logan Square Public Library from 6-8PM at 3030 W. Fullerton Avenue in Chicago.

Topics of discussion for parents and young students alike are reasons to start saving now, how much tuition costs, tax-deferred savings plans, including 529, IRAs and Coverdell, and other financial options to help you reach your family’s education goals.

Click here to visit Busy Beaver Button Co. and share your message too.

Milwaukee Ave. Arts Fest Buttons Up

This weekend marks the second annual Milwaukee Avenue Arts Fest, with a Souvenir Art Button sale sponsored by Busy Beaver Button Co.

Be transported to the creative side of Logan Square with thirty “pop-up” galleries, music at three stages, and plenty of Magic Hat beer all weekend.

Collect artists’ one-inch buttons, conveniently displayed in button bins, at different stations, for just one dollar.  Sales support local cultural goings-on, and you get to pin it on your sleeve!

Check out the MAAF here.  Start your own art button sale here.

Chicagoland Shepherd Rescue Buttons Up

Chicagoland Shepherd Rescue, and used square buttons for their fundraiser.

Chicago dog-loving pals hosted a benefit for the Chicagoland Shepherd Rescue, and used awesome square buttons as part of their fundraiser.

Support for the event came from Danny’s Bar, some excellent shepherd-lovin’ t-shirts, as well as buttons designed by Kim Soss and donated by their fellow mammals, Busy Beaver Button Co.

Do your dog a favor and visit the CSR here.  Setup a fundraiser with buttons here!

Delightful German Shepard Cupcakes for the CSR Benefit in Chicago

Pitchfork Fest Buttons Up!

Miss Mia and Ratso jump with Busy Beaver Button Co. and ActionBooth for souvenir buttons

Surfer Blood, Kurt Vile, Neon Indian, The Smith Westerns…the list of awesome bands that rocked Pitchfork this weekend goes on and on.

Busy Beaver Button Co. made souvenir buttons for fest-goers and buttoneers along the way, like Miss Mia and Ratso from Chic-A-Go-Go pictured above.

The new button bin was in action at the CHIRP record fair, too.  Cardboard Sangria, HoZac, and Polyvinyl offered buttons as a way to catch peoples’ attention in the vendor tents.

Self-proclaimed “secret society” Colossal Squid sponsored wi-fi at Pitchfork and offered cool buttons to the relief of many, and even designers Souldier and Tiny Media Empire displayed neat buttons to the delight of their fans.

The Chicago Reader sponsored the bicycle parking lot at the fest, and released a new one-inch button design of a Reader-powered bike for participating cyclists.

Click here for the complete photo set of Busy Beaver Button Co. Pitchfork souvenir photos on Actionbooth.com

Thanks for all the eye candy, everyone!  Click here to hang out at Pitchfork for a recap.  Click here to visit BusyBeaver.net

Busy Beaver Button Co. at Pitchfork

Come visit Busy Beaver Button Co. and Actionbooth.com at Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend in Chicago!

Fest go-ers flock to the booth for photo button souvenirs because they’re cheaper than the beer, never get warm, and  always stay “cool.”

Come say hi and make buttons on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!  Click here for more info about Pitchfork.

Go ahead and click a link from the Busy Beaver Button Co. archive:

• Pitchfork 2009 “1…2…3…JUMP!”

• Pitchfork 2008 “Obama’s Running Mate”

• Pitchfork 2007 “R. Kelly and Oprah”

Multilingual Chicago Button Contest

Multilingual Chicago is calling on its students, friends, and you to help choose their next set of 1.5-inch buttons!  Read on for their Button Contest:

Please do us the favor of voting for your favorite button – or better yet, put on your thinking cap and suggest a clever new button for us to print!

By voting, you will be entered in a random drawing for $40 off any language class. If you suggest a new button and yours is printed, you will be the lucky recipient of a $75 Multilingual Chicago gift certificate (not bad for typing less than four words).

Click here to vote, people!  Or, اضغط هنا للتصويت Also, 點擊這裡投票. Register for fall language classes here! Make your own multilingual buttons here.

Button Tour of Chicago

Busy Beaver Button Co. welcomes you to Chicago this weekend for the Pitchfork Music Festival!  Visit your favorite button-slinging Beavers at Booth 41 for some seriously super souvenir buttons.

Are you looking for cool things to do outside the fest?  Here’s a mini-button tour of where-to-shop-eat-and-drink-in Chicago.

• Uncle Fun is your destination for cheap collectibles, deadstock sunglasses, and buttons old and new.  Sift through drawers for officially-licensed, early nineties Beavis and Butthead 1.5-inch square buttons, original Hipco. 0.5-inch smiley face stick pins, and collect art buttons from the Button-O-matic vending machine near the door.  Come with $5 and go to Pitchfork with a bag full of cool stuff!  1338 W. Belmont (773) 477-8223

• Lula Cafe feeds Logan Square-ites some of the best bites in Chicago from local farms.  Grab a breakfast burrito and a free Lula button, take their Button-O-matic for a “spin,” all while admiring button mosaics by Anders Nilsen in both dining rooms.  2537 N. Kedzie (773) 489-9554

• The Empty Bottle is an awesome place to rock out on Monday night for a free, air-conditioned show after a weekend in the sun.  Check out headliners the Loose Dudes, famous for “Best Band T-Shirt” in the Chicago Reader “Best Of” issue, and their equally-awesome button selection.  There’s also a vending machine directly across from the merch table currently filled with the “Best Of” Button-O-matic buttons, ranging from the VOTE series to GLOW.  1035 N. Western (773) 276-3600

Need more pointers?  Contact Busy Beaver Button Co. today until 5PM and ask for Alex.  Also, you still have time to order buttons and have them delivered to you at the fest!  Click here for the website.

Tape Op Buttons Up

Pin-on your love with four new Tape Op one-inch buttons

Musicians, engineers, and gearheads love Tape Op magazine for creative recording solutions.  Are you ready to pin-on your love with four new one-inch buttons?

The website Good Mountain manages merch for Tape Op and sells the buttons set online.  Good Mountain co-founder John writes,

[A] husband and wife decided to start a business called Good Mountain — a good website run by good people selling good things. Most of what they sold was merchandise for a truly good music magazine called Tape Op.

After a few months of selling Tape Op merchandise, the husband and wife realized what they really needed to sell were some whizz-bang, damn fine-looking buttons.

With designs in hand, they put their trust in the good people of Busy Beaver Buttons, who always get the job done right. Man, those buttons sure did turn out nice.

There you have it!  Be friends with Good Mountain on Facebook here.  Buy the Tape Op buttons here.  Tell your own triumphant button story after you visit here.