Interviews

INTERVIEW: Ryan De La Hoz

Name / age / location / website / turn ons / offs etc…
Ryan De La Hoz / 24 / San Francisco CA / www.ryandelahoz.com / Turn ons: Adventurous souls, big blankets / Turn offs: Quiet desperation, tiny blankets

Please talk a lil’ bit about the general idea behind your new series of works for “In Between Time” opening April 29th, 2010 at together gallery in Portland?
I am continuing a series of work that has to do with residual energy and landscapes devoid of being with scattered remnants of a civilization. However I have been sprinkling in some magical/mystical elements for this show. In between time!

If you had an unlimited budget and time was not an issue, what grand artistic vision would you look to bring to life?
Massive ladders and gigantic sewn skeleton gloves atop glowing pulsating animatronic slime mountain towers. Kind of like the Aggro Crag from Nickelodeon’s Guts but way better. Rooms with ladders in every possible direction coming in and out of the walls similar to those spy movies where the red trip beams are everywhere in secure areas – but instead of red beams – ladders. I don’t think I have enough room on this thing to go on and on but you get the idea!

Whats an average day like for you?
I have two jobs + school and curating so – Drawing, working, homework, emailing – I am lucky enough to be surrounded by art whether I am at work or not so that is great.

What do you consider your biggest overall influence?
Thinking about fragility and optimism at the same time.

What’s up with the origins of your name: pretty unique – ryan de la hoz? also 3 different last names in 1? of the hose?
De La Hoz or “de la Hoz” means “of the Sickle” which has roots in my Yaqui Indian ancestors who bordered Arizona but mostly my Spanish farmer ancestors. When I was little I attributed the sickle to the Grim Reaper or Death but that is just a little too radical. So, more like agriculture – not Death.

I’ve notice some repeated imagery in your work: black ladders and witch hats, can you explain?
I like ladders because to me – they can either represent abandoned progress or freedom from oppression. The Magician and Sorcerer hats in my work stem from me incorporating some magical elements and just thinking about controlling space, time and natural/biological elements at will.

Do you listen to music while painting/drawing? If so, do you have a current favorite that inspires?
I must listen to music when I draw. Current favorites are Real Estate, What’s Up, Carson McWhirter, Tobacco, Beach House and Battles. Sometimes I need heavy music too like Botch, Health or Dillinger Escape Plan.

Together gallery is known for pretty intricate installation work each month, got anything planned?
I made two graphic t-shirts specifically for my installation. I will also have some ladder segments that I built – and some paint on the wall action + MORE

coffee, tea, beer, whiskey, kombucha?
Mint Yerba Mate, Beer, Horchata, Arnold Palmer, Kombucha, Coffee, Water

What drew you towards art making, who, what, where, when why?
80′s popular culture drew me towards art making as a kid. “I can make Batman fight a Street Shark!” – that kind of mentality. I also watched Jurassic Park in the theater in 3rd grade and got my lid flipped. I had a pretty good art teacher senior year of High School that really got my ball rolling as far as trying to come up with a “body of work”.

Interests outside of art making?
Watching so bad it’s good movies, looking through both my Grandmother’s attics for family treasures, anything involving flashlights.

Do you make a living off art or what, how do you pay the bills?
No way Jose. I work at Double Punch Gallery in San Francisco and the Oakland Museum of California in Oakland.

Why SF?
I grew up in Fairfield, CA and SF is the nearby mecca of creativity that I gravitated towards. These days, it is where my friends and colleagues are. I also like to be cold and I love blankets.

Whats next? Summer plans? 5 year plans? next 5 minutes?
I am showing at New Accident in Japan in June. Tree Show 6 at Giant Robot SF in May. Ebersmoore in Chicago in December. This Summer – More curating – Working at the Museum. In 5 years, I would like to be a High School art teacher or still at a Museum. Right now I am going to play that Ninja Turtle arcade game from 1990 because I love the music and Donatello.

