PLAY
HEALTH
THIS WEEKEND discover MUNNY dolls
Lawrence artists Gabriel Dorsey and JOUVELT decided to see what would happen when they gave several artists identical blank canvases and told them to create something with it. But this isn't your average 8x12 inch canvas—it's a MUNNY doll.
MUNNY dolls are the creation of Kidrobot, a company that creates and sells designer toys.The dolls are vinyl creatures with small bodies and oversized heads that are left completely blank, allowing buyers to customize them any way they want using crayons, markers, paints, clay or fabric.The dolls have developed a cult following since they debuted around 2006, and have since stamped their way onto Web sites and online forums and into art galleries across the country, becoming increasingly known as a work of pop art rather than as a child's toy.
The trend has now made its way to the LawrenceArts Center,940 New Hampshire St., for a gallery display of several Lawrence artists' take on the MUNNY doll. One hundred toy designs by 65 different artists
**Photo by Gabriel Dorsay**
Show me the MUNNY! Doll such as this one
by local artist Thayer N. Bray are on display this
weekend at the Lawrence Arts Center
from Lawrence and surrounding areas are on display at the Arts Center this weekend and until Saturday, Oct. 11. Many of the finished toys are on sale at the gallery, and range in price from $30 to $407.
—Brianne Pfannenstiel
THAT'S DISGUSTING dirty air ducts
If you can't remember the last time your air ducts were cleaned, you could be inhaling contaminated air. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean you aren't breathing it.
Paul Mathews, associate professor of respiratory care education at the KU Medical Center, says air ducts store dust and other particles over time, and when air passes through the ducts it spreads this debris into our dorm rooms and apartments.
"It's like turning a vacuum on backwards," Mathews says. "But it's more insidious because you don't expect it to happen."
Mathews says air ducts can trap a lot of things, some potentially dangerous to your health. Mold, bacteria, fungus and even some viruses can live in air ducts. Dust, which is made up of human skin and pet dander, also piles in ducts.
Matt Kitzmann of Air Quality Solutions, an air duct cleaning company in Rochester, Minn., says that air ducts accumulate a lot
of dust if left uncleaned for a long time, "We've seen them two inches thick, like a blanket of dust, pet dander and human dander," Kitzmann says.
Dust isn't the only thing Kitzmann finds when cleaning air ducts. He says on occasion he will find decaying rodents such as mice and squirrels that died in the air vents.
Kitzmann recommends getting your air ducts cleaned every four years, and Mathews says he cleans his air ducts once a year.
—Susan Melgren
October 9,2008
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