Knoxville Marble City Dentistry & Facial Esthetics partnered with Laurie Kay of Monsters Made with Love to host a First Friday art showcase that featured a selection of monsters created by local artists and artisans. In addition to their own interpretations of monsters, each one has created a fleece monster from one of Kay’s monster kits. The fleece monsters were shown as part of the Monsters at Dogwood Arts exhibition and were auctioned online to raise money for monster-making workshops. Kay turned Monsters Made with Love into a business in 2015 after years of making them for family. The monsters are hand sewn from felt and other pieces of fabric, and include buttons, string and other elements to bring the creatures to life. Since moving to Knoxville in 2017, Kay’s efforts to inspire “sewing with a self-love twist” have developed into art therapy and teaching self acceptance. She now hosts monster-making workshops across East Tennessee, including at the Emerald Youth Foundation and in Knox County Schools, at corporate team-building events and the Boys & Girls Clubs.