The Pierce Art Center Doodle Boards
Doodle Board #1
Doodle Board Guide
1989-1993
mixed media on Crescent 3X Board or Crescent Illustration Board
29 x 40"
1. Tool Tally, Vehicle Tally, Feesh Tally, ca. February 1989
Contributors: Ingrid Oyen, Jason Sabol, Jon Solinger, Kasey Shantz, Tony Sinner
2. Space Aliens, Bleek Zork?, ca. March 1989
contributors: Jon Solinger, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Tony Sinner
3. Devils, ca. April 1989
contributors: Jason Sabol, Jon Solinger, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Tony Sinner
4. Brown Ink Blowings, Darwin, Astronomer, Aliens, completed May 19, 1989
contributors: Jon Solinger, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Tony Sinner
5. Gurus, Monks, Skateboards, May 19 - June 24, 1989
contributors: Jason Sabol, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Tony Sinner
6. Bold Black Marker, June 24 - July 15, 1989
contributors: Barb Spies, Jason Sabol, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Tony Sinner
7. Big Blue Barb, July 17 - August 16, 1989
contributors: Barb Spies, Jason Sabol, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Tony Sinner
8. Lots of People, August 16 - September 22, 1989
contributors: Holly Mathers, Jon Solinger, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Tony Sinner
9. Biblical Family Tree, September 22 - October 28, 1989
contributors: Holly Mathers, Jon Solinger, Kasey Shantz, Sherrie Hostuttler, Tony Sinner
10. Sectioned Off, October 28, 1989 - April 28, 1990
contributors: Holly Mathers, Kasey Shantz, Mike Van Heel (Anardis), Tony Sinner
11. Lots of Artists, April 28 - June 14, 1990
contributors: Barb Spies (& Friends), Holly Mathers, Jon Solinger, Kasey Shantz, Marshall Hoffman, Mike Van Heel, Tony Sinner
12. Filled Edge to Edge, June 15 - July ?, 1990
contributors: Barb Spies, Holly Mathers, Jon Solinger, Kasey Shantz, Mike Van Heel, Tony Sinner
13. Tossing Salad, One Eye-Browed Cowboy, July 1990 - ?
contributors: Barb Spies, Holly Mathers, Kasey Shantz, Mike Van Heel, Tony Sinner
14(a). Double Pen, Fire Hydrant, late 1990 - early 1991
contributors: Holly Mathers, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Van Dyke, Tony Sinner
15(b). Gorilla in a Tree, late 1990 - early 1991
contributors: Holly Mathers, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Van Dyke, Tony Sinner
16(a). What?, late 1990 - early 1991
contributors: Holly Mathers, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Van Dyke, Tony Sinner
17(b). Scarey Fish, late 1990 - early 1991
contributors: Holly Mathers, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Van Dyke, Tony Sinner
18(a). Flesh Tones, Spring 1991
contributors: Holly Mathers, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Van Dyke, Tony Sinner
19(b). Big Bat with Green, Spring 1991
contributors: Holly Mathers, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Van Dyke, Tony Sinner
20(a). Holly Makes a Scene, Van Artists, May 1991
contributors: Holly Mathers, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Van Dyke, Tony Sinner
21(b). Two Hand Graphs, ca. June 1991
contributors: Holly Mathers, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Van Dyke, Tony Sinner
22(a). Dogs, Cats, Bunnies, Frogs, Chickens, ca. Summer 1991
contributors: Holly Mathers, Jill Smook, Kasey Shantz, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Van Dyke, Tony Sinner
23(b). Cumin’ Up Fer Air!, September - November 18, 1991
contributors: Bob Poate, Holly Mathers, Jill Smook, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Machalek, Tony Sinner
24(a). Nudity, Holly Makes Another Scene, completed January 2, 1992
contributors: Bob Poate, Holly Mathers, Jill Smook, Mike Van Heel, Tony Sinner, Zarquan (Michael Tschimperle?)
