The S.A.R.F. https://thesarf.org THE STUFFED ANIMAL RESCUE FOUNDATION Mon, 01 Jan 2024 21:49:59 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://thesarf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cropped-sarf-icon-32x32.png The S.A.R.F. https://thesarf.org 32 32 Big Stuffed Animal Pharmaceutical Expo: Stuffed Animal Petting Zoo – 37TH Street Lights December 2023 https://thesarf.org/37th-street-stuffed-animal-petting-zoo-2023-pharmaceutical-expo/ Fri, 08 Dec 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://thesarf.org/?p=5965

Big Stuffed Animal Pharmaceutical Expo 2023!

37th Street Lights
Austin, TX | December, 2023

The International Stuffed Animal Pharmaceutical Expo is currently taking place at our 37th Street Lights stuffed animal petting zoo in Austin! Come by after dark until 11pm to meet rescued stuffies that are up for adoption, and find out about the latest breakthrough medications in the stuffed animal pharmaceutical industry. Read amazing case studies from actual stuffed patients, and also learn some great tips on navigating the Medibear healthcare system.

Patient Testimonials

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Really Small Museum: Transcendental Basketry https://thesarf.org/reallysmallmuseum/ Tue, 03 Oct 2023 14:55:42 +0000 https://thesarf.org/?p=5854

Transcendental Basketry:

A Web Series by Three Stuffed Spider Artists

Really Small Museum (the 14th)
Austin, TX | October, 2023

Transcendental Basketry is a collaboration between the Arachnid Artist Guild of Austin, the Odditree Society (Ann Armstrong and Linneaus Marshall), and The Stuffed Animal Rescue Foundation (Wendy Mitchell)

Really Small Museum

Join us!

Artist Talk + Workshop

6:30 – 7:30pm
Thursday October 19
at the Really Small Museum

The Arachnid Artist Guild of Austin is a tightly-woven collective of three eight-legged stuffed sculptors who explore time, space, and culture through their individual and collaborative works.

The artists, Annette Weft (a black widow), Charlotte Lasher (a pantropical huntsman), and Thorn Catchman (a Joro), met in a shipping container on a long journey from Southeast Asia in 2021, and they reconnected in Austin, Texas a year later.

During their three-month joint-residency at The SARF / Odditree Society, the spiders explored a variety of natural materials for their latest work before eventually settling on rattan.

They began weaving their Transcendental Basketry piece in the summer of 2023 on a retreat at Devils River State Natural Area, and its current iteration at the Really Small Museum will continue to grow and change throughout the month.

The Arachnid Artist Guild will also have pieces in The SARF’s Biennial Stuffed Artist Art Show during the Austin Studio Tour in November.

Who's Responsible for This Madness?

Really Small Museum- ECO
Small can be BIG. Street-side community-based eco art exhibitions.
The 14th Corner Contemporary | 1311 Harvey Street
Th Banton Road Museum of Art | 3509 Banton Road

@reallysmallmuseum_atx

The Arachnid Artist Guild of Austin is a collective of three stuffed spider artists: Annette Weft (a black widow), Charlotte Lasher (a Pan-Tropical Huntsman), and Thorn Catchman (a Joro).

The Odditree Society is a loose affiliation of urban wanderers and wonderers, artists, philosophers, scientists, nut-gatherers, tree-climbers, and others who cultivate a sense of curiosity around the unexpected oddities found in Austin’s urban ecology.

@odditree_society
odditrees@gmail.com

The Stuffed Animal Rescue Foundation is an arts and medical organization that rescues, rehabilitates, and rehomes stuffies. We conduct adoptions, provide surgical care, and host events that showcase the talents of Austin’s stuffed animal community.

@thesarforg
info@thesarf.org

Artist Statements

Linnaeus “Linn” Marshall

Curator in Residence, Odditree Society

Linnaeaus “Linn” Marshall is self-taught stuffed naturalist and artist hailing from Webberville, Texas. As a young ringtail, he spent many nights on the front porch listening to his grandmother (a naturalist in her own right) tell stories of the 1961 fish kill incident on the Colorado River, an environmental disaster that exposed local live and stuffed wildlife to harmful chemical waste originating from an Austin insecticide manufacturer. The incident had drastic effects on the area’s stuffed ringtail population, which was often seen frolicking and washing in the river. Repeated exposure to the contaminants eventually turned their fur from a light tan to a bright neon yellow. Linn’s family’s first-hand accounts of the disaster and its fallout instilled in him not only a deep desire to observe and protect the natural world, but also a fascination with how toxins can affect fiber-based creatures for multiple generations. His own inherited neon yellow tail is both an integral part of his identity as an artist, and a constant reminder of the tragic effects environmental toxins can have on exposed populations.

