Author: Bonnie Kraus Connelly

ISBN: 978-0-9790323-01: 0-9790323-0-X

Today, Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest, Bonnie Kraus Connelly author of Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys!  Art, History and Business of The American Sock Monkey.

Good day Bonnie and thanks for participating in our interview.

Norm:

Could you tell our readers something about yourself and how you became interested in becoming an illustrator and graphic designer?

Bonnie:

I’ve been a professional graphic designer - illustrator for some 25 years. From early on in my kindergarten through high school art classes I saw that I had a talent to render things realistically. I enjoyed art immensely. That was the one thing that made me feel really special about myself and that is what I always wanted to be – a fine art artist.

I always imagined having art shows in galleries. I didn’t imagine doing illustration or graphic design. It wasn’t until I moved to New York City in 1980 and I had to find a way to make ends meet that I embraced the commercial side of art. While taking night classes at the School of Visual Arts in NYC - I apprenticed with a small design company and learned the commercial graphic design trade.  I began to do free lance work on my own. 

After I married I worked with my husband, who owned a clothing design company in LA, California, as the art director- handled all the art needs – clothing design, advertising, graphic packaging, trade materials – brochures - you name it – I did it.  After my daughter Erin was born in 1989 I went back to freelance and that is when I really began illustrating.

Norm:

As a follow up to this question, I noticed that you have included in your book several of your own illustrations pertaining to the sock monkey. What would you like your readers to know about your work?  Are there any artists or movements that inform your work?

Bonnie:

The art of M.C. Escher and surrealism strongly influenced on my early work.  It was a type of soft surrealism/ black and white pencil dreamscapes.  The art in the book are samples from a huge portfolio of story illustrations and greeting cards and printed material that I have been working on since 1989 - Just a little taste of  “My Monkey & Company” tm.

Norm:

I understand that you have devoted 12 years to developing a catalogue of children’s literature, illustrations, graphics, and products all around the American Sock Monkey. Why are you interested in the American Sock Monkey and what motivated you to put together your book?

Bonnie:

Actually I think it is more like 17 years now. The age of my daughter is my only gauge of time these days. :>( Anyway, my interest in the sock monkey began when I was very young. My grandmother gave my 2 brothers and me sock monkeys one Christmas – mid 50’s. I loved my sock monkey.  It went with me everywhere I went…well, at least it went with me on that fateful trip from Goshen, IN to Denbigh, VA on the way to visit my grandmother.

The story is, I used to get car sick…imagine a little car packed with five children and two parents driving through the mountains on “pre interstate” roads…need I say more? My aunt Mildred started making them in the mid fifties as well. She was a major monkey maker through the years. She gave my newborn daughter, Erin, a blue sock monkey and that brought it all back to me – the childhood love.

The sock monkey resonated my inner child.  By this time I was already a professional artist of 12 years and I had been running a very successful clothing business for 5 years with my husband.  But the one thing that led to the other was, we took Erin and her monkey everywhere we went. And no matter where we were in America warm and smiling people would come over to us and say “Oh, it is so cute! I used to have one of those!”  That right there triggered it.  Thinking like business people – my husband and I said – wow – this monkey already has a huge built in market…I thought, “I should write and illustrate children’s stories about the little blue monkey.” So I did.  Now, how this book came to be is another story.

The moment when the idea came into my mind I was in a meeting with my husband and his partners. He was talking to an investment consultant about one of his projects  – Since I was along with him, we were showing the “My Monkey & Company “tm presentation book. The man in the meeting mentioned a children’s book that his son had that was like a coffee table book – that’s when the idea popped into my mind.  I thought to myself, “I should do a coffee table book of everything and everyone who has been a part of the sock monkey.”

And then soon after, I woke to the title Everything’s Coming Up Roses - popping into my mind – I instantly thought - Everything’s Coming Sock Monkeys. That was it – that is the title of the book!  But truly the motivating force behind it was the 17 years of building a catalog of sock monkey dreams for an art gallery/store – and all types of products from original sock monkey art – children’s picture books – greeting cards - stationary products – calendars -puzzles – apparel and accessories of all kind – toys - music CD’s - home furnishings – children’s bedding and fabrics – you name it.

