Black Forest WNDGO

Chris Ryniak was born in 1976 in the suburbs of Detroit. He spent his childhood basking in the warm glow of Saturday morning cartoons and flipping over rocks in search of insects, reptiles and ghosts. A graduate and former instructor of the Ringling School of Art and Design, He is now a painter and sculptor of all manner of critters. Chris’ work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the US including Miami, LA, New York City as well as Hamburg and Rome. His paintings have also been published in numerous books and periodicals in the States as well as in Europe and Singapore. Chris resides in a coastal Ohio Dutch Colonial with his wife, two children, dog, cat and menagerie of taxidermied animals. Sadly, no ghosts as of yet. The toy is based on a rabbit figure with distinctive tubular ears. The origin of the name Dunny came from a combination of street slang and one of the early "Devil Bunny" prototypes. The Dunny is sold in four sizes - 3", 5", 8" and 20". The toy has three points of articulation; a 360 degree rotational head and two arms. An artist card or sticker is also included with the 3" Dunny from a series. Most 3" Dunnys and some 8" Dunnys are normally sold as "blind assortment"; the figure is packaged inside a sealed foil wrapper, such that the buyer is not able to see which figure and accessories they are buying. Sealing the figure prevents people from opening and peeking in the boxes and buying only the figures they want. Most Dunnys are packaged inside a clear plastic bag in addition to the foil wrapper. In the second-hand market, this assures the buyer that the article was never on display and is in a "new" condition. With the success of vinyl toys as a medium for expression, many fans and artists have put their own design onto blank Dunnys. DesignerCon is an annual art and design convention that smashes together collectible toys, customs, plush, designer apparel and so much more with urban, underground and pop art! We are a celebration of all aspects from the world of design. Amanda Louise Spayd’s mixed-media work combines the textures and colors of antique domestic objects, the natural world, and an obsessive attention to detail. At once endearing and unsettling, her fabric creatures evoke ideas of cast-off children’s toys and ill-conceived taxidermy experiments with repurposed human teeth. Because of their aged, antique appearance, one is left to wonder about the origin, past experiences, and past lives of these creatures. Do they look like this because they were abandoned, or because they were literally loved to pieces? The idea of an unknown past story, combined with the possibilities of their future, is a central theme of her work. Her work is highly sought after by collectors around the globe, and she has exhibited her work in galleries, boutiques, and conventions across the United States.