I love my job! I was commissioned to create 11 large-scale illustrations featuring Winged Monkeys for the Performing Arts Center’s “Wonderfully Wicked” Gala on Feb. 6, 2009. The Wizard of Oz-themed musical “Wicked” ran in Appleton, Wisconsin through Feb. 28th. Steve Quinn, the Tour’s Company Manager, actually asked to meet the Artist, and later offered this generous endorsement:

“Scott – After three years on the road of attending Wicked themed parties across the country, nothing quite caught my eye like your flying monkey pieces did at the Appleton gala of Wicked.  The images captured a nice playfulness about our show, and immediately struck my eye as being reminiscent of some of the characters Maurice Sendak created in “Where the Wild Things Are.”  Our entire company loved them!  Keep up the good work!” – Steve Quinn, Company Manager, Wicked Tour

While the displays were only up for the single-evening event, much like the Lion statues from 2007’s Lion King events, the Monkeys are being “adopted” by businesses and institutions around Appleton. Most of the pieces are 8 feet wide or larger, created at “normal” size (18-inches wide) and printed to canvas banners at Exhibit Resource of De Pere.

It was a privilege and a great opportunity to be included in the project along with some of the best artists in the area.

- Scott Alberts

This post was originally published on Scott Albert’s Freelance Artist blog with a follow-up post “Wicked” continued: The Two Glindas