25(b). Radek’s Tattoos, Winter 1992
contributors: Bob Poate, Holly Mathers, Jill Smook, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Tony Sinner
26(a). Phallus Collage, completed March 9, 1992
contributors: Bob Poate, Holly Mathers, Jill Smook, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Tony Sinner
27(b). Patrick Stewart as Mephistopheles, Nudity, completed April 4, 1992
contributors: Bob Poate, Holly Mathers, Jill Smook, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Tony Sinner
28(a). Thomas Mellish on Saucebox, ‘Zulu’ (Hippie Guru), completed May 4, 1992
contributors: Bob Poate, Holly Mathers, Jill Smook, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Tony Sinner
29(b). A Dog and His Bone, Spacelings, completed June, 1992
contributors: Bob Poate, Holly Mathers, Jill Smook, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Machalek, Tony Sinner
30(a). Batman, Airplane, Sailing Vessel, completed July 17, 1992
contributors: Bob Poate, Jill Smook, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Machalek, Tony Sinner
31(b). Stormtrooper Fish, Trick ‘R Treat, completed August 19, 1992
contributors: Bob Poate, Jill Smook, Martin Lang, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Machalek, Tony Sinner
32(a). Censored, completed April 6, 1993
contributors: Bob Poate, Jill Smook, Mark Pearson, Mike Van Heel, Michael Tschimperle (Mr. Schlumpy), Pete Machalek, Tony Sinner
33(b). Swan Song, April 1993 - ?
contributors: Bob Poate, Jill Smook, Martin Lang, Michael Tschimperle, Mike Van Heel, Pete Machalek, Tony Sinner
Note: (a) and (b) indicate 2 sides of the same board
Index - (artist: board #s)
Barb Spies: #6-7, 11-13
Bob Poate: #23-33
Holly Mathers: #8-29
Ingrid Oyen: #1
Jason Sabol: #1,3,5-7
Jill Smook: #22-33
Jon Solinger: #1-4, 8-9, 11-12
Kasey Shantz: #1-22
Mark Pearson: #32
Marshall Hoffman: #11
Martin Lang: #31,33
Michael Tschimperle: #2-8, 14-33
Mike Van Heel: #10-33
Pete Machalek: #29-33
Pete Van Dyke: #14-23
Sherrie Hostuttler: #9
Tony Sinner: #1-33
The Story of the Doodle Boards
In the 1980s I worked in the picture frame shop of an art supply store, the Pierce Art Center, in Bloomington, Minnesota. At any given time there were six or eight young women and men employed in the art department and the frame shop. They were talented, smart, quirky people.
There was a work surface in the frame shop used for assembling frames, cleaning glass, cutting mats and other tasks. The wooden tabletop was covered with a heavy cardboard that had a white surface. This work surface tended to wear with time and would be replaced periodically with a couple of new white sheets, cut to size, butted together, seams taped.
At one end of this table there was a stool and a telephone on the wall nearby. Workers would often take breaks and use the phone and maybe scribble down an address or phone number on the table top. At some point, after I had been working at Pierce for about 5 years, we began to fill that work surface with lots of little drawings.
The content included: caricatures, scenes, vehicles, mechanisms, creatures, buildings, landscapes, poems, captions, patterns, blobs, designs, fantasy, science fiction, aliens, superheroes, gross anatomy, and the risqué. These doodles were predominantly silly and strange and often the result of a series of hijackings along the way - one artist co-opting the work of another, and so on. In the frame shop we would get regular visits from the talented art department cohort, sometimes taking a minute to add a little scribble. Artistic contributions to the sprawling drawings became routine for new employees and hangers-on alike.
In 1993 the frame shop was remodeled. The work table where we once let our minds flow onto a white sheet of cardboard was replaced with a much larger and higher one. And the new management began to frown on the particular little creative activity we had relied on to lubricate our days.
We filled thirty-three 29" x 40" doodle boards between 1989 and 1993. During that time, when each doodle board ripened and was removed, I recorded its dates of creation as well as the roster of artists who contributed to it. I then spirited it back to the warehouse and stored it with the others in an old matboard box. When I retired from the Pierce Art Center frame shop in 1995, the management made the suggestion that the box of doodle boards in the warehouse possibly belonged to them. After a very short discussion the box left with me. Turns out I was the only person who thought the doodle boards were worth putting up a fuss about.
These are the boards.
- Anthony Sinner
Many thanks to all those smart, funny, talented people who made their marks on these boards. Their contributions made this a memorable, endlessly interesting collaboration. Special thanks to John Solinger and Jill Smook for helping to get these boards presented to a wider audience. Their enthusiasm for this art helped push the project forward some 30 years after it went into a box in a closet.
1994 Doodle Board party postcard invitation
1994 Doodle Board party postcard invitation