Museum welcomes Skyberg's "Snickeyfritz"

Many parents scramble to find interesting and affordable events for their kids to attend during holiday break. The Milwaukee Public Museum -- always a staple destination during school vacations -- offers a unique event that might fight off the "I’m bored" blues for a couple of hours.

Local artist and writer Andrea Skyberg introduces her new book, "Snickeyfritz," on Dec. 29 and Jan. 3 during a drop-in workshop from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Copies of the 48-page book will be available for $17.99.

During the "Snickeyfritz" event, kids will have the opportunity to make miniature, masking tape versions of the characters.

Unlike most kids’ books, the characters in "Snickeyfritz" are actual larger-then-life objects created by Skyberg out of masking tape. Skyberg stumbled upon the masking tape medium while playing with her daughter.

"I started to use masking tape to create doll clothing.  The ease and adaptability of the tape gave me the idea to use masking tape to create life-size dolls to be used as the characters for my book," she says. "Over a year later, and after many rolls of masking tape, I had a finished book and my daughter had a number of new friends."

"Snickeyfritz" tells the story of three little girls who complain of boredom so their father challenges them with a treasure hunt to find three unusual items. By trying to find the items, the kids end up entertaining themselves and forgetting about their boredom.

One of the characters, Papa, will be on display at the museum and will "read" the story to the children. (An audio of Papa reading the book will play continually, resonating from beneath the platform.)

"This event offers a rare opportunity to see some of the life-size characters from the book, which are works of art unto themselves," says Skyberg.

Skyberg received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute, College of Art, and following graduation won a Fulbright Fellowship to travel to Nigeria.  After returning from Nigeria, she continued her education at the UWM and received her Master’s in Fine Art and Museum Studies. 

Skyberg is a working artist known for her large-room installations and costumed performances.  She is the curator of the Union Art Gallery in Milwaukee.

Originally, Skyberg invented the story for her high school English class in 1995. In 1998, she turned it into a two-act play.

"I always knew I wanted the final form of the story to exist as a children’s picture book and over the last few years was working to find the best images to fit the story," says Skyberg.

Skyberg photographed the large-scale figures in her Washington Heights’ home. In many of the shots, the characters are surrounded by artifacts and souvenirs that Skyberg and her family have acquired on their travels.

Skyberg spent a year creating the characters, and then an additional six months to shoot the photography, design and edit the book.

According to Skyberg, shooting the scenes was the most strenuous aspect of the making the book.

"We shot at night after my daughter went to sleep.  We would be up until 2 or 3 a.m. shooting, and then finally get to sleep only to be woken up from our human alarm clock a few hours later," she says.

Skyberg and her husband started their own publishing company, Wooden Nickel Press, to publish "Snickeyfritz" and other books in the future.

The book's language is offbeat. Skyberg kept a journal of funny expressions for five years, hoping to incorporate them into the book.

"The book uses a mix of contemporary and bygone language that will be sure to incite a lively dialog among family members as they reminisce or explain some of the odd terminology throughout the book," says Skyberg.