I have been building a portfolio of design and finished products since 1989. That is the creative force through which this idea for the book came forward. Mind you, my thought was – that the coffee table book was a good idea because if I were going to build a store – it would show me what is out there. Also, deep down I just really wanted to know if there was anyone else out there like me - you know - “how does my work compare to others”.   At this point my thoughts were still very “single minded”. This was about my business – my trademark.  As an artist I kept very much to myself and I was not connected to the world around me.

Norm:

How did you go about selecting your contributors and how easy or difficult was in deciding which material to include in Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys!

Bonnie: 

First there were the people that had a lot of recent press – the ones that everyone who was familiar with sock monkeys knew about.  I contacted them first.  Ron Warren and Arne Svenson were the first I interviewed. Lucky me!  That was a great start. They were wonderful. Ron being very connected to the art world and being a collector had a lot of things in his sock monkey file.

Then, I Googled “sock monkey” in everyway possible.  One thing would link me to another thing.  This person would say – “Have you heard of so and so…she a collector,”  - and so I would contact that person who then in turn told me about someone else. 

Sometimes I don’t know how I actually found everything I did.  It came out of the woodwork like magic. It was an incredible synchronistic event – like there was an invisible thread connecting me to everyone.  I included everyone I could find in the chapters that are in the first volume –sock monkey beginnings, artists – collectors – exhibits, published work, monkey makers and the internet business.  I didn’t exclude anyone unless they requested that I exclude them.  All the people that I have found since will be in the next book! 

Norm:

Various individuals in your book refer to Sock Monkeys as being part of “folk art.” What is folk art?

Bonnie:

The Crafts Movement in 20^th Century - Tramp-art.com says that “folk art has been used to describe objects that are decorated and handmade. The decorated object often being “every day” household items. The materials used to fashion folk art items are often what is on hand or can be harvested, recycled or scrounged from the waste system.  Often folk artists are anonymous, untrained amateurs; they work within family and cultural traditions. The craft becomes generated, passed from older to younger, a continuum of skill, practice and often design.” 

Norm:

Why are sock monkeys still popular today?

Bonnie: 

A short answer to that, and there are many varieties of common answers, is that sock monkeys are popular still today because it is connected to our core human ability and need to “create”.  I see the creative force in us as a part of the love in our souls. That is what I think is at the core of this toy.  The maker puts their love into it - a little of their soul passes into it and a little life is born – each one uniquely different! That love is like a little attractive light in them. 

Norm:

What challenges or obstacles did you encounter while putting together your book? How did you overcome these challenges?

Bonnie:

That is the story of my life. No short answer here! Ha!  At one level I didn’t really encounter any real challenges or obstacles in doing this book. In fact the doors opened up in a magical and divine way.  It was a steady stream of connections. Each and every person I connected with unquestioningly gave me a part of themselves – without even knowing who I was, other than what I told them.

They trusted me – and it was the trust that these wonderful people gave me that allowed me to creatively open up. It truly changed my life – it is what the book became…a celebration of creativity…including my own...I am one of many. There were only 2 people who declined being a part of the book. 

The challenges and obstacles I encountered along the way came before this really.  I had written & illustrated numerous children’s picture books. There was the “Little Blue Monkey” series in 1994 and 95. There were 4 stories in that series. There was “The Life and Times of Blue Monkey” -that was a collection of story illustrations with a narrative – 1997-98. There was the “In Search of the Lost Blue Tribe” trilogy, and a book called “The Orphan Blue Monkey” about the power of words. It was the first in a four part series. That series was an adult picture book for the “inner child” in us all. 

Finding publishers – I was up against wall – actually the “slush pile” wall. The pile of tens of thousands of books that the bored junior editor had no real interest in reading – that was the obstacle I couldn’t overcome. You can see that I am a very good professional illustrator – but I couldn’t even get an inch there either.  The entire portfolio/catalog was immense – each year it grew. I had a huge greeting card line. Although I always drew the response “Beautiful – just beautiful!” – no one said “yes – let’s do it – here is the money” and I never had enough money to just go out there and do it on my own in the way it needed it. 