Thanks?
Timothy Karpinski and my grandfather whom I call “Pop Pop”

In Between Time

April 29th – May 23rd, 2010
Main gallery new works and installations by: Jonathan Edelhuber, Ryan De La Hoz, Ryan Bubnis, Jesse Reno and Deth P. Sun.
Opening reception last Thursday April 29th from 6-11 pm,
musical by DJ Bad Wizard and DJ Fantastic Fax.

Together Gallery
2916 NE Alberta St Suite A
Portland, Or 97211

ALSO… Blowhole

April 29th – May 23rd 2010
In the Project Gallery Portland’s own Lisa Beyer. Lisa will be showing a new set of whale inspired pen and watercolor drawings as well as releasing a mixtape / zine and DJ’ing the opening party.

Mia Nolting & Aidan Koch Interview

Together Gallery art show in Portland
Name / age / location / website etc…

Mia – Mia Nolting / 26 / Portland / www.mianolting.com & www.andreview.com

Aidan – Aidan Koch / 21 / Portland / www.aidankoch.com

Please talk a lil’ bit about the general idea behind your new series of works for “It Was a Large and Lovely Garden” opening March 25th 2010 at Together Gallery? What’s the story with the show’s title?

Mia – My friend Ryland sent me an Oscar Wilde Story called “The Selfish Giant” (1888) a few months ago and I was really captivated by the imagery and descriptions, and in the meantime I had booked the Together Gallery show and thought it would be a good opportunity to use that story as a jumping off point for illustrating larger ideas about gardens and other sanctuary-like places. The title of the show is the first line of the story.

Aidan – It’s funny, but I didn’t even think about it being spring when we started working on these, but that’s primarily what the images now conjure. Mia showed me a short story by Oscar Wilde she was interested in loosely illustrating. It was about a garden owned by a selfish giant in which children wanted to play. It worked as a good base to start building from. I guess things kind of got looser as we started finding what was working for us.

Are you collaborating for the show?

Mia – Not on the actual pieces but in conversation, yes!

Aidan – We’ve been having a lot of meetings about the show in general but haven’t actually worked together on any pieces! I think we’re going to bring together some of our bigger ideas with a little installation we’re doing and possibly the accompanying zine.

Aidan Koch

If you had an unlimited budget and time was not an issue, what grand artistic vision would you look to bring to life?

Mia – I would make books for the rest of my life.

Aidan – I’ve been experimenting in comics for the past couple years and am finally getting a little more serious about it. I’m working on releasing a 64 page comic later this year. If I could, I’d start something even more intense! Maybe focus on publishing other people’s work too in anthologies or small run books.

What’s an average day like for you?

Mia – I’m a freelancer / job searching so every day is different! I try to keep a schedule but it never really works. I wake up fairly early and try to get computer work out of the way in the morning and spend time in my studio in the afternoon. I work at Pacific Northwest College of Art one day a week in the Illustration department, and I teach InDesign classes a few times a month.

Aidan – I’m job searching right now, so there’s not a lot of consistency to my days, other than working on projects.

What do you consider your biggest overall influence?

Mia – I’m equally influenced by emotions / relationships / experiences and also by other artists. Too much visual stimulation can be overwhelming for me, but I’m addicted to it and always seeking out beautiful things to look at.

Aidan – I have to say my parents, who are both artists. I’m really into tumblr though and basically post all of the images and artists that influence me. It’s addicting to have so many visual stimulants in one place, especially if you try mosaic viewer. I go back and look at older things I’ve posted a lot.

I’ve noticed you both incorporate text into your work, where does it come from?

Mia – I’ve always been interested in language, and what language looks like, and how it can distill very complicated emotions into a few short words. The phrases I write either come from my own internal dilemmas with myself and are a way to clarify what I’m feeling or from eavesdropped conversations. I spend a lot of time in coffee shops drawing people and I’ll often write down things they say.

Aidan – Confusion. When I need to clarify what’s on my mind or what I’m feeling, I’ll write lists. That practice has since developed it’s own tone and vocabulary pool that ends up transferring over onto art.

