First Annual International Bacon Boy Day

I'm a firm believer that everything is better with bacon. Even, as it turns out, art!

This weekend at Art in the Pearl, probably the wackiest, more colorful, and certainly the tastiest spot will be the Children's Healing Art Project (CHAP), celebrating the first annual International Bacon Boy Day. Whether you indulge in the BLT bar or go crazy painting the CHAPmobile (founder Frank Etxaniz's rainbow-splattered sedan), it's all to support CHAP's mission of bringing the healing power of art to children and their families in crisis at local Portland hospitals.

The CHAPmobile
 

Just who is Bacon Boy, you ask? The creation of Austin Winters, he's a superhero who shoots bacon bits and grease out of his arms and sausage and corn dogs out of his eyes with his "Meat Vision." His nemesis is Fry Guy, a frying pan whose mission is to burn people, zooming around on a skateboard powered by two AK-47s.

Austin created this vibrant cartoon world while he was being treated for leukemia at Doernbecher Children's Hospital. Frank, aka Mr. Bossy, encouraged him to turn the worst parts of his cancer treatment into a character that could help him imaginatively escape the hospital—a way for Austin to be recognized for his creativity rather than be defined by his illness. There was something special about Austin's vision, according to Frank: "It takes a great artist to make a story about dying from cancer funny." In fact, the Tacoma Museum of Glass turned Bacon Boy into a sculpture last summer, which toured the country with a "Kids Design Glass" exhibit and is now in the Museum's permanent collection.

Sadly, Austin lost his own battle with cancer last September, but his legacy as taken on a life of its own. Other kids on the cancer floor have added their own characters to the Bacon Boy universe, turning, as Frank says, "horrible things into hilarious things." There's Sinister Sauce, a vicious hot sauce, and Barf Boy, who throws up spaghetti to tie people up and ice cream to freeze them. And of course, Bacon Girl, Bacon Boy's sister, who shoots girl power. The limitless creativity of these children is being turned into the CHAP Cancer Cartoon Network, which will produce educational cartoons about the experience of living with cancer. The first installment, "Adventures of Bacon Boy," will debut this weekend!

The event will also unveil the new 10-foot Bacon Boy recycled, gold-leafed sculpture and the Bacon Boy rug, created from Austin's drawings, while Sinister Sauce is turned into a glass sculpture by Elements Glass Studio. You can also take home Bacon Boy, Fry Guy, Sinister Sauce, and Bacon Girl t-shirts, patches and stencils (proceeds are split between CHAP and the child artist). And once you work up an appetite from painting the CHAPmobile, Columbia Sportswear coats, or ArtHutZ (decorated Columbia tents that will be filled with art supplies and sent to children's hospitals in struggling areas), grab the CHAP Meal Deal: a CHAPwich from the Oregon Culinary Institute (pepper or fac'n bacon, arugula, peach chutney, and deep-fried jalapenos), a Voodoo maple bacon bar or limited edition bacon maple cupcake (mini caramel cupcake, topped with maple buttercream and bacon garnish) from Cupcake Jones, water, and a patch for $10. Ummm...YUM!

I'll personally be there volunteering on Monday afternoon, but I may make a weekend out of it—and you should, too!

Images courtesy of CHAP

{The Details}

CHAP 1st Annual International Bacon Boy Day of Art & Bacon Festival
Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Monday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Corner of NW Davis & Park