I had the oppertunity to get involved with an awesome pop up art exhibit that happened in Portland late last month called Sticker Nerds III. The event was touted the biggest sticker art installation show ever created in the US and was self described as "a celebration of adhesive art with contributors from all over the globe."
I submitted a sizable pile of my own hand screen printed/block printed stickers as well as a few hand painted posters:
(acrylic paint on poster paper)
(lino cut block prints on acrylic painted sticker paper)
(screen prints on adhesive vinyl)
Knowing some of the organizers of the event, I volunteered to help with the install which meant pealing and sticking hundreds of submitted stickers on walls, old TVs and computers, pillars, vending machines, news paper stands, mirrors, toilets and more for days leading up to the event.
At some point during the install I was asked to paint a mural on one of the wooden pillars.
A request I most happily accepted.
Here are a few work in progress photos:
I was able to rope in two of my favorite local artists to add elements of their own into the mural, thus creating an awesome collaboration. Silly Weird Things added the ray gun, and the lil rooster aliens manning space ships( which we lovingly call "space cocks) Mewt added the creatures encapsulated in blue planet like orbs as well as much of the background details.
The finished result:
I really love how it turned out and its inspiring me to find more mural projects to do in the near future!
The Sticker Nerds III event was crazy, in a good way.
People waited in line for hours to see the exhibition which was allowing 20 visitors in at a time.
Our space lady mural watched over the "collab" station, which consisted of two couches and a coffee table set up in the middle of the event space. The table was stacked full of sticker paper and pens so that the visitors, if feeling inspired, could make some stickers of their own.
Some close ups of some of my work around the exhibit:
I had a few "fine art" pieces on the walls too.
One piece sold before I got a photo, but here are the remaining two:
"Green Faery" acrylic on canvas
"Pot Head"
Acrylic painted skateboard deck with screen print.
And here are some random photos of the rest of the installation:
I highly recommend checking out the article that the Portland Street Art Alliance wrote about the exhibit ( this article features some real quality photos of the event also.)
Read it here!
All in all, I am just super stoked to have been in on this crazy masterpiece and am super thankful for everyone who made the event possible as well as the visitors who came through the install to bask in the spectacle.
More like this please!
Much love,
-Chelsea Rose
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