Mia Nolting Flower Pattern

Do you listen to music while painting/drawing? If so, do you have a current favorite that inspires?

Mia – I’m currently obsessed with This American Life, and UC Berkeley podcasts of Psychology class lectures.

Aidan – I end up listening to a lot of podcasts. Kaugummi puts out a really nice one with a lot of ambient and experimental music. That and good ol’ This American Life. I’ve probably listened to like 150 episodes in the last 6 months…

Together Gallery is known for pretty intricate installation work eachmonth, got anything planned?

Mia – Yes!

Aidan – Yes?

Coffee, tea, beer?

Mia – All of those things, yes.

Aidan – I recently discovered coffee has been really upsetting my stomach (which is a huge disappointment since I was loving casually drinking 2-4 cups a day as I worked), so I’d have to say beer. Lagers.

Interests outside of design / art making?

Mia – Looking at the ocean, hiking, going out with friends, commuting by foot, playing my great-grandmother’s piano I recently moved into my studio.

Mia Nolting

Aidan – When I was recently living in Olympia, other than art, the only things I did were kayak, read, drum, and shoot bb’s. It was a beautiful life.

Aidan Koch

Ever done any nude modeling?

Mia – Yes, in the fall it’s how I paid rent. It’s physically painful so I hope I don’t have to again!

Aidan – n/a

Why Portland?

Mia – Love and affordable cost and the forest in biking distance. Won’t be here forever but every time I try to move something sucks me back in so I’ve stopped fighting it.

Aidan – It’s cheap and has the most beautiful, creative, easy-going people. I don’t see being here forever, but right now it’s perfect.

What’s next? Summer plans? 5 year plans? Next 5 minutes?

Mia – I just applied for a residency for the fall, fundraising for my publication & review, teaching myself html, continuing to draw every day. As much camping as possible now that it’s spring, as much travel as possible but nothing planned. Will probably end up in California soon to visit family and friends, and I’m working on several collaborative projects with long-distance friends over the next few months.

Aidan – I’m in the process of starting a summer band, applying for a Xeric grant (for my new comic project), gearing up for Stumptown Comics Festival, finding a job, keeping up my online magazine Work For Free, and massive life scheming. I see grad school in the future and hopefully spending some time in New York and overseas.

Thanks?

Mia – Thanks & enjoy!

“It Was a Large and Lovely Garden”
New ink drawing by Mia Nolting with Aidan Koch
Opens Last Thursday, March 25th, 6pm till late
live music by Hazel Rickard
runs through April 26th, 2010
Together Gallery
2916 NE Alberta
Portland, OR.

Mia Nolting at Together gallery Aidan Koch at together gallery

Interview with JOLBY a Collaborative Design & Illustration Studio in Portland

What is Jolby?
Colby: Jolby is a collaborative design & illustration studio in Portland, OR. Josh and I have been working together as Jolby since 2005.

Please talk a lil’ bit about the general idea behind your new series of works for “Sea Legs”? What’s the story with the show’s title?
Josh: The show is about the mythology and superstitions held by sailors and we came up with the idea when we were doing some research on gods and general mythology for a small series. It somehow got shifted over to the idea of sea gods and after doing a ton of research on the super strange things that sailors believed we had to make it into a show.

Colby: The title “Sea Legs” means that a sailor has spent so much time at sea that they can adjust themselves to the swaying of the boat in the water. We had a lot of other titles in mind, but we kept coming back to this one. We tried a lot of new things and accomplished a lot in a short period of time when making the show and we all feel like we’ve earned our sea legs.

Tell us a lil’ bit about the idea behind you 2 coming together as a collaborative team. and now bringing on a 3rd for this show?
Colby: Well, Jolby started after we both graduated from art school in California in 2005. Our first project together was a clothing company we started called Substratum Apparel. After that was over, we wanted to keep working together and a friend we worked with dubbed us “Jolby” which stuck pretty quickly. We took on small projects and started to do more art shows and kept pushing each other and developing our style.

