Does Peeps Art Belong in a Museum?

by Kristine Hansen, Posted Mar 22nd 2011 @ 1:00PM

Peeps diorama at Daytona Beach Photo: Brian&Pam, Flickr

Either you adore Peeps or you find the puffy marshmallow forms disgusting. Before you shun these pastel-colored treats, look at what two Wisconsin museums have done to elevate their, er, art form.

In Racine, Wisconsin, Racine Art Museum is hosting the Second Annual International Peeps Competition. Entries will be exhibited at the museum during the month of April, with a submission deadline of March 27. Check out the link above for a super-cute video starring Peeps. Below that is a photo of the highly hysterical Peep-a-Roni pizza created by a past entrant.

Curators at the Riverfront Arts Center in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, are not holding back humor when they ask for creations born out of Peeps to show in the annual Peeps Art Show. The results will be exhibited from April 9-23. Each artist is limited to submitting three pieces. And in lieu of a gallery's "opening night" is a more casual option: a "Peeps Art Show Party" the afternoon of April 9.

This artistic wave follows Peeps-creation contests hosted by newspapers in recent years, including the Washington Post, Denver Post and Seattle Times. So far, in 2011, a few papers have released competition details, including Daily Nonpareil, the paper in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Its 2011 Peeps Contest is a partnership with Peoples True Value Hardware, also in Council Bluffs. Organizers are asking for "dioramas" (3-dimensional miniature models) that tell a story.

Tell us: What would you create with peeps?

See the creation that won The Washington Post's Peeps contest last year at Holidash.com.

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Filed Under: Food News, Holidays
Tags: featured, peeps, peeps competition, racine art musuem