August’s Artist of the Month is none other than Paper Puffin! Featuring wide-eyed curious cats and intricately illustrated natural elements, Paper Puffin has definitely created an unmistakable style.

What would you say inspires your work?

This particular, peculiar cat named Puffin is my main muse, though I’m inspired by the many amazing cats I’ve met over the years. Nature, micro landscapes and collections and the places I’ve lived.

We carry some of the best Paper Puffin goods available year round in our Downtown Portland location. We have prints, cards, and stickers- all adorned with those funny cat faces!

What is one of your favorite spots in Portland? I know it’s hard to choose just one!

There are so many great coffee shops and little stores! Magnetic North Studios off Belmont is a great artist-run workspace, and where I do my screen-printing. My favorite moments are walking through the neighborhoods when all the flowers are blooming.

Tell us a bit about your artistic process!

I limited myself to a single black pen years ago, as a way to develop my line work but also to narrow my focus. I love working with lots of different materials and processes, especially paper, wood fabric and found objects. I love it most when I can combine a design with hand-made production.

What is your favorite product to make?

I love working on original paintings, and collaborating with other artist friends for smaller projects when I can.

It’s so hard to pass up any of these cat faces, so stop in this month and adopt one of your very own!

If you could use just three words to describe your business, what would they be?

Curious Paper Cat

photo by Shannon O'Connor

Applications are OPEN!

PLEASE NOTE: Participation in the Friday night ticketed shopping party is mandatory for all vendors! People can buy tickets in order to shop early for first pick of your goods and without the huge crowds. It's going to be AWESOME! This means that ALL VENDORS will be REQUIRED to load in and set their booth up completely between 10am and 4pm on Friday, December 7th and to have their booths open that evening during the event. Please make note of this and arrange your schedule accordingly. Again, this is REQUIRED and is the ONLY time slot where vendors can load in.

Our application system is entirely digital! 

Follow the link below to the apply page on our website. PLEASE READ THROUGH THE APPLICATION FAQs to answer any and all questions regarding the sale and the application process. You will find a link to the application at the bottom of the "faq / apply" page. 

We also recommend that you check out our list of handy APPLICATION TIPS before applying.

Don't wait too long!
Applications are due August 22nd!

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

20 Leagues is an mad scientist meets artistic duo based here in Portland, Oregon. They create works that remind us to stop and appreciate the small, simple things in life - like pigeons! Their work centers around everyday life with a twist, and they are quick to see the beauty and weirdness in the strangely mundane.

20 Leagues specializes in making things that you never knew you needed, like wooden stickers, plant dioramas, and an action figure of Sasquatch riding a T-Rex.

What are some projects you hope to tackle in the future?
All of them. Our process is to throw spaghetti at the wall.

What would you say inspires your work?
All of them. Nothing. Not sure really. Ideas emerge from an odd, shared sense of humor and an awed, shared sense of wonder. We bandy our ideas about, though we aren’t sure what that means, then follow our whims wherever they lead. We live in a fanfiction of our own fantasies.  

It just goes to show that sometimes living in your own fantasy world can actually pay off.

Tell us a bit about your artistic process!
All of them? Our process is to do anything to land the joke or tell the tale. We bring equal parts art and science to bare in our quest to fancy up your houseplants, classy up your cubicles, and giddy up your gift-giving game. A faster answer is gouache and lasers, we do it all with gouache and lasers.

We carry their products year-round, but come see the expanded display in our Artist of the Month Spotlight all through June!

HUGE thank you to everyone that helped make last Saturday's event a success - vendors, volunteers, sponsors, staff and all the shoppers that came out to support independent artists! We love what we do and are so happy to see so much support from our community! ❤️

Special thanks to Moshow for an EPIC performance! We love him and his message so it was great to see such an amazing crowd supporting him!

Our next show is December 8 + 9 but you can always get your Crafty Wonderland fix at our retail shop in Downtown Portland.