Josh: I moved to Chicago after Substratum was over and Colby and I kept working together even though we were 2000 miles apart. It was kinda tough, but we figured out that we both shared the same brain and collaboration has been super easy. Because we love to collaborate, we always try to find a way to work with our friends. We’re really close friends with Ashley Forrette‘s husband Chris Forrette and have always loved her photography. She takes amazing photos and we’ve been looking for a chance to work with her, so it all worked out really well. We’ve figured out that when you work with people with different skill sets you get to collaborate on things that you could never do on your own. For Sea Legs we are also teaming up with Dolls for Friends and Shoko Saito who are all incredible plush artists to make pieces that will add a whole new meaning to the show.

If you had an unlimited budget and time was not an issue, what grand artistic vision would you look to bring to life?
Colby: Haha I think we ask each other that everyday. Our first solo show was called “Home is Where You Make it” and it was about a boy in an owl suit who was trying to figure out what the word ‘home’ really means. We developed a world, set of characters, and mythology within it that we want to bring to life through a series of books. We’re talking to a publisher right now about it, actually. We also want to take that series and do more shows with that style of work, vinyl toys, merch, festivals and just grow that world.

Josh: Our ultimate goal would be to start up a cafe/restaurant/gallery/and work space that we’d own and operate. That would be amazing.

Whats an average day like for you?
Colby: It goes kinda like this: wake up > coffee > work > lunch > work > coffee > work > racquetball > work > sleep. Doodler’s Anonymous did a little week in the life of Jolby that you can check out here: http://www.doodlersanonymous.com/featured-jolby-day-01.php

What do you consider your biggest overall influence?
Colby: A lot of our day consists of checking the many art blogs and image posting sites to get a heap of random inspiration. Our favorite artists that inspire and influence us everyday are: Jon Klassen, Invisible Creature, Charlie Harper, Alexander Girard, Ryan McGuinness, Jeff Soto, and Steven Harrington.

Do you listen to music while painting/drawing? If so, do you have a current favorite that inspires?
Josh: Yea we always have something playing and we are heavily inspired by music. I think it takes our art to new levels. We are both musicians, so maybe the love comes from that. Here are some of our favs: Anathallo, Fleet Foxes, Thrice, Coheed & Cambria, Circa Survive, Jack Johnson, Mock Orange, Brand New, The Deer Hunter, The Graduate, Arcade Fire, RX Bandits, As Cities Burn.

Whats up with the soundtrack you have for the show?
Josh: We love tying music into our shows and have had soundtracks to our art in the past, but nothing like The Graduate has done for Sea Legs. We are good friends with the dudes from The Graduate and we asked them to write an original soundtrack based on the artwork. They wanted to try some new things with their music and what they came up with is so fucking awesome. We can’t wait for people to listen to it at the opening and get lost. It’s weird when we think that a band we really admire has written 6 songs to go along with our art. Its nuts.
Colby: The art inspired the music, but also the rough cuts of the music they kept sending us while making it inspired a few pieces in the show, too. We would love to release the tracks with artwork from the show someday.

It seems like you guys love coffee, how many cups a day?
Colby: We do at least two coffee runs a day and we love our coffee very much. Before we both moved to Portland, I don’t think we knew what good coffee was haha. We love finding new coffee roasters and cafes and supporting Portland’s coffee scene. Some of our favorite places are Spella, Extracto, Barista, and Courier Coffee.

Interests outside of design / art making?
Josh: It’s been tough to have any since we’ve been so busy lately, but I’m a foodie, I pickle things, and spend time with my wife.
Colby: We both play a lot of racquetball, love discovering new things about this amazing city, and are big Lost fans. I’m usually at home with my girlfriend eating Goldfish crackers. I’ve been collecting limited-release microbrews lately and look forward to growing that collection.

Why Portland?
Colby: Portland is such an incredible city filled with amazing food, music, people, coffee, beer, and countless creatives to keep us inspired. The art community here is so awesome.
Josh: It’s a growing city with an amazing culture. It also nurtures creativity and lets people be whoever/whatever they want to be any day of the week. It’s really empowering to look around and see people doing what they love everyday.

