Artist Catherine Chow Wanted to Come to SXSW. Badly.

We know people who drove for 24 hours from Minneapolis to make it to SXSW this year (much love, kids). We know people who flew from Bangkok and Madrid. We even have a friend who hitched from Seattle to be here. We thought that last scenario was a little extreme. The we read this.

Chicago artist Catherine "Cat" Chow, currently an artist-in-residence in New York's Artists Alliance Studio Program, snuck onto an American Airlines flight from St. Louis to Austin last week after she did not make the standby cut on her connecting flight. After sneaking by gate agents (that's reassuring), Chow hid in the bathroom of the 50-passenger plane. When a man knocked on the door and needed to enter, she moved to his seat. The man's wife then asked Chow to leave the seat. (Cue The Benny Hill Show music). The crafty artist, whose work has included a dress she made out of 1,000 $1 bills, then found another available seat. But was forced to move yet again. At this point the gig was up and a flight attendant identified Chow as a stowaway.

When the flight landed in Austin a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force was there to take Chow into custody. Officials charged her with unlawfully boarding an airplane, a federal crime that carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail, or alternatively, being forced to go on the Scott Stapp Tour this summer.

But Chow was packing more than just moxie and a brass set of balls, she was also carrying about an 1/8th of the chronic and a half-dozen antidepressants. Sneaking onto airplanes while carrying drugs? That's the kind of person Truecraig we need down here for SXSW. For now, though, Chow sits in a Travis County jail awaiting release on a $3,000 bond.

Check out Cat's Official Site.

*Image from Cat's Official Site.*