October Exhibits: Susie Ghahremani and Grumble Toy!
Log Cabin
Paintings by Susie Ghahremani (boygirlparty)
October 6-29, 2017
BYOB Opening Reception
October 6, 7-10pm
We're always excited to welcome a new artist to the gallery, but we're doubly excited about our October exhibits.
Susie Ghahremani is a San-Diego based illustrator and artist whose works we've long admired. They're whimsical and beautifully composed and hit you right in the cute spot. We expect a whole bunch of smaller affordable works for this exhbit, another thing we're always excited about because we can put more cute art in more people's hands that way!
Join us for the BYOB opening reception, Friday, October 6, 7-10pm for snacks and music by DJ Sean Doe. The artists will be in attendance.
Sales for this exhibit will begin when we open at 11am on opening day, and via email to our previews list starting at 2pm (central time) that afternoon — sign up at http://previews.rotofugi.com.
The exhibit continues through October 29 and will be available for viewing 11am-7pm, seven days a week at Rotofugi, 2780 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago.
About the Artist
Susie Ghahremani is an award-winning illustrator, an internationally exhibiting artist, an educator, an entrepreneur, a designer and an advocate for the illustration community. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where she also teaches.
In addition to illustrating for commercial and editorial clients, Ghahremani designs and develops a whimsically illustrated stationery and gift brand titled Boygirlparty® consisting of more than 300 products, popular at independent boutiques and galleries to retailers such as ModCloth, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom. Boygirlparty® is also currently ranked among the bestsellers in Art on Etsy.com. Her uniquely illustrated and functional paper goods are what Flavorpill calls “The indie, start-up version of Hello Kitty.” BuzzFeed calls Boygirlparty “a shop you wish you knew about sooner.”
She has been the recipient of awards and recognition by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, American Illustration, the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles and Alt*Pick, and has been profiled in several magazines including The New York Times. She served on the board of ICON the Illustration Conference and won a 2016 Mentorship Award at SCBWI’s annual Portfolio Show.
Her Treetops Journal published by Chronicle Books is an international bestseller in its genre. WHAT WILL HATCH? written by Jennifer Ward, was published by Bloomsbury USA in February 2013 to advance critical acclaim by Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. Her latest picture book WHAT WILL GROW? is celebrated with starred reviews from the School Library Journal, Shelf Awareness, and Publisher’s Weekly. Her forthcoming debut as author-illustrator – STACK THE CATS – publishes in May 2017 to advance acclaim from Kirkus: “a book that can expand children’s thought processes.”
Susie lives in San Diego, California with her husband and zillions of pets. Visit her online at boygirlparty.com
A Glimpse of Our World
New Character Works by Chris & Ainsley of Grumble Toy
October 6-29, 2017
BYOB Opening Reception
October 6, 7-10pm
The Canadian husband and wife team of Ainsley Sturko and Chris Bryan have been producing toys since 2008, often in collaboration with Japanese toymaker Amapro. Together they create things that are, well, just darn adorable. They make monsters that don't look so much fierce as they do approachable, like you'd want to give them a belly rub. And cats, don't forget the cats.
For this mini-exhibit we're expecting some wonderful illustrations from Ainsley and perhaps some toy surprises too!
Join us for the BYOB opening reception, Friday, October 6, 7-10pm for snacks and music by DJ Sean Doe. The artists will be in attendance.
Sales for this exhibit will begin when we open at 11am on opening day, and via email to our previews list starting at 2pm (central time) that afternoon — sign up at http://previews.rotofugi.com.
The exhibit continues through October 29 and will be available for viewing 11am-7pm, seven days a week at Rotofugi, 2780 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago.
About the Artists
Grumble Toy is an independent toy company based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada featuring the works of husband and wife duo, Chris Bryan and Ainsley Sturko. They have been producing toys from thier original designs since 2008, often manufactured in Japan with the goal of making more than just toys but to create imaginative characters that are full of personality.
Ainsley Sturko is an artist and toy designer based in Winnipeg, Canada, best known for her character based pencil crayon illustrations. In 2004, she earned an honours degree in Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba.
In 2006, Ainsley and her husband Chris Bryan founded the toy company Grumble Toy. Their vision was to have a store that specialized in Japanese Kaiju toys and handmade plush.
At the end of 2007, Ainsley began to make plush toys based on some of her illustrations. The first of these was the Bonhomme of Winnipeg. In 2014, Ainsley began to create some of these characters as jointed mohair toys. All of her plush and mohair toys are one of a kind or limited editions and can be found online in the Grumble Toy shop.
Early in 2008, Chris and Ainsley released their first vinyl toy based on her illustration Wormrah. Wormrah was sculpted by the Japanese toy maker Amapro and handpainted by Chris and Ainsley. They have since collaborated with Amapro again to make their toys Manmorah, Chou-cho and Ishigon. In 2013, Chris sculpted Ainsley’s character Neko-Mimi, which was also produced into a vinyl toy in Japan.
Currently, Chris has been busy sculpting cats based off of Ainsley’s drawings. To date, they have made three of her cat characters into resin figures.