Ann Armstrong

Founder, Odditree Society

Ann is a human architect and maker with a design practice in Austin, Tx. Her creative work takes the form of illustrated field guides, workshops, play structures, immersive walks, interpretive programming, and cartography. She loves developing tools to help people more intimately engage with and understand: place, ecology, and history. She’s been gathering hand-drawn maps of Austin through participatory events since 2012 and is building an idiosyncratic, hyper-local atlas of the city. In 2013, she founded the Odditree Society–a public platform for increasing awareness and advocacy of Austin’s urban forest. In 2021 she was the Observer-in-Residence at The Contemporary Austin and wrapped up her tenure with an illustrated tool for exploring the museum grounds with fresh eyes. She is currently doing field research for an immersive guide to Austin’s natural and man-made hydrological infrastructure.

Wendy Mitchell

Founder, The Stuffed Animal Rescue Foundation

As a toddler, Wendy cried every time she heard You Are My Sunshine, and she was very particular about nighttime stuffed animal placement. Many years later, she studied Art and Art History at The University of Georgia, wrote a lot of songs, and eventually moved to Austin, TX. There, she quickly realized that Ctrl+Z was much more efficient than a Kneadable Eraser.

Since then, she has worked as a graphic and web designer/developer, animator, writer, song-crafter, production designer, and general creative problem-solver. She currently runs The Stuffed Animal Rescue Foundation, occasionally shoots cans off of her porch from her bedroom with a Red Ryder BB gun, obsesses over the number of choices in grocery store toilet paper aisles, and plays a lot of volleyball and tennis. She has adequate-but-noticeably-aging hand-eye coordination and is intermittently thinking about working on a play or novel or thought experiment based on a fictional reality TV show involving advertising, marketing professionals, sadness, the internet, and outer space.

Annette Weft

Stuffed Black Widow Weaver, Arachnid Artist Guild of Austin

Charlotte Lasher

Stuffed Pantropical Huntsman Weaver, Arachnid Artist Guild of Austin

Thorn Catchman

Stuffed Joro Weaver, Arachnid Artist Guild of Austin

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Stuffed Animal Adoption Day! https://thesarf.org/stuffed-animal-adoption-day/ Thu, 03 Aug 2023 16:33:55 +0000 https://thesarf.org/?p=5848 Stuffed Animal Adoption Day!

Saturday April 29th 12-4pm

at The SARF Headquarters
2825 Hancock Drive #111 Austin, TX 78731

Dogs, cats, dolphins, squirrels… You name it. Come meet rescued stuffies seeking permanent homes. They are eager to share their bios and discuss the details. If you find a good fit, enjoy an adoption on the spot.

Please join us for this event on Saturday April 29, 12-4pm. in our parking lot (or inside if it rains!) Adoption fees on a sliding scale! No interested living companion will be turned away due to inability to pay.

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SARF Food Truck – EAST Austin Studio Tour – #235 https://thesarf.org/sarf-food-truck-east-austin-studio-tour-235/ Fri, 11 Nov 2022 17:34:10 +0000 https://thesarf.org/?p=5807 Austin Studio Tour – #235

Nov. 12-13 & Nov. 19-20 12pm-4pm
at Austin Creative Alliance – 81 San Marcos St. Austin, TX
with Vision Gland art collective

We’ll be at 81 San Marcos St. Austin, TX (Austin Creative Alliance) for the next two weekends (stop #235 on the Austin Studio Tour), where we’re joining up with Vision Gland art collective!

We will have a stuffed animal food truck. We have pretended to partner with a highly-touted local eatery to pretend to provide food for Austin’s hippest stuffed epicurean gastro(g)nomes. Expect long lines of foodie stuffies with the most refined of palates. Think Franklin BBQ, but without the food or humans.