Whats next? Summer plans? 5 year plans?
Colby: Next for us is getting into editorial illustration and other illustration work and hopefully get our first book published. This Summer will be spent in the sun drinking lots of beer. Our 5 year plan would be to keep doing shows, own a gallery of some type, and create the world’s largest Oreo cookie.

Thanks?
A lot of artists have lives on the side of the art they create daily and it’s so hard to find a balance between life and work. First we would thank our amazing significant others who put up with our work-aholism and give us their honest love. We also want to thank Ashley Forrette for this insane collaboration, Dolls for Friends, Shoko Saito, The Graduate, and the Together crew too and all of our friends and family for their support. We hope everyone can come say hi at the show and spend some time with us. We love walking people through the pieces we create.

“SEALEGS”

NEW WORKS FROM JOLBY & ASHLEY FORRETTE

February 25, 2010 – March 20, 2010

at Together Gallery 2916 NE Alberta St. Suite A Portland, Oregon

Opening Reception with the Artists: Thursday February 25, 6-11pm

Hungry Eyeball Interviews Portland Artist Jason Graham

Jason Graham Art

Jason Graham is going to be apart of the 1st Hungry Eyeball Art Show on Feb 19th, 2010 at Lyrik in Portland, Oregon.

You came from Fresno, CA. and now in Portland, OR. what’s different?
alot of things are different between the two. in general portland has clean fresh air, tons of beautiful parks, lots of great vegan food, tons of art, great music, and it’s really bike friendly. fresno really doesn’t have any of those things. one great thing that fresno does have is a small tight knit community of really talented artists and musicians that i was lucky enough to be part of and learn from for a few years. fresno is also very friendly to outdoor murals right now, downtown is covered with some really great murals from alot of my friends, check out muraldistrict.com to see a few of the murals. one major difference in the art scenes is that in fresno, if you were doing an art show you were probably the only one in town doing a show, and lots of people are hungry for art there, so the show would be packed. as opposed to portland where its so saturated with artists and venues to show art, its harder to stand out. don’t get me wrong, i love living in a city that is so supportive of art. i have a lot of love for both city’s.

How did ’09 treat you as an artist?
2009 treated me pretty well. i stayed busy enough with making art to not have to go out and find a real grown up job, so that’s nice.

What are you hungry for in the year 2010?
i’m hungry for happiness, and vegan soyrizo burritos from the taco truck on 50th and division.

What are thinking or planning for the upcoming Lyrik show?
i’m working on some small really intricate pen and ink drawings. i will also have some watercolors, and i’m working on a larger acrylic painting as well. so i’m going to mix it up a bit as far as medium go’s but it should still have all have the same underlying feeling, and feel very cohesive. i’m looking forward to the show. i’m really happy to be showing with eatcho and klutch, two artists who’s work i’m a fan of. i feel sort of lame i don’t have a sassy nickname like them though.

If you were to have a one word name what would it be?
switchblade

I was looking at your past work and was wondering if you were claustrophobic or if you had any phobias?
i have some anxiety problems, i’m not claustrophobic i’m probably more agoraphobic. i’ve become pretty reclusive, just painting and drawing in my little cave. i think a good move would be for me to get an art studio away from my home again. i’ve come to realize how important the separation of work space and home are to me… when i work at home i can never get out of my own head, if that makes sense. it’s just me and my headphones all the time.

Do you put yourself in your art, why or why not?
i do. i can’t help but put myself in my work. it’s been my coping mechanism and my therapy everyday since i can remember. i feel like all my work is very personal, but if someone asks me what a piece means i won’t say, because i like to let the viewer take what they want from it and assign their own meaning to it.

What’s your mission in life?
to improve as an artist, until i’m content with my work. to paint until my hands don’t work anymore. just to try and be happy.

