The Racine Art Museum , located at 441 Main St. in Downtown Racine, is now hosting the 13th Annual International Peeps Art Exhibition. The collection, which has been a popular draw for years, features one-of-a-kind art inspired by Peeps. This year’s show featured 207 artists from across the country who created 162 vibrant works of art. Sculptures, paintings, dioramas, quilts, and other works are on display.
The non-traditional Peeps Art Exhibition has not only piqued the interest of local artists, but also artists from as far away as Northampton, Massachusetts, the Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, and Hermosa Beach, California. The International Peeps Art Exhibition at RAM is, in reality, the world’s only competition of its sort.
“Many contestants have become specialists in marshmallow candy as a material throughout the years, employing processes like carving, painting, hole punching, glueing, and melting to mould Peeps® into extraordinary shapes,” a RAM spokeswoman said. While seasonal sweets remain the most popular medium, the 13th-anniversary show also includes works in a variety of other media.”
The gallery is full of unique objects, like a glass-blown peep by Amanda Paffrath, proprietor of Hot Shop Glass in Racine. This sculpture was created by Paffrath as a variation on a glass-blown pumpkin. Veronica Averkamp, another local artist, produced her own version of Milwaukee’s Hoan Bridge. Additionally, this year’s display featured artists who used art to convey support for Ukraine. The 13th Annual International Peeps Art Exhibition is being used by a number of artists to show their support and pay their condolences.