If you don’t know them, the Vision Gland folks are pretty epic. They made their own roller coaster a few years ago… and a human-sized hamster wheel… among many other things. So, duh, you should come see what awesome fun elaborate constructions they’ve created this time! The theme is Arcade – so there will be lots of large and playable games for your wonderment and awe.

Nov. 12-13 & Nov. 19-20 12pm-4pm at Austin Creative Alliance – 81 San Marcos St. Austin, TX

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Frankenfluff!! https://thesarf.org/frankenfluff/ Mon, 17 Oct 2022 16:25:58 +0000 https://thesarf.org/?p=5805 OPENING SATURDAY 10/27/22! 12-4PM!
UP THROUGH NOVEMBER!
Come see our rescued stuffed animals in all their costumed glory! There is an iguana dressed as a cupcake, a monkey dressed as a bunny… and much much more!

Also, our Administrative Office Workers are having a Halloween Costume Contest, so be sure to vote for your favorite costume during your visit!

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Austin Fiber Artists Open House https://thesarf.org/austin-fiber-artists-open-house/ Thu, 07 Jul 2022 12:36:57 +0000 https://thesarf.org/?p=5743 July 12, 2022 at 7pm!

We will be at the Austin Fiber Artists Open House on July 12th, 7pm at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 4622 S. Lamar Blvd. Austin, TX! We’ll have some rescued stuffed animals up for adoption!
More info here: https://thesarf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/FlyerOpenHouse22.pdf

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being Stuffed https://thesarf.org/the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-stuffed/ Thu, 07 Jul 2022 12:02:38 +0000 https://thesarf.org/?p=5742 Join us for our latest show, The Unbearable Lightness of Being Stuffed! Stuffed writers display original work plus new takes on old classics. Savor flash fiction, insightful essays and powerful poetry from some of the most talented stuffed authors of this generation. Yes, you can expect Virginia Wolf (sic).

Suggested admission donation: $5

JULY 9 – AUGUST 28
SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS 12-4PM
The SARF Headquarters 2825 Hancock Dr. #111, Austin, TX 78731

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KEYE CBSAustin! https://thesarf.org/keye-cbsaustin/ Sat, 07 May 2022 02:03:51 +0000 https://thesarf.org/?p=5737 We had a lovely visit from KEYE CBSAustin, and they put together this great piece about The SARF!
Video Here!
@allisonmillertv @cbsaustin #makingadifference

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Come See Us This Weekend! 12-4pm! https://thesarf.org/come-see-us-this-weekend-12-4pm/ Fri, 06 May 2022 17:53:41 +0000 https://thesarf.org/?p=5734 Stuffed Animal Science Fair

SATURDAY & SUNDAY
MAY 7 & 8
12-4PM

The SARF Headquarters 2825 Hancock Dr. #111, Austin, TX 78731

Ten rescued stuffed animals exhibit their science projects on a variety of topics, including a study in the comparative swimming abilities of different stuffed species, a stuffed corndog’s exploration of British phone booth interiors relative to their exteriors (and relative to police call boxes), an examination of a potential third Fruit of the Loom grape variety, and much more.

Vote on your favorite project, and apply to adopt a stuffed animal scientist.

Or, if you have any stuffed animals that need medical evaluations, bring them and we can take a look!

Free Admission

Donations appreciated to help us pay the rent. We also have stickers and posters and tshirts!

YOU CAN RSVP HERE TO HELP US PLAN!

Open days:
April 9 & 10, 16, 24
May 7 & 8, 14 & 15, 21 & 22

RSVP (It’s free)


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Stuffed Animal Science Fair RSVP! https://thesarf.org/stuffed-animal-science-fair-rsvp/ Wed, 06 Apr 2022 20:49:01 +0000 https://thesarf.org/?p=5687 RSVP (It’s free)


April 9 & 10, 16, 24
May 7, 14 & 15, 21 & 22

12-4pm
at The SARF Headquarters 2825 Hancock Dr. #111, Austin, TX 78731

Ten rescued stuffed animals exhibit their science projects on a variety of topics, including a study in the comparative swimming abilities of different stuffed species, a stuffed corndog’s exploration of British phone booth interiors relative to their exteriors (and relative to police call boxes), an examination of a potential third Fruit of the Loom grape variety, and much more.

Vote on your favorite project, and apply to adopt a stuffed animal scientist.

Free Admission

Donations appreciated to help us pay the rent. We also have stickers and posters and tshirts!

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