Jason Graham artist

Hungry Eyeball Interviews Portland Artist Klutch

Until Death by Klutch
My buddy Klutch will be apart of Hungry Eyeball’s First Art Show happening on Feb. 19th, 2010 at Lyrik in Portland, Oregon.

How did you become Klutch?
In 1983 the hardcore band N.O.T.A. started calling me that after a weirdo artist in the Disney movie Superdad. After touring with them for a couple years people all over the country knew me as Klutch. It has followed me to Austin, SF, and now Portland.

Is art competitive for you, why or why not?
I would like to sound real cool and say no but for me it totally is. But this can be good in the sense that I want to be pushed to keep getting better and trying new ideas. If nothing else artists are competing for viewers attention against a constantly rising tide of instant media.

Fill it up:
Art = Friends, fun, life, food, wankers, blow hards, missions, journeys, failures, joy, anger, and my personal favorite, discovery.

Graffiti = Vandalism when it is done properly.

Love = Making art everyday. Otherwise I haven’t a clue and keep trying to figure it out. I will have to get back you to on this one.

Portland = It is a lot like life. Some times it is absolutely magical, other times it is fucked beyond belief.

Dreams = Dreams are for living, not sleeping on.

Klutch = I am true contrarian. Reliable yet ever changing. Innovative yet old school. Mad pretentious yet a total kook.

Explain why keeping it real is so important to you.
Because I value authenticity and really enjoy things in their pure form.

What stage are you in your life?
“Honey, I got rhythms I ain’t even used yet.”

What is in store for Klutch in 2010?
I just moved my studio to Diesel Fuel’s shop and I’m super stoked to be there. A new space shared with really good friends can spark an avalanche of new options.
Also waiting out the weather and getting the Dignity Village mural project in full swing. Seeing that to completion is my first mission for this year.
Beyond that just becoming more involved overall but letting go of expectations of what will come from it.

What are your plans for the Lyrik show?
The unveiling of the single greatest piece of art ever created that will herald the dawning of a new era for mankind and cause the entire world to fall in love with each other. Either that or a massive hate crystal.

What are you hungry for?
I just want to be loved. Is that so bad?

Portland artist Klutch

MCB mural by Klutch

Hungry Eyeball Interviews Portland Artist Tripper Dungan III

3D Owl by Tripper Dungan

I’d like to introduce my good friend and creating powerhouse…. Tripper Dungan, who is actually the third John…. which became Tripper since he was wee small. This became more convenient since his brother was named John too or II. Anyway here he is:

Why is your art so positive, is this done on purpose? I think at first it wasn’t… then it was… and now it’s not again. When I think about life and what I want to bring to it, it’s usually a positive thing.

What does your art do for you? It excites me when I see a painting coming together. Sometimes I stop and do a couple jump kicks of joy in the middle of it. Creation is a very satisfying thing.

You call your house the Cartoon Bungalow, obviously your are inspired by cartoons, what are some of your favorites and why? I was raised on Bugs Bunny, Merry Melodies, classic Disney, and Popeye. I love those guys. Some of the old Betty Boops are pretty rad; so creative. People growing beards in the middle of sentences, shoes talking, ghosts dancing. The musical integration of the old Fleisher, Van Buren, and Ub Iwerks cartoons is unmatched. As far as modern cartoons John K (Spumco), and there’s the Cartoon Exprez collections that are pretty cool and Devin Flynn’s Y’all so Stupid is sheer mind numbing weirdness. Not for the kids but if you like psychedelic low brow it comes highly recommended.

I’m going to name some common themes in you art, why are you attracted to these?

robots? They’re pretty.

music? Sounds good.

animals? They’re just people with fur.

gnomes? I like the little guys.

mushrooms? They amaze me.

UFO’s? They intrigue me.

You seem to always sketch out your ideas first in your drawing pads and then transfer them into paintings. What is your reasoning? Give away all my secrets why don’t you.

What is your favorite thing to do in Portland? Anything involving my friends and beer. Honestly the first thing to come to mind was paint.