All my money, my husband’s hard earned money was going into the development of the products.  My husband and I had presented it and presented it and presented it, and to some of the biggest retailers there are…long before the Nick & Nora sock monkey prints you find in Target now, which by the way are adorable, …even before the sock monkey made its preview on the Academy Awards in 1995…even before Tony Millionaire published his first sock monkey comic 1998 (he, like myself, had a sock monkey when he was young-the sock monkey was in his blood too).

 Like I said, I started this back in 1989 – actually my first sock monkey drawing was in 1980.  Doors just weren’t opening. I could get it almost to the finish line and then something “out of the blue”- random things out of my control - would shut the door in my face.  I had a children’s line planned for August 2005 shipping –that was the last straw when the US government closed the all quota from China at the end of July 2005. I had to cancel it.  I lost a lot of money on that one. I was devastated. It was hard to understand how I could be doing such beautiful work and never be able to connect in any way to that which could bring me to the commercial light of day. But, I know that doors shut for a reason just as doors open for a reason and it is important to see that God is in everything – so I kept the faith and kept going. All this coincided with the idea for the coffee table book. 

By the time I was close to the finish of the book I saw it clearly – as I said in the introduction, “…I can see that Everything's Coming Up Sock Monkeys is truly a "celebration of creativity.”  This is the sock monkey's Promised Land - a place, a common ground, of unlimited creativity.  This is what I was intended to find. I was called to enhance the sock monkeys' creative collective life...” Now, I see it as a puzzle – a puzzle that needs to be put together so that the world can really see what this sock monkey phenomenon is. It is more than a phenomenon, a fad… You often hear, “sock monkeys are in again”… You hear the word “subculture a lot. It is more than a folk art “subculture.”  It is more substantial than that because tremendous joyful creativity is coming up and out through this handmade toy – the emphasis is on the “love to create” within us all.  That is its driving force – like I said before - I call it the underlying connection – the synchronicity! In all its little unconnected pieces it has been hard to see its true magical identity.

Norm:

How has the feedback been so far with Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys and will there be any unique ways you'll be marketing your book that is different from how others market their books of a similar nature?

Bonnie: 

Actually the feedback has been wonderful all across the country. I can’t complain. Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys is a one of a kind that breaks new sock monkey ground.  At first glance it is often relegated to the “mid list niche market” and written off.  Trying to break through that isn’t easy.  But the way of the sock monkey is humility – and that is how I am approaching it – the marketing and publicity campaign, sales and distribution –moment by moment –heart by heart  - it is kind of the same way I did the book.  One thing is connecting me to another and another – the momentum is really building. 

Norm:

What is next for Bonnie Kraus Connelly and is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered?

Bonnie:

Volume 2 is what is next and yes, actually I think there will a volume 3.  I found so much more than I could get in 160 pages.  At first I thought I could do the whole thing in120 pages. Then I had to extend it to180, but the publisher said 160 pages was the limit.  Because of that there were certain chapters that I just couldn’t get in the first book. It misses all the movie and TV sock monkey appearances – all the print ads – the cartoons. It misses all the newspaper and magazine features. It misses the greeting card business, the fashion business and the businesses that have adopted sock monkeys as their corporate identity. I also knew that after the first book was out all the artists, collectors, etc that I missed were going to come forward, new books were going to be published since May 2006…there are some wonderful monkey maker stories to be featured. As they say “ It is not over until it is over!!!”   I have a lot of great stuff to find and a lot of wonderful people to meet!  And one of these days I will get back to my own art again…but for now…it is the collective heart that calls!

Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.

Click Here to find out more about Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys!  Art, History and Business of The American Sock Monkey

The above interview was conducted by: NORM GOLDMAN:  Retired Title Attorney: Editor & Publisher of Bookpleasures.   To read Norm's Review of  Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys!  Art, History and Business of The American Sock Monkey CLICK HERE