1.“This poster is Lord of the Rings,” Shreckhise says. “It reminds me of a time when I first read Lord of the Rings and the awe that you get. The way it sparks your imagination to read words on a page, and it gives you images. You make those images in your mind. It’s one of those things that helps me remember the awe in that moment in time when you realize how impactful creative things can be.”
2. “This is my original Atari 2600 from when I was a kid. I have most of my games from when I was a kid, including Math. Probably everyone notices that one. It’s kind of an odd one,” Shreckhise says.
3. The cheesehead is a relic from the first part of Shreckhise’s life when he lived in Wisconsin before moving to Missouri at 17. And yes, he’s a Packers fan.
Shreckhise breaks out the Atari, a childhood favorite, for friendly co-worker competitions.
4. The toys, models and figurines that line the shelves are a mix of Star Wars characters, Star Trek ships, superheroes, and a few Animaniacs for good measure. Some are leftover childhood toys, and others are things Shreckhise picked up at garage sales over the years. Batman is a particular favorite. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved Batman as a character,” he says. “He doesn’t really have superpowers. He just uses his mind and deductive reasoning to figure things out. I thought that was really cool.”
5. Not all items are Shreckhise’s own. The Darth Tater is on loan from his 6-year-old son, Elijah, who has type 1 diabetes. Elijah is the subject of the poster Shreckhise made in college, which was picked up for an ad and calendar by the St. Louis chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
6. “The photograph was taken by the uncle of one of my professors in college,” Shreckhise says. “His uncle was out in the woods in Canada hiking and came across these two moose who had battled it to the death. They had both died, and their skeletons were sitting there in the middle of nowhere, so he took pictures of it. The negatives were lost, so the professor only had two pictures of this. He wanted to reproduce them, so I helped him, and he gave me a print.”
7. Shreckhise picked up Meat Cookbook at a flea market for a dollar. “I really liked the illustration on the cover and the fact that it’s over-the-top,” he says. He’s particularly fond of the gaudy ʼ70s photography and the hand-drawn sketches of each cut of meat. “For a dollar, this is a gold mine,” he says.
Ever since he was a child Shreckhise has collected superhero figurines, some of which guard his monitors.
8. Among the original artwork are several pieces Shreckhise created himself, all of which reflect his running imagination. The vibrant orange and teal drawing next to his computer is particularly eye-catching. “This was a color exercise of basically what Calvin would look like if he was turning into the Hulk,” he says.
9. Shreckhise’s uncle is a comic book artist who also managed a chain of comic book stores. A framed page of one of his uncle’s own comics hangs opposite a vintage Star Wars comic book, which was also a gift to Shreckhise as a child. “He would give us boxes of comic books, and that’s what started me down this path of creativity,” he says. “That’s kind of a special thing that he sent.”
10. These seven cards are promotional pieces from French Paper Company, which Shreckhise pulled from Communication Arts trade journal. A co-worker has the full collection, which Shreckhise is working toward acquiring.
