Nesting Dolls Art Show - Grantham & Ruppel

What a cool idea! Well-known Portland artists Trish Grantham and Amy Ruppel have created a new show at Bwana Spoons' Grass Hut Gallery in Portland that features their takes on the Russian nesting doll tradition. They are each showing a few sets of custom designed and created dolls, as well as some of their paintings. All of the work is available here, on the Grass Hut site.

Ms. Grantham is a self-taught painter, known for her cartoon and Anime-like characters done in vivid pastels (is vivid pastel an oxymoron? Not in Ms. Grantham's work!) on mixed-media backgrounds. Her paintings are dreamy and humorous, sometimes telling a story, sometimes telling a joke, sometimes setting a scene.

Ms. Ruppel's delightful simple designs hearken back to the late 50s and 60s. Her work, often featuring birds, has been featured on Burton snowboards and Uniqlo t-shirts, and can be found in galleries from her native Pacific Northwest to London.

The pieces range from $150 to $800, although they may already be sold out. At the store on the Grass Hut site, the items are all listed as "not available." We are not sure if this is because they have already been sold or the site is not yet selling them. But if you're interested in a piece, do not hesitate to email them and ask.

But if they are sold out, you can still purchase original art from Ms. Grantham in her online store in the $200-$350 range, and from Ms. Ruppel's site starting May 2nd.





Grass Hut Show

Amy Ruppel's official site

Trish Grantham's official site