Museum Monday: Don’t Mess With Texas

Howdy, y’all! In this installment of Museum Monday we honor The Lone Star State: home of The Alamo, NASA, Bush 43, Dallas, BBQ brisket, and SXSW.

SXSW is one of our fave festivals of the year and it’s only two weeks away! Will you be making the trip to Austin? Let Busy Beaver help promote your band, record label, or musically-inclined organization with an order of custom buttons.

And be sure to check back to the Busy Beaver Button Blog all week where we’ll be sharing a bunch of SXSW-themed ideas and goodies.

“Black Swan” and the Avant Garde

It’s time to cook up some Jesse EisenBurgers and True (Cheese) Grits! The 83rd Academy Awards air this Sunday on CBS. Will Natalie Portman win Best Actress for her performance in “Black Swan”? We’ll have to wait and see but in the meantime take a look at this striking “Black Swan” movie poster created by British design studio LaBoca:

Black Swan movie poster by British design studio LaBoca

One in a series, this poster’s design was influenced by Polish and Czech posters of the 60s and 70s. The designs are rather reminiscent of a series of 1966 avant garde art buttons currently housed at the Busy Beaver Button Museum:

Art in America Nov/Dec 1966 about avant garde buttons from Park Place Gallery in New York.

Scot Bendall, the art director on the project, compared designing the “Black Swan” posters “to creating a record sleeve“. We say he should’ve taken that concept of branded merch further and created a set of avant garde “Black Swan” buttons. Maybe for the DVD release?

Want to create your own custom buttons? Go to busybeaver.net.

STAPLE! Buttons Up

The Staplegator, known in the Southwest as caimán de grapa, is an elusive and mysterious creature. He emerges each March to feed on comics, custom buttons, zines, and more in the vicinity of Austin, TX.

You can find the Staplegator March 5-6 at STAPLE! The Independent Media Expo in Austin, Texas. For more info go to staple-austin.org.

And for your own monster themed buttons, order now at busybeaver.net.

Top 10 Ways to use Glow in the Dark Buttons

In honor of our glow-in-the-dark special, here’s the Busy Beaver Button Co. list of Top 10 uses for glow-in-the-dark button technology:

1. Promote your Ghost Adventures fan club
2. Wear a button instead of getting Lil’ Wayne style glow-in-the-dark tattoos
3. Replace the glow-in-the-dark stars on your wall with glow-in-the-dark buttons
4. Wear while drinking glow-in-the-dark beer
5. Bike safely home at night with a jacket covered in glow-in-the-dark buttons
6. Give as party favors on your haunted bar tour
7. Ward off zombies alá I am Legend
8. Wear with your glow-in-the-dark lingerie
9. Promote a cool art exhibit
10. Attach to the collar of your glow-in-the-dark cat

Have a better use for glow-in-the-dark buttons? Email buttongal@busybeaver.net. Or click here to order.

Roller Derby Buttons Up

Have you seen Nike’s new “Throwdown” commercial featuring some badass roller girls? Roller derby has become more mainstream in recent years but Busy Beaver has been jamming with the ladies of the flat track since derby’s revival around 2001. Check out the custom buttons we’ve produced over the past decade:

clockwise from top left: Harbor City Roller Dames, Angel City Derby Girls, Derby Lite, Ithaca Rollers, Garden State Rollergirls, Windy City Rollers, West Texas Roller Dollz

Need custom buttons for your next derby matchup? Click here or email buttongal@busybeaver.net

Sir Gus Meets Busy Beaver

Check out this image submitted by Britton Walters via Facebook: “When I was younger Mr. Walters, I was in Columbus, Georgia at a craft fair my mother was participating in. Some Shriners were there with their camel, Sir Gus. If you kissed him, they gave you a button like this. When I came close to Sir Gus, he leaned over and bit me on the shoulder. After checking that I was okay, a Shriner gave me this button.”

Kissed by a camel, eh? How about a Busy Beaver…

Want your button story featured on the Busy Beaver blog? Friend us on Facebook!

The Interrupters Film Buttons Up

The Sundance Film Festival ended a couple of weeks ago but critics are still talking about The Interrupters, the documentary from acclaimed Hoop Dreams director Steve James and bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz. The Interrupters tells the story of Ameena Matthews, Cobe Williams. and Eddie Bocanegra, “three Violence Interrupters who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once employed.” Pictured above with actor/producer Danny Glover, the three appeared at Sundance wearing custom buttons imprinted with dialogue from the film. Take a look at a few of the designs Busy Beaver Button Co. produced for Kartemquin Films:

Click here to find out more about the film. To order your own custom text buttons, go to BusyBeaver.net.

 

10% Off Glow in the Dark Buttons!

Who has two thumbs and loves glow-in-the-dark buttons? This beaver!

We’re celebrating our love of the glow by offering customers 10% off any order containing glow-in-the-dark buttons. Round, oval, square— this deal applies to all glow-in-the-dark sizes and shapes! Just enter the code “Glow2011″ at checkout when you order from Busy Beaver Button Co.

Limit one use per customer. Coupon code valid only from February 17, 2011 – March 17, 2011.

Say “Vote Early, Vote Often” With Custom Buttons

Historically, the choice for campaign buttons has always been the 2.25-inch button; I like Ike, and Ike liked a 2.25-incher. But with this year’s crop of Chicago political button orders we’ve seen a variety of different sizes. Oval buttons, square buttons, even cute 1-inch round buttons— they are all hitting the campaign trail in 2011.

With local Chicago elections next Tuesday, we expect to see campaign buttons galore on our morning commute. And maybe Rahm Emanuel.

FLUXFEST Buttons Up

Renowned rubber stamp artist Picasso Gaglione stopped by the Beaver Dam last week to give us the inside scoop on FLUXFEST, opening today at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The Dada-inspired fest will feature contemporary re-interpretations of classic Fluxus scores and actions, new Fluxus performances, and a presentation of the Postal Art Network.

So what is Fluxus? Even with decades of collective art education among the Busy Beavers this was one we had to google. Apparently, “Fluxus works are simple. The art is small, the texts are short, and the performances are brief.” Sounds a little bit like button art…

FLUXFEST runs February 15-20 at the MCA Chicago.