How has the recession effected you? As far as the money goes It’s been steady but I think that might be because of the time I’ve put in.

What are your plans for 2010? I’d really like to get some gallery shows outside of Portland with some friends and rock some kind of installation. And I want to build a shed in the backyard where I can Paint.

What are you mostly hungry for? I just ate, but metaphorically I want to make enough money with my art that I can give a little to charity. I know that sounds a little Miss America of me. I’ve always aimed to inspire people and make them happy but beyond that my art is what I have to give and if I could do a little more and be comfortable that would be nice.

Check out some more of Tripper’s artwork in the Hungry Eyeball Gallery or his website numberstar.com.

Canadian GRUMBLE TOY at Grass Hut in Portland Oregon

Grumble Toys at Grass Hut Gallery in Portland GRUMBLE TOY, November 20th, 2009 from 6pm – 9pm
Grass Hut Gallery ~ 811 East Burnside, Portland OR 97214

Chris Bryan and Ainsley Sturko, from Grumble Toy will bring you handmade plush, precious paintings, custom toys, and even a Grass Hut exclusive Manmorah!
Bwana Spoons put together a short interview for Hungry Eyeball with Chris and Ainsley:

How did you and Ainsley meet?
Ainsley: Chris and I met at the video store that I worked at. He would come in every Tuesday for the 2 for 1 deal and suspiciously he always ended up at my til. haha

Chris:

Was there any one thing that steered you in the direction of making monster art?
Ainsley: I always like to paint animals and little creatures but the monster art is definitely inspired by the toys that Chris and I collect.

Chris: Most of the art I still do is minimal audio works… Ainsley is the one with the visual skill. I’m always thinking about monsters, we get excited about ideas and she is able to bring them to reality. I feel better about my own drawings than I used to, but I much prefer Ainsley’s. If we count the custom toys.. well.. toys brought me there.

Is Grumble Toy a studio, brick and mortar shop or a web village?
Ainsley: Grumble toy is more of a web village. We run the business and do the art making right from the comfort of our home.

You now have two of your very own grumble creations Wormrah and Manmorah. What’s next for Grumble Toy?
Ainsley: Chris and I are hoping to put out some more toys in the future. Wormrah and Manmorah were both sculpted by Amapro in Japan. We feel very lucky to be able to work with Amapro and hope to collaborate more with him. Chris and I are also planning on producing toys that we have sculpted ourselves. We also hope to make vinyl toys based on a few of my characters such as Mookie and Ookie and the forest gremlin.
Chris: Yes, I think you can count on some more minis from the same world as Wormrah and Manmorah soon… that and some vintage inspired dinosaur toys.

Your favorite toy maker and why.
Ainsley: I have many favorites! But I guess I will just name two.
One of my favorite doll makers is takiyaje from Russia.? Her dolls are very well crafted and her attention to detail is amazing. They have a sort of surreal, spooky quality to them that I like.
One of my favorite kaiju toy makers is Elegab. I love his designs and his sculpting style. His toys are very textural and have great facial expressions. I really like that his designs are original. It seems many of the kaiju toys are tributes to movies, television or vintage toys.

Chris: Akk… I can’t name just one favorite! Amapro for sure, for so many reasons. Butanohana is great. I would love to see him do more original figures from his drawings. Yamomark is so much fun… ahhh… the list would go on and on. Dream Rocket and Siccaluna-Koubou for amazing paint applications… If you just look at the Grumble Toy shop.. those are all my favorite.

Tropical seas or big trees?
Ainsley: I dream of tropical seas but I am happiest in the prairies where it is hot in the summer and brutally cold in the winter. I think being cooped up in the winter forces us to be creative and make art. If the weather was nice all of the time we would probably spend all of our free time outdoors and not get much done. Haha!

Chris: Big Trees! I’m scared of tropical weather. We don’t have any seas here, or really big trees for that matter. I’m with Ainsley on our winter.. so cold, but we get a lot done, and don’t feel bad about staying in and playing video games for hrs on end.

Ok i think that’s it.